| | | | | | | | | | |
ECONOMIST Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:03:13 GMT
Rahul in fly-blown corner THE famous speaker draws a hefty crowd, but little enthusiasm. Farmers and residents of Gorakhpur, a scruffy, fast-growing market town in eastern Uttar Pradesh (UP), have waited for hours in a wintry wind to hear him, weather-beaten old men huddling for warmth at the front. “I have no expectation,” says one of these. “I’ve only come to see.”Rahul Gandhi’s stump speech (brief and earnest) earns few cheers. The heir both to the Gandhi-Nehru dynasty and the ruling Congress Party pledges a state government for UP of all castes and tribes. Rolling up his sleeves and jabbing a finger in the air, he talks of fighting corruption. He gets a single chuckle by telling of an elephant that chomps government money meant for the poor—a blunt reference to Mayawati, the charismatic teacher-turned-chief minister, whose wealth has attracted as-yet unproven accusations of massive graft.It is hard-going for any politician in this fly-blown corner notorious for organised......
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Full List of India articles |
|
|