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CHANDIGARH: Amethi MP Rahul Gandhi began
his maiden tour of Punjab on Monday. His itinerary had
everything from paying obeisance at the Golden Temple to
watching a kabbadi match, a morning meal at a langar
(community kitchen) to savouring authentic sarson da saag
with makki di roti for lunch and a road show in
Chandigarh to participating in a village fair at Patiala.
Aimed ostensibly at galvanising the party
at the grassroots in Punjab before the Lok Sabha polls, the
Congress general secretary is scheduled to touch as many as 18
of Punjab’s 20 districts in three days, when he would also
listen to the problems of the workers and promote enrolment for
the Youth Congress.
Citing “security reasons” Congress
sources had previously ruled out his visiting the Golden Temple
complex. Mr. Gandhi surprised many as a television channel
spotted him in the Sikh shrine in the morning. Clad in a white
kurta-pyjama and sporting a saffron patka, he offered
prayers at the sanctum sanctorum and partook of the community
meal in the langar building. During his 25-minute stay,
he was surrounded by volunteers of the SGPC task force, SPG
guards in civvies and local Congress leaders.
Mr. Gandhi’s visit to the Golden Temple
is seen by observers here as quite significant in Punjab’s
political scenario, especially after his grandmother, former
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, earned the animosity of the Sikh
community for ordering the army action “Operation Bluestar” to
flush out militants holed up in the shrine in June 1984. Since
his mother Sonia Gandhi’s visit in 1999, Mr. Gandhi is the first
member of the Nehru-Gandhi clan to perform a complete
“parikarma” of the shrine.
Mr. Gandhi later paid floral tributes
to the martyrs of the Baisakhi Day massacre of 1919 at
Jallianwala Bagh and bowed to the deities at the Durgiana
Temple. He later flew to Chandigarh, where a road show was
organised near Hallomajra.
At Mohali, Mr. Gandhi made a brief
speech about how he enjoyed the kabbadi match, which he watched
quite keenly to imbibe the true “Punjabi spirit.” Congress
workers organised impressive receptions for him at Morinda and
Fatehgarh Sahib. Accompanied by another Congress general
secretary, Margaret Alva, who is in charge of the party’s Punjab
affairs, and Indian Youth Congress chief Ashok Tanwar, Mr.
Gandhi’s cavalcade stopped at Baran village on the outskirts of
Patiala for a traditional Punjabi meal.
Citizens of the erstwhile princely
State gave him a tumultuous welcome. He urged the youth to take
active part in politics. Later, he took a detour off the
Patiala-Sangrur highway near Nidampur to participate in the
Gugga Marhi (snake worship) fair at Namadan village. |
