Comparison in social media: Indira arrested in October so is Priyanka
Darpan News Desk IANS, 05 Oct, 2021 10:58 AM
New Delhi/Sitapur, Oct 5 (IANS) Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra being detained in the wee hours of October 4 and finally arrested on Tuesday could be a defining moment of Indian politics, claim Congress leaders as the coincidence is that Indira Gandhi too was arrested on October 4 in 1977.
Comparisons are on in social media whether this arrest could change the Congress fortunes as after Indira Gandhi's arrest and later in the election in 1980 the Congress returned with a thumping majority.
From her detention Priyanka said, "Modiji, Namaskar... Maine suna hai ki azadi ka amrit mahotsav manane aap Lucknow aa rahe hain, mein aap se pooch na chahti hun ki aapne ye video dekha hai, aapki sarkar ke ek mantri ke bete ne kisano ko kuchal diya, is video ko dekhiye aur desh ko bataiye ke is mantri ko barkhast kyun nahi kiya gya aur is ladke ko giraftar kyun nahi kia gya. (I have heard that you are coming to Lucknow to celebrate 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav'. I want to ask you that have you seen the video. The son of one of your cabinet ministers has crushed the farmers. Watch this video and tell the country why hasn't the minister been dismissed and why hasn't this boy been arrested)."
Indira Gandhi was going to meet victims of Belchi and Priyanka Gandhi was also trying to meet the families of the victims of Lakhimpur Kheri but was not allowed.
Indira Gandhi was arrested along with four others, K.D. Malaviya, H.R. Gokhale, P.C. Sethi and D.P. Chattopadhyaya.
Indira Gandhi at that time had said that her arrest was political. "I have tried to serve our people and our country to the best of my ability. No matter what the charge or charges now made against me, this arrest is a political one. It is to prevent me from going to the people," Indira Gandhi was quoted as saying.
At that time Indira Gandhi was an opposition leader and had lost the general election post the emergency but was not as weak as the Congress is now. The party has lost two consecutive general elections and the Gandhis are facing internal resistance from senior leaders.
After the meeting of Rahul Gandhi with Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and T.S. Singh Deo, it is widely expected that the state could see a minor portfolio reshuffle. Singh Deo may be given more importance in the cabinet and it's likely he may be allotted a portfolio soon. Currently he holds the health portfolio.
Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said he will invite Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, Punjab Governor V.P. Badnore and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as guests at the special session.
Chidambaram was addressing a press conference at the fag-end of his two-day visit to the state in the capacity as the All India Congress Committee's senior observer in charge of Goa ahead of the 2022 state assembly polls.
Punjab annually generates 20 million tonnes of paddy straw and this is normally set on fire to quickly clear the fields for the next crop, resulting in choking of the National Capital Region (NCR) in October and November.
Priyanka's remarks came after farmers on Tuesday evening vacated the railway tracks and highways in Punjab after the Amarinder Singh government accepted the demands of the sugarcane farmers.
The 'rebel' legislators reached Dehradun in the morning to apprise Rawat about the mood of the public against the Amarinder Singh-led government in the state. They, among 20-odd party legislators, have been demanding replacement of Amarinder Singh as he failed to fulfill the 2017 poll promises.
