Rahul Gandhi in Rae Bareli I Amethi Walkover to Smriti Irani ? I Election 2024 I Barkha Dutt LIVE

[Music] hello and welcome to another edition of daas of democracy this is our election road trip from kanyakumari to uh Kashmir uh we have been traveling through this heat through the southern states and then through Maharashtra and at this moment I am live uh somewhere on the border between Maharashtra and Gujarat I'm baradat you're with the Mojo story and our big Focus today is on that big announcement and some would say the big anti-climax from uttar Pradesh there were all kinds of rumors that both brother and sister would be contesting that Rahul Gandhi would contest from a mate the congress party went on record that they wanted to see both leaders contest they were even rumors that Varun Gandhi disgruntled in the BJP could be brought back to the family uh fold for a true G vapy and that he would contest from amiti but in the end nothing very much or nothing like that happened Rahul Gandhi will be contesting from his mother's constituency Ry bareli SMY Irani is already taunting the Congress for having run away and in ATI K Sharma an old family associate a local Congress worker a senior Congress worker who all of us have met on our trips to ATI will be the candidate against MTI Irani in a move that many are describing as cowardly as ill thought but Congress supporters are saying it's actually a clever move because it denies the media the circus that it expected in a and they argue that it has taken away the headlines from what would have been an obsessive for focus on a smti Irani versus Rahul Gandhi fight to decode to decode and to debate what the political messaging is because remember the messaging is well well beyond uh its uh you know the local elections of ATI and rber it will send a message all across India the decisions that have been taken let me welcome our guests on the program today uh sugata Shas Raju author and Veteran journalist is with us welcome to the program also joining us from the Congress is chitra G I want to welcome chitra G chitra batam to the program Ashwini Shahi senior leader of the BJP is with us namaskar Ashwini G dilip cherer dilip Chan was the first person I have to say on this program to say Rahul Gandhi does not want to contest a and even if he contests he wants to stay in vard but what happens then to ryel if he wins we'll find out in just a moment and yashan deshmuk India's four most seist and political analyst of cter uh is with us as well uh and I want to get the discussion going straight away I'll start with you the you called it first you called it many days ago are you surprised at night were you expecting something else and has something else happened you know to be honest Bara I should really have alerted you in the night um I Knew by at certain point of time what the lay of the land was going to be um I was um I was not entirely surprised and in politics one learns never to crow about any capability with prediction because you could be as wrong as uh yesan will tell us um that you're only as good as your last prediction and I don't like that game um what I do think is important to note is that um because I'm a Communications and an image person I think that the move that the Congress has made has had a positive image Fallout for them as a party uh less for them as a family and I think that what has what has mattered is that headline management at least for two days has been taken care of at a crucial time does this make a big difference in the next round of voting I don't think so is this going to make a huge difference as far as uh you know national results are concerned I don't think so but what I did what I did suspect and what I thought would happen was that personal preferences would probably take a back seat whereas political and image calculations would probably take a front seat uh I think if the Congress were to have played that game a little earlier it would have resulted in far greater benefits but no doubt that these moves have taken uh you know the advantage of the moment and what I call moment marketing has been done very well now d uh uh you you you seem to believe that uh in a way this is smart headline management there are others who think that the larger political message that will go out is one of cowardice the the message of cover uh which has been sort of uh which was a smart response by smti Irani unfortunately does not carry too much resonance with this country given the fact that the family's background has not shown that kind of coveris in in effect at other points in time secondly if anything has been said about Rahul and about the way he's been leading the fight is that he's been willing to take it on the chin more than others he has taken the rough end of the criticism and in a sense being the victim of it at the receiving end of it and therefore I would say that at least as far as the voters are concerned I'm not so sure about how media management will change these things and how much um pressure persuasion and uh you know other profer inss of various kinds will make a difference to Media but I think in general the public is not going to swallow the he's a covered theme for at all as far as ra Rahul is concerned okay so that's a that's a very interesting um uh non-critical perspective in fact as a marketing man