By P.T. Bopanna
But for the ‘Gandhi brand’, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi would have lost her maiden Lok Sabha election from Bellary in Karnataka in 1999. I covered the election which will go down as one of the watershed moments in Independent India’s electoral history.
Sonia’s new book has been making waves in the last few days and she has become a household name, much to the dislike of the Hindutva brigade.
However, way back in 1999, hardly anybody had heard Sonia’s name in most parts of Bellary. On the other hand, her BJP rival Sushma Swaraj, had endeared herself with the people of Bellary by speaking in Kannada language which she learnt in a short time. Though Sushma hailed from the North, she picked up working knowledge of Kannada to campaign in the high-profile electoral battle.
I travelled extensively in remote parts of Bellary, one of the most backward districts in Karnataka. Bellary was apparently chosen for the then newly minted Congress president because the Congress had never lost an election from Bellary since 1952.
During my travels in a remote area, I asked an elderly woman as to whom she was going to vote. She replied she was voting for Gandhi. I asked her which Gandhi. She innocently muttered she was not aware which Gandhi it was. “We were given this house/site by Gandhi”, she remarked pointing at a mud-house.
The ‘Gandhi brand’ was powerful across Karnataka because of the progressive and pro-poor policies pursued by Devaraj Urs as chief minister during the 1970s. Since Urs carried out the developmental works in the name of prime minister Indira Gandhi, the ‘Gandhi brand’ became a powerful electoral symbol. Though Devaraj Urs broke away from Indira and started his own regional formation, he could not sustain it because of the powerful Gandhi brand he had built.
Sonia won by a margin of over 56,000 votes, solely on the power of the Gandhi brand. Sonia also won from Amethi, a Gandhi family pocket borough in Uttar Pradesh.
In politics, brands play a major role. No doubt prime minister Modi has built his own Modi brand. Unlike Devaraj Urs who made the mistake of boosting Gandhi surname, Modi has cleverly crafted his brand, by insulating it from the RSS. No doubt, Modi encourages his followers to shout Modi, Modi wherever he goes. Seldom one hears chants for BJP or RSS.
P.T. Bopanna is a Bengaluru-based author and journalist