Rahul Gandhi begins his Wayanad mission

Wayanad/Kalpetta (Kerala): With sister Priyanka Gandhi by his side, Congress president Rahul Gandhi Thursday filed his nomination from Wayanad in Kerala and said that there is a “cultural attack” by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the RSS and the government, and his reason for fighting the Lok Sabha polls from a second seat in the south besides the party bastion Amethi in the north is to send a message of unity and that “India is one”.

Mr Gandhi also assured the Left that they are not his main rivals. Allaying fears in the Left camp, he declared, “From me, you will not hear a word against the CPM.”

Mr Gandhi and his sister took Wayanad by storm as thousands of United Democratic Front (UDF) supporters braved the scorching sun to cheer the bandwagon of Mr Gandhi, Ms Priyanka Vadra, AICC general secretary Oommen Chandy, Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala, Muslim League leaders and candidates P.K. Kunhalikutty and E.T. Mohammed Basheer.

UDF supporters went into raptures as Mr Gandhi, along with AICC general secretary (UP East) Priyanka Gandhi and other Congress leaders, filed his nomination before district collector Ajayakumar A.R. at Kalpetta. A massive roadshow ensued, marking the beginning of Mr Gandhi’s Wayanad campaign.

In the Congress’ sitting seat, Mr Gandhi is locked in a triangular contest with Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate P.P. Suneer (CPI) and NDA’s Thushar Vella-paly, the state president of Bharat Dharma Jana Sena. The elections are on April 23.

After the roadshow, Mr Gandhi addressed a press conference where he explained his reason for picking the southern seat besides Amethi, although he would be pitted by the LDF, which is part of the secular line-up at the national level. He said he was fighting from the north as well as the south to counter attempts by the BJP and its ideological mentor Rashtriya Swaya-msevak Sangh (RSS).

To questions on allegations by Mr Modi and UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath that he was fleeing the north, Mr Gandhi said he was not concerned about what they say.

“The idea of India is under attack in the Modi regime and there is a feeling of exclusion among the people of south, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. I felt there is an assault against the idea of unity,” he told reporters at the SKMJ Higher Secondary School before boarding the helicopter to go to Karipur airport. “I am contesting from here with a message to the country that I stand for South India as well as North India,” he said.

Referring to the CPM campaign against him, he said, “There is a tussle between the Congress and the CPM, and that battle may continue in future, but I am here to tell the people of Kerala that while I will defend all the allegations made by CPM against me, I will not be making a single attack on the CPM. You will not hear a word against the CPM from me.”

“The two main issues facing the country today are the lack of jobs and the plight of farmers. Farmers do not have a good perspective of what the future holds for them... the youth were going from state to state in search of jobs. Modi has failed in ensuring jobs and also failed the farmers,” he said.

“The country had faith in the Prime Minister when he said ‘I will be the chowkidar.’ But the chowkidar himself has given Anil Ambani `30,000 crore of Air Force money. He has stolen the money and given it to Anil Ambani,” he said.

“Anil Ambani has no experience in making aircraft and he has `45,000-crore debt. He almost went to jail and his brother had to bail him out. Why this man was given the most important defence contract in the country?” Mr Gandhi asked.

Ms Gandhi appealed to people of Wayanad to take care of her brother and assured he would not let them down.

“My brother, my truest friend, and by far the most courageous man I know. Take care of him Wayanad, he won’t let you down,” she tweeted after the roadshow.

Wayanad is considered one of the safest constituencies for the party, and the Congress believes that “nothing will work against Rahul Gandhi” here.

Union minister Smriti Irani has alleged that Mr Gandhi’s decision to fight from Wayanad was an insult to the people of Amethi. Ahead of his nomination today, Ms Irani, who is pitted against him in Amethi, said, “He enjoyed a position of power for 15 years because of the support from Amethi, but now he is going to file nomination from elsewhere. This is an insult of Amethi and people here will not tolerate this.”  

Mr Modi has also attacked Mr Gandhi for choosing a constituency that is not “dominated by the majority community”. Congress is “running away from majority-dominated areas” to “take refuge in areas where the majority is in minority,” he added.

The Left has also criticised Mr Gandhi, saying the “Congress has lost the plot” by deciding to fight against the Left instead of the BJP.

Mr Gandhi’s grandmother Indira Gandhi and mother Sonia Gandhi have also contested Lok Sabha elections from the south. Indira Gandhi contested the Lok Sabha by-elections from Chikmagalur in 1978, and won, a victory that revived her political chances.

Indira Gandhi, who won Andhra Pradesh’s Medak and UP’s Rae Bareli seats, chose to retain the Medak seat and relinquished the Rae Bareli seat.

Following the footsteps of her mother-in-law, Sonia Gandhi contested the 1999 Lok Sabha elections from two seats – Bellary in Karnataka and Amethi in Uttar Pradesh. She defeated BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj from Bellary and Sanjay Singh from Amethi. She chose to represent Amethi and gave up Bellary.