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.
She reached Chandigarh, the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana, by air in the morning from where she headed straight to her daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's cottage located amid forests of pine and cedar on the suburbs of the Himachal Pradesh capital.
Channi took oath of office along with his two deputies -- one a Jat Sikh and another belonging to the Hindu community -- at a simple ceremony here in the Punjab capital that was delayed for 20 minutes owing to the late arrival of party leader Rahul Gandhi.
Jasbir Singh Virk, president of Bhartiya Sikh Sangthan, has underlined the need to intensify the ongoing farmers' agitation and said that there was a need to shore up strength at the Delhi borders.
Punjab BJP President Ashwani Sharma told IANS that to control infighting in its party state unit, the Congress leadership made Channi ji (Charanjit Singh Channi) the Punjab Chief Minister but insulted the Dalit community by not allowing him to lead the party in the upcoming state Assembly polls.
The government and drug controller's office will have to take a decision on the third booster dose based on data and cases as times goes on and including how effective the vaccine is on the Delta virus variant, he added.
