The great Congress mela

Pheroze L. Vincent

New Delhi, Dec 19: Putting to rest all queries about his religion, a huge banner with a smiling Rahul Gandhi read: “The Indian flag is my religion.” This was among a series of banners lining Dr. Hegdewar Marg, on the periphery of the The All India Congress Committee’s 83rd plenary session in Burari, near the Delhi- Haryana border.

The banners also had images of local Congressmen who had erected them, complete with even their aliases. Aliases like Bobby, Lalu, Bhairon unnerved a sexagenarian Congressman from Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, who got off the van with me. “Yeh sab Kangressi hain,” (Are these Congressmen?) he remarked.

“Jaath se hum Brahmin hain. Naam hai mera Dubey,” (I am a Brahmin named Dubey) he said introducing himself. Dubey, visibly annoyed after realizing we had got off 4.5 km. from the main entrance, went on, “Corruption and price rise will kill this party. Coming here is just an obligation to the organization my family has been part of. Look how well, Nitish and Modi are working. Why can’t we abolish the (corruption ridden) MLA- LADS scheme like Nitish?”

The Burari complex is huge- an ocean of white tents and kurta-pyjamas- surrounded by a wall of khaki. Policemen from almost every state in the country have accompanied the Congressmen they guard. Though I didn’t have a pass, I could work my way through the Central Resreve Police cordon with the rudimentary Malayalam I know.

Budaun’s Suresh Goswami stood out among this white flood. Sporting a tattered tricolour kurta and bandana, with an array of shells and beads, he has been attending Congress sessions for 22 years. “Everyone knows me,” he said, rattling off names of every known Congress boss. “I want the Congress to win,” he shouted- his voice whistling between the four teeth he has left. “I dress like this for leaders to recognize me.”

The Burari complex also has a make shift post office, a railway reservation counter and a Directorate of Audio Visual Publicity stall selling “calandars” [sic] of endangered species. The post office says they haven’t made much of a profit. “We’re only here because we have been ordered to,” said a postal worker.

The stall with the largest crowd though is the ones selling Congress merchandise- flags, badges, diaries and posters of the Mahatma Gandhi, the Nehru- Gandhi family and even Ambedkar. Congressmen made a beeline at the section selling Kurta material.

“First me, mera teen metre kaato,” (cut three meters for me) barked a leader wearing a “We want Telangana” scarf. He wanted a mint green kurta for himself. He and a couple of others later took pains to explain to others that they were from Telangana, not Andhra Pradesh’s Congress.

There weren’t any foreign delegates of fraternal parties to be seen, except for Adrian Forster from London. Part of the West Bengal Congress’ theatre troop, Adrian is playing the role of Allan Octavian Hume- the party’s founder.

“The presentation will recreate the first session of the party in Bombay in 1885. It is a combination of theatre, dance, cinema and music. There is also film footage of the anti-partition movement of Bengal,” said the director and WBPCC spokesperson Sukhendu Sekhar Roy.

The 17 minute show has 60 actors drawn from various theatres of Calcutta. “We don’t want to mention their names else it may unnecessarily give political colour to these theatre groups,” Roy added.

Behind the scenes, an army of cooks stacked piles of jalebis, kachoris, and other sweets. Sambar, with an overdose of red chillies, simmered as Congress leaders and cops dropped by to sample the grub.

Some felt that the food wasn’t up to the mark and the power cuts were unacceptable. But for Chandy Oomen, of the Youth Congress, “the session gave a feel of India.”

“It’s a great exposure for youngsters to the party's line of thought,” he added.

At the exit, Mary Babychan of the All India Womens’ Association created a ruckus. “The Lord is coming she said,” holding up a bible. “I want to see Sonia. They should give each family 5 kg rice at Re. 1 per kilo like Tamil Nadu. You policemen, who are you to stop me? Will you stop me when judgment day comes.”

A crowd of Seva Dal cadre and police gathered. “Am I saying anything wrong,” Mary asked them. A plain-clothes police man came and took her name and address. On his list were a couple of other names too.

I asked him if he would take action against her. He asked me where my pass was.