yashwant and I'll come to the politicians in a moment and also to shata dilip thinks seems to think smartly played a lot of people think otherwise SMY Rani is taunting uh taunting the gandhis all day long I've got I've got even calls from supporters of the Congress thinking a terrible move has been made what do you think Yesa Des I was listening very carefully to D because uh I mean in terms of branding and marketing I mean he's the number one Guru so I uh I I was very keen to understand what might have been the thought process uh so certainly I was uh thinking like okay what is the end game Beyond this thing you know 20 24 because if Rahul Gandhi wins vard and R both then obviously Bara one seat has to be vacated and what would be done then and then I think Rahul Gandhi would like to keep R and vacate vard uh for for Priyanka in that case for a simple reason that uh winning rival and then leaving rival and going for a bipole again uh probably would not be a very very um um good idea considering that obviously rily till the point of time that Sonia G was contesting herself uh is has been considered safe but vard was certainly way more safe than any other seat in utar Pradesh for that matter however if not then then um bipoles facing the bipoles is a is always a bit tricky Bara you know um particularly in the north of India where the bipoles generally tend to come up with results which are more favorable to those who are in power now if the BJP is defeated India Alliance forms the government so on and so forth so any bipole will have a different kind of impact but if the BJP wins this uh 2024 larger game front then facing the bipole could be an issue might be an issue however having said that um I also get to the the point I I understand this point that you know going for a might have probably uh made a situation where they would have anchored themselves to contest more in in in Ami uh which arguably being the starface of Congress both uh Priyanka and Rahul getting anchored in balii for their own election might not have been good for the Congress in terms of campaign you know so so it is I essentially feel that this is a good firefighting momentary decision which has been taken what I am I am not very sure or I I am apprehensive about and that has nothing to do with the current election and current decision and I hope D would agree with me I think the damage of amti is not whether he's contesting or somebody else is committing contesting or not damage of ATI Barka is the way ATI was left out after the last loss you know uh the a the way amiti the Gandhi did not go back to amiti you know in that way so I think that that is a bigger problem of the Congress that's an Institutional problem it's not a problem which I would say Rahul Gandhi or anybody can immediately form find a solution yes at least if he he would have been uh going at least uh you know once every three months to AE uh you know and if he would have been like you know maintaining at least 20 20 to 30 appearances in The Last 5 Years then probably ATI would not have been so alien to him to even think of that okay whether I should consider as a safe seat or whether I should not consider as a safe seat I think that's a larger problem that Congress is facing but given the context as theep said uh I would think of it now as a as a probably prudent decision as long as after winning both the seats he keeps Ral and vacates Vina I mean because vacating ryber and then facing a by elction in rber if there is a BJP government in up and BJP government in Center if at all in that way yeah that could be a tricky scenario in Li because please remember the guy who is BJP BJP is given ticket you know that gentleman Delhi Media or people outside you know lakau or up circuit might not know much about but he is not a lightweight he is a local politician he was a congress strongman in that RAR s seat for 30 long years he joined the BJP just one year before the 2019 elections and he managed to clip Sonia Gandhi is lead by 50% in the last election so one should not one should not think or keep uh uh denish Singh in the same category as Sharma who has been given a ticket in in amti Sharma has been a VI media kind of interlocutor of Gandhi he is a good person I know that you know but he is not a man of what you call in chest Hindi as janad as the rooted politi of sord with a mass public base while the D Singh Factor has a lot of public base is personal base so one should not you know put both the candidatures into the same but what's interesting is neither you nor deep have have seen this as a terrible message you know jash you're looking ahead at is saying it's actually clever management I I wonder if the remaining three guests think the same what does the Prime Minister have to say let's listen in and I'll come to Ash Shahi right after that take a look [Music] d man all in [Applause] [Music] GH G gu manag gandh Gandhi Gandhi go back pranka Gandhi that question really was for you so you should respond to it what have they gained by this one day headline management but chitra and sugata haven't spoken so we'll just listen to Priyanka Gandhi briefly chitra you're on a terrible Network so I hope it holds Priyanka Gandhi on a day when many thought she might contest either rber or a Namar [Applause] know for now chra G at one level it's very good that a old