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Congress president Sonia Gandhi is all set to undertake a mass mobilisation campaign to rejuvenate the party in Uttar Pradesh, where its popularity has been on a downward swing ever since it was voted out of power 13 years ago.
The issue that will be used to garner support is the forced merger of 25 acres of land allotted in the name of the Indira Gandhi Pratishthan to the adjacent Rs 1200 crore (approximately US $25 million) Ambedkar Park, the dream project of Chief Minister Mayawati.
Gandhi proposes to launch this exercise from Allahabad on October 31, the death anniversary of her mother-in-law and former prime minister Indira Gandhi.
Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Arun Kumar Singh said, "Commencing in the form of a yatra, this campaign will culminate in Lucknow on November 19, the birth anniversary of Indira Gandhi."
Singh has already prepared the ground by putting up an impressive demonstration followed by courting of arrest by thousands of Congressmen in Lucknow last week, as the first mark of protest against the land takeover on Chief Minister Mayawati's directive.
To keep the spirit alive, Singh has sent word to the party's district units to stage dharnas (protests) apart from establishing public recognition in their areas between October 18 and 31.
Meanwhile, Gandhi will also address party workers in Mathura on October 10. "This is going to be an offbeat exercise in the nature of an open house, with the party's lower-level members getting an opportunity to interact with Gandhi," Singh said.
The Congress president will next visit Varanasi, the dates for which are yet to be finalised. Political observers attach greater significance to her re-launch of the party from these two ancient Hindu religious centres.
Interestingly, both Mathura and Varanasi figure on top of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad's much-touted list of shrines to be 'liberated' from the partial custody of Muslims. A mosque co-exists in close proximity to ancient Hindu temples in both these places.
Analysts say it is more than a coincidence that Gandhi's husband and former prime minister, the late Rajiv Gandhi, had begun his 1984 general elections campaign from yet another prominent Hindu religious centre, Ayodhya.
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