After having suffered a humiliating defeat in the state of Uttar Pradesh during the 2019 general elections which the Congress fought in the crucial state under the leadership of general secretary and UP in-charge Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the party has now taken to distributing over 10 lakh calendars showcasing the UP chronicles and struggles of the dynast. The Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC), in its 2021 calendar has put Priyanka Vadra on each of the pages – a move which is being as a signal of intent that the Congress is looking to project Sonia Gandhi’s daughter as the party’s alternative to Yogi Adityanath and the BJP.
Uttar Pradesh heads for assembly elections next year, and the Congress is in desperate need for a chief ministerial face to even think of putting up a respectable fight against the Yogi-led BJP government, leave alone displacing the same. Each page of the calendar showcases Priyanka Vadra’s work as the party’s in-charge in the State: from hugging the mother of the Hathras murder victim to reaching out to victims of caste violence in Sonbhadra to attending the birth anniversary celebrations of Sant Ravidas in Varanasi among many other of her Gulliver-like travels across the state.
Media in-charge of Congress’ Uttar Pradesh unit Lallan Kumar said on Thursday that 10 lakh calendars have been sent to be distributed in every village and up to the ward level in cities. Instructions in this regard have been issued to party office-bearers, and the district and city units are being given calendars according to their population, he added.
Read more: Priyanka Gandhi campaigned on 31 seats; Congress lost 30 of those
It is not yet clear how Congress finds the temerity to showcase Priyanka Gandhi’s “struggles” and ‘achievements’ in the state when she has perhaps been the sole reason why the party has been facing successive poll routs in UP. Priyanka Gandhi’s run in Uttar Pradesh has largely been reactionary, which is not a good strategy to take on Yogi Adityanath from the word go. Perhaps the most vivid of her achievements in the state has been getting Congress workers to wear a pink uniform of sorts – turning them into soldiers of the “Priyanka Sena”.
What purpose such a calendar, showcasing Priyanka Gandhi will serve one year prior to the elections is not yet clear. For the Congress to put up a person on every page of its calendar simply because she is the UP state in-charge of the AICC due to her being Sonia Gandhi’s daughter and Robert Vadra’s wife will definitely not win the party the elections due next year.