veteran party worker has been given a ticket in any other circumstance people would say Well done Congress but in this ccum she's now in active politics why isn't she contesting a loah election and why isn't she contesting a m or hello can you hear me yes yes yes yeah so so so first let me tell you that I understand that there's a huge disappointment amongst the media because apparently you know things didn't go as per your imaginary script or you know your overhyped anticipations did fail okay but one should also understand that elections are about people's issues and it is not uh uh you know an opportunity to settle scores on anybody's personal turf or grounds okay now having said that I would just let you know that yes there was a huge demand from the Congress from the Congress kakas that Rahul G or Priyanka G should contest either from ATI or library but we also have to understand that there are priorities Associated when we talk about Priyanka G she had clearly mentioned it long way back that that she would be more interested you know in campaigning for the party and see to it that BJP is reduced to a particular number so that you know uh the the the welfare of the people that has been hampered from so long you know people should get you know freedom from that respective thing secondly it was a choice from aan Ral so obviously when Sonia G left rber okay there was an emotional attachment I believe you remember the the uh the letter that Sonia G had written to the workers and the people of rber so obviously as a good son I think Rahul G must have put his first priority over Iber so obviously it's a clear-cut choice you know from uh either from a or from riber so he chose RI because Sonia left riber very recently as such now having said that I also wanted to say that it's a very it is a very it's a very encouraging and inspiring day for a lot of Congress kartas like us because somebody who has dedicated The Blood Sweat and Tears for 40 years in that respective constituency has now been given an opportunity you know to be the people's representative over there and Priyanka G today herself in the video as you can see has mentioned that she personally will canvas for K Sharma G and see to it that he wins by a huge Landslide Victory so whoever says that it's a cake walk it's a walk over for for smani I think you know are living in their Day Dreams itself because it is not just the Congress but it is the it's it's the people of am who are fed up with SP Rani and her lives all she always talks about is Gandhi and Gandhi Khan and all and those type of things but she never talks about her own development that she has done for the people of am which is nothing okay okay okay okay shata you like d earlier said that when Robert vadra made those statements about wanting to contest from ATI he was really staking claim to his wife's possibly staking claim to his wife's political inheritance one thing has been made very clear today Rahul Gandhi is the political inheritor if there was any doubt that think that has been made clear yes yashan says there could be a A bipole in the future if Rahul Gandhi decides to go to whyard Priyanka could still enter but do you re do you not think that this has been terrible messaging that it gives the opportunity to the BJP to say from the Prime Minister downward dar dar dar or do you think like the Congress or its supporters say today that actually it's taken the it's deflated the entire smti versus Gandhi battle that would have played out as a media circus suata okay thank you Bara I usually agree with dilip g but today I I wish to sort of disagree because see this is not elections are not about headline management clearly not about headline management see Rahul Gandhi by not contesting in AE has created a sense of Abandonment and that abandonment allows people in the BJP who like to tell stories about the family about Congress and you know a lot of they they tell their stories really well you know it could be sophistry for a lot of us but they do tell their stories well and the first uh you know I mean shot has been fired by the Prime Minister himself he said D and there is another I mean I was just before I just came into your show Barka I was reading a tweet by a rajasa MP of Karnataka who has actually you know mean quoted an SD bban song and he has said Mary so you know me this abandonment of you know Ai and going to riber is being seen as you know getting into the Palo of the mother you know I mean they they're trying to what I'm trying to say is you know we don't have to take those things seriously but they're telling you a lot of stories and it allows them to tell a lot of stories and when come coming to the vadra thing which we discussed in the past Bara see there is there is still a problem see if there was no problem this decision would have been made a month ago or or 15 days ago there we now know why vadra was saying that people want me in a because Rahul Gandhi was reluctant to contest and there was a debate inside the family and he was innocuously or intelligently trying to put himself in the middle of it because I believe that it was always uh Priyanka who was to take over ryber Le now suddenly that decision has altered and stepping away from politics Burker and just looking at the sociological aspect because you said something about inheritor and