Huge pictures of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh alongside other Congress candidates for the ongoing Lok Sabha elections stare down you from the hoardings in almost all towns and cities of Punjab where the prime minister reigns as the supreme leader of his party while party president Sonia Gandhi is just reduced to a thumb-size picture in the corner.
“Have you ever known a Sikh who is weak?” asked Rahul Gandhi, the Congress general secretary, who came on a whirlwind campaign to the state before the polling for nine Lok Sabha seats on May 13.
The euphoric crowd shouted an emphatic ‘no’ followed by the loud cries of ‘Sat Sri Akal’. At this point, Gandhi works further on invoking the ‘Sikh’ pride. “Give a befitting reply to those who had cast aspersions on India’s first Sikh prime minister by making Manmohan Singh’s party return to power.”
This was in reference to the recent criticism of Singh being a ‘weak’ prime minister by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders.
Rahul posed this question at all his rallies — in Moga, Vishalpur, Ludhiana and Mohali — in the state on Saturday.
In Punjab, where Sikhs outnumber others, the Congress is making the most of Manmohan Singh’s image as a clean and no-nonsense leader. Its campaign for the Lok Sabha elections is centred on Manmohan Singh, the first Sikh prime minister, who was handpicked by Sonia Gandhi, and is being projected again.
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While wooing the people in Punjab, Rahul Gandhi said the people of the state had played a crucial role in all situations and now it was time for them to “see that the only the Sikh prime minister’s party wins in the face of challenge thrown by LK Advani of the BJP”.
All the leaders, including Rahul and Mohsina Kidwai, Congress general secretary in charge of Punjab, refer to Singh as Sardar Manmohan Singh. Congress sources said the Prime Minister may fly to Ludhiana — the financial capital of the state — on May 12, the day before polling, to wind up the party’s national campaign for the Lok Sabha polls.
Punjab has seen polling in four constituencies on May 7, while the remaining nine will go to polls on May 13. Analysts believe that a huge under-current in favour of the Congress is flowing this time across the state this time.
Currently, the Congress has two seats in the Lok Sabha from Punjab, while the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal and BJP combine have 11. Analysts feel the Congress would improve its tally in the state this time riding on a pro-Manmohan Singh wave.
Congress leaders, in their speeches give full credit to Singh for launching the flagship schemes like the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), waiving off the loans of farmers and all other anti-poverty schemes. Comparing Mahmohan Singh with Advani, Rahul Gandhi said ''how could a Prime Minister be weak when he stood firm on the Indo-US nuclear deal.’’