Amma Indiramma Canteen

The failed, nincompoop Congress Scion Rahul Gandhi announced opening of "Indira Amma Canteen" in Bangalore, touting to make the poor folks from the state of Karnataka free from hunger via freebie doles. The timing is apparent. He is laying the groundwork for the next year's crucial poll in this Southern state with lots at stake for the party.

For the forever young and forever novice politican, this is a desperate attempt to stay afloat when his as well as his party's fortune has tanked rock bottom. Losing a major state like Karnataka will leave his personal fiefdom called Congress party in tatters -confined and shrunk only to small states like Punjab. 

So nothing to lose, this is his last ditch attempt at survival at any cost. But at what cost ! Freebies can fetch some votes as vindicated by AIADMK in Tamil Nadu and Naveen Patnaik's BJD in Odisha - its ruining impact on the economy of the state and work culture be damned.

Peak monsoon and flooding in India brings this Odia proverb to mind - BUDI GALA LOKA KUTA KHIA KU ASHRA KARE, simply meaning, a drowning man clutches the straw as the last resort to stay afloat. Rahul Gandhi's situation is not far from this scenario. Only time will tell the efficacy of this move.

Naming this scheme after her grandmother only shows signs of desperation. It is as good as beating a dead horse after 33 years of its death. It is true that once upon a time Indira Gandhi attained a cult status. In spite of imposing emergency and being ruthless, she could have won the elections in 1977 and probably declared herself as Empress of India, but for the JP (Janata Party) united under iconic JP (Jayaprakash Narain).

In fact she swept South India where they only knew to cast their vote for AMMA  INDIRAMMA, or Mother Indira. It included the state of Karnataka where then Indira led Congress party swept 27 out of the 28 Lok Sabha seats allotted to it. It probably prompted Rahul Gandhi ki NAANI YAAD A GAYEE or grandmother came suddenly to his mind (a phrase often used by his father), to resuscitate his moribund fortune.

The Indira wave from the South touched 4 seats of Odisha bordering Andhra where folks would say in the local dialect KAANGRESS KU VOTE DABARA EKKA (we only would vote for Congress), though she lost from rest of Odisha and India. She had her own blind followers or devotees (BHAKT) earning a cult status, in spite of what she did. 

But every product has an expiry date. This is not 1970s. Many who will be be voting in next election barely remember her, perhaps their grandparents were the last ones who voted for Amma Indiramma. But desperate times invoke desperate measures. It's rather Congress Party's hunger for vote, not acare for hungry voters.