the real inheritor so if you in patriarchal societies and feudal societies Bara the son is given the preference over the daughter so however forward looking the Congress may be however uh you know I mean uh uh modern thinking they may have this again sort of embeds and embellishes the idea that the can come next let us sort of settle the sun you know this uh this thing is is is is very very clear and I also you know mean I I hugely admire yashan deshmuk G but I also would like to disagree with him on one thing which is tomorrow you know this is also a family Centric decision because if ryber I mean Rahul has already contested vard and they say he's likely to win vard retain the seed and then if he win rber he is going to give it on a platter to his sister to go into the bipoles but of course yesan G says bipoles are very difficult but I'm not going so far I'm just trying to look at what has prompted them to make this decision you know go to rly instead of a and also K Sharma Barka ordinary Congress worker he'll be seen as a loyal family retainer there is a huge huge differ difference between you know being seen as an ordinary worker and a family retainer loyal family retainer for 40 years so there is this intransigence in the Congress first family to push and settle the career of Rahul Gandhi you know I mean it's it's there is no K here there is no CWC it is in a very very you know I mean uh very arbitrary fashion that things have been done so I feel there is Rahul Gandhi has created a sense of Abandonment bar I think those are all excellent points and let me actually take that to dilep and yashan straight away dilep to you the fact is i' like to object one thing yes yes chra of narrative was being painted over here which is not correct as I said earlier it was Priyanka Gandhi Didi's her personal choice that she did not want to contest why are you trying to impose the Congress party's decision as over her personal choice let's not do that okay no no I think I think the Congress should stop targeting the media for making its analysis and interpretation Rahul Gandhi the moment a question is asked to him he says he has the goal to say are you a BJP person you know I mean they they also boycott anchors so mean I think the Congress fokes fers will do well if she does not Target the media we are here to interpret analyze and it's a I I I would I would agree that I think that politicians must stop shooting the messenger no matter which party they from now please let me ask my question to dilip and yashan dilip the fact is Mr K and Mr Jam rames were on record yesterday to say that the party wants Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi to contest from rber in ATI the rest is their personal choice I think sogata raises a very excellent question about the fact that this will raise the perception or reinforce the perception that the congress party is to Bor shisha MJ's phrase in her book Prana mukerji's daughter a personal fom of the gandhis if the party had a certain view why did the family get to overrule that question one question two the point about patriarchy is a very important one uh you know chitra said he's a good son to his mother so is she a good daughter there will be questions there will be Whispers as Ash Shah has said or are they scared of priyanka's rise this may all be bunam for anyone who knows how close the family is but perception will arise delip um I'd like to begin by saying that I totally endorse sugata view that both the BJP and the Congress tend to attack the media they tend to do that out of their own frustration and because of the fact that inner party democracy has died so completely in both parties that they unused to criticism so let's put that out of the way second uh I think that the statements by both jam and k fall into the category of disinformation I don't think that it was a party decision I disagree that you know the party had taken a decision that both should fight the the the decisions on Ry amiti is a sequence of damned if you do damned if you don't type of decisions if all three had if Sonia is already in the rajas saaba and if you already if you had both Rahul and Priyanka in the frey then the the theme would have been uh family Dynasty all of that if both of them had refused to fight it would have been Baga abandon K Etc if one fights then it is D L all that kind of stuff so I think that we need to recognize that from the party's point of view having this confusion over 3 days also occupied a certain amount of space is that politically wise what does it what is the messaging for patriarchy I'll come to that in a minute but I think that for a party that is hopeless at getting space for itself carving anything out is better than carving nothing out that's one as far as Priyanka and patriarchy are concerned I think that that issue will continue to rumble today and tomorrow and that is something that only brother and sister can sort out between themselves in terms of how much they want to uh portray uh if most of us who watched the sequence of events that unfolded after the family landed in um in utar Pradesh could see the Dem the public uh demonstration of affection the PDA kind of sequence between brother and sister was that stage it didn't look that way but is there a is there a frisor we don't know yet and lovely from a media point of view