Congress President Rahul Gandhi appointed his sister Priyanka Gandhi as the party General Secretary in charge of East UP.
Yes, this is the time to build your party with intelligent and young leaders for making a change in the ecosystem of politics. But, as a common citizen of India, I have certain doubts about picking your own sister as General Secretary of your party. I have heard in Delhi circle, Priyanka has the capacity to lead the party as a General Secretary, she is very humble, polite and dedicated towards common people. But, is this the only quality for her selection? Of course, you and your party members would say, she has all the qualities needed for becoming general secretary of the party. Many of my friends everywhere in India, they are equally competent like your sister, but they will not have the luxury to become General Secretary of the grand old party.
In the context of the current political scenario, after winning three big elections in the ‘cow belt’, particularly, in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, where BJP was in power for a long time, you certainly deserve credit for your persistent hard work with grassroots workers. But, you will have to travel a long way in this national election. Broadly there are no differences in economic policy between BJP and Congress as far as education and health care are concerned. Hope, Priyanka will give a new narrative to the people of eastern UP where Congress has been in the periphery for a long time. BJP gained substantially in the assembly election of 2017 there.
Realistically, Priyanka Gandhi’s capability to make an impact in Uttar Pradesh will depend on the Congress’ own strength in different parts of the state. The Congress’ footprints in UP is not the same in all parts of the state. They have a base in the Awadh region, which includes the Gandhi family stronghold of Rae Bareli and Amethi and they can influence the nearby seats. It totally depends on whether Priyanka will have the support of the local cadre or will have to build new ones.
There are no basic services in eastern UP, particularly for health and education and most of the people depend on migration for their livelihood. One of the recurring health issues in the region is Japanese Encephalitis. The situation of higher education has been terrible for a long time, students have to migrate for better education. There are no jobs in the region, one can see, migration is common in eastern UP. If Priyanka can convince people that she is not a migratory leader like others, she will be able to gain popularity.