Lucknow: Flanked by Kashi priests chanting Vedic mantras, Ajay Rai Thursday took charge as the chief of the Congress’ Uttar Pradesh unit.
Rai taking charge in an open pandal on the premises of the UP Congress office in Lucknow — amid scores of party workers, including hundreds of supporters from his home turf Purvanchal, chanting “Har Har Mahadev” — marked a significant departure from tradition. Preceding state chiefs took charge inside the party office.
Rai’s first message to party workers was to strive to make Rahul Gandhi the prime minister in 2024, and he asked them to “spend every hour and day” to achieve the goal.
“Today, when I started from Kashi (Rai is from Varanasi), I felt that the entire strength (of people) is with me,” he said.
“When people from Kashi, the land of Baba Vishwanath, and neighbouring districts formed a convoy of vehicles, the entire administration of the state became alert everywhere, because each and every worker has decided that, in 2024, the Congress should come (to power) and Rahul Gandhi should become the prime minister of the country,” he said.
The biggest responsibility to make Rahul PM lies with the party’s Uttar Pradesh unit, he said.
“If we err in UP, fall weak, then we won’t be able to make him the PM in 2024. Hence, we have to work day and night and devote every day, every hour to work for Rahul Gandhi, Congress, (Congress chief) Mallikarjun Kharge and Priyanka Gandhi,” he added.
“…If you emerge strong in 2024, I can assure you that 2027 (when the next UP assembly election takes place) will also belong to us and we will win every Vidhan Sabha seat and every region,” he said.
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‘We will turn the bulldozer around’
Rai, who contested the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections against PM Narendra Modi from Varanasi, started his stint as state Congress chief with an attack on the Modi government at the Centre and the Yogi Adityanath administration in Uttar Pradesh.
Both are oppressive, he said, adding that they use the “Enforcement Directorate (ED), the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and bulldozers” to threaten those who speak up.
“Woh bulldozer ka muh ghuma denge hum log (We will turn the bulldozer around). We will stand in front of the bulldozer and not let injustice and cruelty happen, I assure you,” Rai said.
Accusing the BJP of “bulldozing the media”, Rai sought to dare the central and state governments to send a bulldozer to his house.
“Let them send a bulldozer to Ajay Rai’s house. Let them send me to jail, I will not let you down, we will remove them from power,” he added.
Rai said he had chosen 24 August as the date to take charge for a reason. “Today, it is 24th (date). On 24th, we start the preparation for 2024. The reason for choosing 24th… is to send a message for 2024 (election),” Rai said.
When Congress MP Pramod Tiwari suggested that the Congress will be beyond stopping if Rai is able to finish the distance between the party workers and leaders, the latter said he would support party workers and stand with them, “from Chandauli to Ghaziabad and from Bundelkhand to Bahraich on the Nepal border”.
(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)
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