I think this is great because it adds one more Dimension to discuss to be disgusted about and to allow debates to be driving on so there's no issue with it I love it no I agree you know Nora Efron an American journalist said everything is copy so at one level for journalists all we are interested in is the story we have no other agenda even for political pundits like ywan but to you ywan uh there is a larger narrative which we haven't discussed we are ahead of phase three there is some chatter about lower turnout just under 4% in phase one just under 3% in phase two does this mean the bgp is anxious just at a time when there is Chatter K by the election is not as one-sided as much of a w a wave as people may have thought comes a decision that could be described as a derpo decision I'm sorry to use this course word but in colloquial Parliament it could be described as a derp decision what is the larger National message emerging from this Choice yes well Bara there must be and there are reasons for Congress to take that decision that that's okay I mean that's we are we have to move beyond that but I definitely feel that uh this war of narrative after this particular decision uh might be a little too costly for all the India Alliance Partners you know those who are really trying really hard to give a fight with the BJP people like ma people like the just be people like akiles you know think of it just just try to keep only to the utar Pradesh narrative I think it will be very difficult for akiles yadav to you know get around this Narrative of of D Ora vgp is I mean we know VP is going to play it I mean prime minister has already started it and we know how they are going to play it off you know uh so I wonder that from here still you know five phases to go and how it is going to affect the moral of the India Alliance Partners you know that is one thing which I still have to understand look into the reactions of samajwadi party or TMC or rjd for that matter I haven't seen much of of you know official stand from their side I was on another show where samajwadi party spokesperson was there you know and uh on one occasion I could sense that even though he was trying really his level best to to to counter the BJP spokesperson and all that but when the BJP spokes told the spokes Congress I mean and at that point of time I saw that the spokesman were kind of a bit of fix that he could neither say yes to that nor say no to that but going beyond that how much it is going in the war of narrative for the next five phases it's a very very very interesting and thing to observe no doubt about that and I will maintain one thing you know um uh and I hope you know in that way sugata and also kind of agree with me Bara you remember during the up elections I had said to you regardless of what regardless of what Congress wins or doesn't win or what Congress Congress polls during the assembly elections of uttar Pradesh I said that I give full credit to Priyanka Gandhi for at least putting up a fight that campaign she was going around I said for the first time in a long you know after a long time I am watching actually Congress trying to do something on the ground result could be a zinch and that's exactly what happened result was a j 2.5% or something but as a political analyst I feel Priyanka tried and what she tried could have been taken on to the next level but they did not so when they did not I have a larger question mark on that that you know why are they not why are they not remaining in invested in up why the gandhis are not invested in ATI or R in that way why exactly after the counting on 23rd of May 20 2019 and till then you know it's difficult I understand the Congress spokesperson is trying her level best to answer these queries but keeping Sharma G over there as a representative for four decades does not really prove that you are invested you are invested when you are seen in a even after losing the ground you are going back again and again in aate and that is where people make up their ground when the BJP spokesperson says that smiy Rani bought a home these are the point of narratives so the the point is somehow even as a political analyst I feel as if Rahul Gandhi divested a you know after that loss he was no more invested in a and that is something which is difficult to understand uh in the way the politics is considered more hands on these days that's a very important question start taking last comments chra G think of those workers Congress gandh they were putting up hings what will happen to their morale today ma'am' can you please repeat once again I am saying see Madam I've already told you that so obviously you know K Sharma is a candidat so is a very respectable one and as you as shown on your on on your show that prianka g herself said that she will be personally for for him and definitely we will have a l in as having I just want mention I just want to mention one thing over here that Nar that you know everybody is you know freely playing okay I would like to ask a question when during 2014 when s Narendra Modi G had the option to choose over B as well as vasi he chose Varanasi because that is what the process is and Bara did go for by elections so I think it is not the congress party that is you know having B thing but it's the Prime Minister who is getting fearful of the of the