Rita Joshi now most popular in UP
July 18th 2009 16:32
Like Joan of Arc, Rita Bahuguna Joshi the UPCC chief, has been tried by fire and not found wanting. Free now as she has been enlarged on bail Rita has now become an icon of the common man’s struggle against misrule and corruption in Uttar Pradesh where the rulers have become larger than the statues they build in the parks that nobody in the state wants.
Rita’s agnipariksha began the day she inadvertently uttered a statement that caused grief to the chief minister Mayawati. She expressed regret for it and so did the Congress President Sonia Gandhi, but still she was arrested and was charged under several acts and lodged in Moradabad jail. Within seconds she had become the most well known face in Uttar Pradesh politics after Mulayam and Mayawati. At last in a state where personality cult rules the voter, the UPCC chief was now at par with the BSP and SP chiefs.
Her popularity soared even higher as the common man’s heart went out to her when suddenly and mysteriously the house in which she resided in Lucknow burst into flames. What was most surprising was that this bungalow was in a high security zone where the Vidhan Sabha, Mall Avenue where all the Ministers stay, and CM Mayawati herself resides, where a thousand policemen are always present and the Governor is within hailing distance and so are several IAS, IPS officers in Raj Bhavan Colony. This house was suddenly surrounded by a mob after her arrested almost 400 km away and the mob torched the building.
In those flames the image of the BSP took a beating forever, today Dalits, non-dalits, Congressmen, SP workers, even BSP workers all in their heart of hearts support Rita. All except those who were involved in the arson at her residence and obviously did it for love of money or proximity to power? Only an inquiry will reveal the real truth, and as Sriprakash Jaiswal and Digvijay Singh said only a CBI inquiry. But it does not take a CBI or any inquiry today to say who is the most popular leader in Uttar Pradesh today after Rahul and Sonia Gandhi, it is Rita Bahuguna. In fact the Congress is rocking in UP.
All that Mayawati has achieved from this exercise is giving Rita tremendous publicity.
Rita’s agnipariksha began the day she inadvertently uttered a statement that caused grief to the chief minister Mayawati. She expressed regret for it and so did the Congress President Sonia Gandhi, but still she was arrested and was charged under several acts and lodged in Moradabad jail. Within seconds she had become the most well known face in Uttar Pradesh politics after Mulayam and Mayawati. At last in a state where personality cult rules the voter, the UPCC chief was now at par with the BSP and SP chiefs.
In those flames the image of the BSP took a beating forever, today Dalits, non-dalits, Congressmen, SP workers, even BSP workers all in their heart of hearts support Rita. All except those who were involved in the arson at her residence and obviously did it for love of money or proximity to power? Only an inquiry will reveal the real truth, and as Sriprakash Jaiswal and Digvijay Singh said only a CBI inquiry. But it does not take a CBI or any inquiry today to say who is the most popular leader in Uttar Pradesh today after Rahul and Sonia Gandhi, it is Rita Bahuguna. In fact the Congress is rocking in UP.
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