Promises to youth, one kept, one made

Having promised to campaign for seven young men and women, each of whom he had reportedly selected, Rahul Gandhi found himself against an obstacle today. He worked his way round it, even if it meant making a detour through another state. It was his first campaign tour in West Bengal.


Of the four rallies on Rahul’s itinerary today, three were in constituencies being contested by one or the other of the seven Youth Congress members he selected. The first, Mal in Jalpaiguri, presented no problem. A rainstorm then made it impossible to helicopter to Mothabari in Malda.


The route from Bihar to Malda was, however, clear. Rahul abandoned his helicopter after the rally at Mal, where he campaigned for Youth Congress member Hiramon Oraon, 32. He drove to Bagdogra Airport, took a special plane to Purnea in Bihar, and from there took another helicopter to Bengal for the rallies at Mothabari and Domkal, Murshidabad.


In his pitch for his young candidates, Rahul centred his speeches around the youth — what the Left Front has not given them, what the Congress and its ally can.


Campaigning for Sabina Yeasmin 32, at Mothabari, he pointed out that she is a youth herself and will therefore work for the interests of the youth.


He blamed the Left government for lack of job opportunities, saying 15 per cent of the youth are unemployed in the cities and 10 per cent in the villages. “There are two ways to find a job... One, you leave West Bengal and go to a state like Rajasthan, Maharashtra or Bihar; second, you become a CPM member.”