By IANS,
New Delhi : Notwithstanding Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi’s public statements against sycophancy and his talk of democratization of the party, his young colleagues do not seem to be heeding him. The latest issue of ‘Congress Yuva Sandesh’, the mouthpiece of the Youth Congress, looks like a family album of the Gandhi family.
The Hindi version of the Congress Yuva Sandesh is liberally splashed with pictures of Rahul – right from his childhood to his involvement in political activities, of his late father Rajiv Gandhi, his sister Priyanka Vadra, her husband Robert Vadra and their son Rehan.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi and former prime ministers from the family – both Indira Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru – occupy the rest of the space in the 43-page magazine that came out Friday.
The latest issue, branded as a ‘Congress Yuva Sandesh’, has at least 25 photographs of Rajiv Gandhi, whose death anniversary was observed May 21, and more than 50 photographs of Rahul, who is viewed as the ruling party’s future prime ministerial candidate.
The Hindi version listed Rahul’s name as a “source of inspiration”. An article by Jagdish Sharma showers praises on the Congress general secretary, in charge of the youth and students’ wing of the party, saying that he had “even sacrificed the ministerial post offered to him to work for the organization”.
“If not today, tomorrow Rahul will hold the reins of this country,” Sharma predicts, adding that the Amethi MP dreams of a “corruption free and terror free” India.
It is not only Rahul, the young leaders of the Congress are placing their hopes on. According to Sharma, Priyanka is “four steps ahead of Indira Gandhi”.
Sharma has lavished praise on Priyanka for her recent meeting with Nalini, one of the conspirators of her father’s assassination in 1991 in Sriperumbudur. Priyanka’s pictures are splashed along with those of her husband and son. There is also a four-page article on Nehru.
While the front page is adorned with Rajiv Gandhi’s portrait, the back page has a close-up of Priyanka with the title “Four steps ahead of Indira-ji”.