The media must be free and fair, uninfluenced by corporate or state interests. That's why you, the public, need to pay to keep news free.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra may not be contesting as a Congress candidate from either Rae Bareli or Amethi but she has taken charge of the party’s campaign in the two Lok Sabha seats seen as the Nehru-Gandhi family boroughs.

Rahul Gandhi is the Congress candidate from Rae Bareli, where the BJP has fielded UP minister Dinesh Pratap Singh, while Congress leader Kishori Lal Sharma is contesting against Union minister Smriti Irani in Amethi.

Sreenivasan Jain caught up with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on the campaign trail in Amethi, where they discussed several issues, ranging from the party’s prospects and strategy in this election, the BJP’s allegations about its agenda, and what she wishes for her brother. Excerpts:

The first question which everyone wants to know, your point of view, that we’re now kind of toward the end of this election. How do you think it’s poised? Is it, as many people believed at the outset, or at least the BJP made it seem a done deal? Or not?

They made it seem like that. And I think as the election is progressing, it’s appearing to be quite different. The reports we are getting from the ground are very positive for the INDIA alliance and I think what’s happening is all over, wherever we are going, at least that’s the experience we have, is people want change. They’re getting a bit tired of this sort of politics.

Are you saying the BJP is going to lose?

I’m saying the INDIA alliance is going to win.

Okay. With all respect though Priyanka this is exactly what the Congress said in 2019 as well. In fact, I interviewed Rahul. He said BJP ka safaachat ho jayega (the BJP will be wiped out) and we know what happened.

That’s fine.

So what’s the change…

We’ll see what’ll happen.

So what’s the change, what’s the difference you’re seeing?

What I see is, in the crowds, in the people we meet – there is a certain sense of – look, we’ve been told that all these wonderful things are happening but we’re not seeing it in our life. So we are suffering, prices are so high, we can’t manage anymore. The farmer is suffering, ordinary people are suffering, we don’t see anything. And they’re not even getting the basic respect from the government and from the prime minister. And other BJP politicians, to be told that this is what we’ve done for you, this is what we want to do. Not even that. So they’re not seeing it in their own life. And they’re also not being told. The discussion during election rallies and all is completely different. I mean, we’re talking about completely different things, than what is actually affecting the public. So I think now the public is beginning to get a bit tired of this. And at least from what they tell us they really want to hear what parties want to do to alleviate the kind of price rise there is and to help them to cope with the difficulties they have in their lives.

So I wanted to ask your view on this because when we go out and ask the public it's true that we do hear complaints. There’s price rise, unemployment, all of that. But when we ask who will you vote for? They still say BJP or Modi. So then we say why? They say one of the reasons is…(an) alternative…is not visible.

With all due respect, I don’t think the public trusts you anymore.

Who? Me?

The media.

Okay. I thought, me, personally.

I don’t think the public trusts the media. So I don’t think the public is even going to tell you what they're thinking because there is a very strong belief amongst the public as well that the media is not actually being truthful anymore and that the media is just functioning and working for the government. I don’t think they're wrong. I mean you know from your own experience that they’re not wrong.

No, no, of course I completely agree that large swathes of the media are propagandist. But I was making a different point. I was trying to make the point that there’s a sense in which there’s a little bit of a confusion about the alternative because I know…we don’t have a presidential system but when you have this Modi thing…who is the leader in front of us?

But this is what they said in 2004 as well. They said it in 2009 as well.

So what the outcome is going to be, frankly, you and I are only going to find out when we have an outcome before us.

Sure. But you don’t think it’s a disadvantage that…

But whether this is something that is really bothering the public or not, neither you and I can tell, because it hasn’t in the past. There have been plenty of elections where the candidate, the prime ministerial candidate hasn’t been clear right from the beginning and they’ve gone the way they’ve gone. So I don’t think it’s such a big issue in their minds. I think what is more prominent in the minds of the public today is the fact that there is a historic rate of unemployment today and the price rise is something that they just cannot manage anymore and the farmer is not able to make ends meet.

Okay, so you’re saying that the INDIA alliance has the edge. The BJP is slipping. Now whether for that reason or for whatever reason we don’t know. The prime minister has changed tack halfway through this campaign. He is talking of Muslims, he is talking of mangal sutra, he is........

© newslaundry