Smriti Irani set to be the giant killer in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections

Amethi is a Lok Sabha constituency which covers the entire Amethi district and was created in 1967. The constituency has been Congress’ stronghold for the longest time, barring 1998, since elections have taken place in India. The constituency was represented by former PM Indira Gandhi’s son Sanjay Gandhi in 1980. After his untimely death in a plane crash, his brother, Rajiv Gandhi represented the constituency till 1991. After Rajiv, his wife Sonia Gandhi represented the constituency from 1999 to 2004. Thereafter she was succeeded by her son Rahul Gandhi. Amethi has thus been represented by four members of the Nehru–Gandhi family.

Congress has always exercised absolute control over the constituency, not once had any party threatened their hold over the region and hence they had always been winning by huge margins in the elections. In 2014 though, the people witnessed a change. In the year 2009, Congress under Rahul Gandhi usurped 71% of the total votes in the constituency, while BJP scored a minimal 5%. However, in just 5 years, what was witnessed was nothing short of a miracle. Even though Rahul Gandhi was elected as the MP from Amethi, Congress witnessed a huge loss in the vote percentage and managed to get only 41% of the total votes. BJP meanwhile, under Union Textiles minister Smriti Irani in Amethi saw an unprecedented rise in the vote percentage from 5% to 34%.

Things have become even more worrisome for the Congress after the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections in 2017, when the BJP managed to win 4 of the 5 assembly seats under the Amethi Lok Sabha constituency. The only seat the BJP lost was Gauriganj – and it did not lose to the Congress but the Samajwadi Party.

The BJP and Smriti Irani understand this arithmetic well, and party leaders and the union ministers have been visiting the constituency very regularly. Minister Irani had earlier announced a package of Rs 77 crore for Amethi on behalf of the central government.

Moreover, Irani has been interacting with Amethi residents on a regular basis and even took part in blanket distribution, along with attending the inauguration function of a hospital in the district. She also arranged a ‘mobile digital theatre’ which screened the movie ‘Uri: The Surgical Strike’ for the public of the Gandhi borough free of cost. BJP bigwigs like Amit Shah and Yogi Adityanath have also paid regular visits to Amethi in the last four years, to attend public rallies.

On the other hand, Rahul Gandhi has taken the development of Amethi for granted and has failed to realise that he actually needs to do something for the district and the people. On Rahul’s ignorance of Amethi, Smriti Irani said, “It is saddening indeed that the person who has been elected by the people to the Lok Sabha from Amethi has never spoken a word either about the place or the people in the Lower House of Parliament. For the last five years, he has only uttered foul language against the Prime worker (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) of the country.” She also accused Rahul Gandhi of not coming forward to help Amethi, which every summer witness’s fire due to heat. “I have seen at least 500 houses being gutted during summer time every year, and only the BJP workers come forward to help them. Rahul Gandhi was nowhere,” she added.

All these developments and statistics have rendered the leftist media worried. She has become the target of the mainstream media ever since she took on Rahul Gandhi and almost won. They have unnecessarily attacked her and attempted to sideline her constantly. The Indian Express, published an article which claimed that Gujarat “Registered a ‘de-growth’ or negative growth in several segments of the textile sector in the last five years, between 2012 and 2017.” The article selectively quoted various data points on textile sector of the state to target Smriti Irani. Moreover, the telegraph published an article with a very sexist title, aimed at Smriti Irani. In addition to this, there have been several cases of attacks on social media and trolling on the hands of Kabil Sibal and P Chidambaram.

Moreover, Rahul Gandhi has been riding on the goodwill of his father and his uncle (as is the precedence in dynasties) for far too long. People in Amethi are realizing that they are living in a democratic form of government and not a monarchy. The state assembly elections were a trailer as to what is going in the voters’ minds. If she wins, she will be the giant killer of this election, and as usual she would have beaten the odds and silenced her detractors.