people's going your network people's issues ma'am ma'am I can't hear you very well which is why I'm cutting you short my apologies your network is really bad but I got the gist of it you said the Prime Minister also left Gujarat to remain in Ash G last word and then I let close for us con 699 like to so I don't want to hold up everybody shata uh what's the upside the downside of this decision quickly and then I have one question for and Yash on vard versus R quickly yeah no yeah I mean I would like to take the thread that uh uh yashan G just spoke about now the divested and invested thing so the divested and invested plus the narrative that the BJP will create will become very expensive for the Congress now it will become very difficult and also the other point that he made about uh samajwadi party the absolute Reliance on samajwadi party to win the seat there are five assembly segments four of which are with SP and of the four one of them is a SE seat and there is bsp contain thing look at the complication there b akiles yadov is not free to come and you know canvas for Rahul Gandhi there he has to fight his own Canal seed and I will not say anything more you know more in a season of defections you don't know how risky this whole venture has become that's an excellent point we haven't spoken about samajwadi party at all and I that's why I said that the workers who were putting up the Holdings at night were ALS SP workers very quickly to dilip and yashwant dilip you said if Rahul Gandhi wins from up he'll still stay in vard you're still holding good on that D are you able to hear me yeah yes I can hear you um yes I can hear you um I think that if Rahul Gandhi has a choice uh he will in all likelihood keep Ward and I think that that is a wise choice to make because on shifting is not good uh from the point of view of atmospherics uh the point that jashan made is extremely important that winning a byelection by another party nominee is not going to be easy even if Rahul were to win ryber this time so if they're willing to take the chances of a loss after that then it's fine but I if I were to advise uh the congress party or Rahul Gandhi I would say don't aband Ward because that signaling will be absolutely incorrect for for the party as well as for you the party's strongest area is the South and you can't be seen as abandoning it for your family burrow so yashan this takes us back to where we started if if Rahul Gandhi wins rber and if Rahul Gandhi leaves rber Where Do We Stand then in understanding poits well I totally totally agree with dilip on that advice that he is giving because I also feel that within two years Congress is likely to be in a very strong Wicket to win Kerala and abandoning vard will geop parize that situation you know Congress in nowhere near winning utar Pradesh as the Assembly Election you know right now but why you know Keep A Bird in Hand better than two in the bush in that way you know giving up vard would probably would be not a very good political strategy so I actually agree with him that if he wins both he should ideally keep you know vard but having again going back to the original thing which I started leaving Rial in that case would be a kind of a complete disaster because it means can you imagine and and then expecting prianka Gandhi to be Li bipole would be very very unfair for prianka Gandhi sorry sorry shata has a brief injection shata no no no I completely agree with the brilliant analysis that ywan g is making either Ward or ryber you you know leaving uh either of these seats is a very complicated it's very very brilliant brilliant way in which he it across so so that's I was kind of perplexed this morning that you know from 24 firefighting it might look good but beyond that I perplexed what they should have done should have remained invested in Ami and Rial both and you know given a good fight that would have been a good thing but right now as I as we look at it uh the movement marketing management yes they took the lead but uh I also have this gut feeling the way the narrative will be now built up on the BJP from here onward will be less problematic for the Congress and more problematic for the Congress Alli very interesting we have to wait and see what kind of reactions come in from the Congress Partners in particular the samajwadi party who may may be thinking there could be that feeling also in in thep especially when it comes to ATI there no great answers here for the Congress moment marketing yes but what happens after that we don't know but as theep says for political pundits and journalists it's great fun a lot to talk about a lot to debate and that's the Maz that's the whole Mazza of Elections thank you so much to chitra G to Ashwini G to yashan sugata and deip and to our audience thank you

Channel: Mojo Story

Views: 53,809

Keywords: amethi lok, lok sabha amethi, congress amethi, amethi candidate, amethi raebareli, raebareli, amethi candidate congress, amethi election, news amethi, raebareli lok sabh, kishori lal, kishori lal sharma amethi, kishori lal sharma, k l sharma congres, amethi lok sabha constituency, congress, bjp vs congress, smriti irani, rahul gandhi, priyanka gandhi, sonia gandhi, lok sabha elections 2024, elections 2024, mojo story, barkha dutt

Id: dfYIDnPYkpw

Length: 47min 13sec (2833 seconds)

Published: Fri May 03 2024