The Hindu : Sonia goes native

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Dec 22, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Andhra Pradesh

Sonia goes native

By Our Staff Reporter

WARANGAL DEC. 21. The All-India Congress party president, Sonia Gandhi, stole the hearts of thousands of women turned up for the meeting from remote areas of Telangana when she obliged two Lambada women and draped herself with the traditional Lambada wear presented to her on the dais here on Saturday.

The two lucky women however were not happy enough and tied the colourful lehenga around her waist to give her "the proper look.'' Then it was the turn of the "pallu'' with which Ms. Sonia Gandhi covered her head, but when they insisted on her wearing the "choli'' too, she said enough and just slung it over her. And when the turn came for the smiling women to triumphantly walk away, she called them back, drew them closer and posed for a photo op for the scores of cameramen.

The AICC secretary, V. Hanumanth Rao, who has been virtually in-charge of the arrangements for the last 10 days kept up the morale of people waiting at the venue in large numbers for hours by his glib talk in native tongue. He literally directed the police from the podium in their crowd management business and was of great help in disciplining the restless multitude. There was not a second he wasted urging people to observe restraint or in asking the police to allow or disallow people.

When thirsty presspersons drew the attention of Mr. Rao to the empty water bottles, he immediately announced over the public address system the problem being faced by the scribes.

The police and his volunteers immediately fetched bottles. The meeting itself must have been a happy occasion for Mr. Rao as his efforts bore fruit in the form of the thronging masses. This despite the non-cooperation launched by some local leaders.

Thousands who eagerly came to have a glimpse of "Indiramma's daughter-in-law'' had to trek more than two kilometres to the venue as police diverted the vehicles coming from outside at the ring road. Lorries, buses and four-wheelers which ferried people from different parts of the region were halted on the outskirts to prevent chaos in the town. As soon as the ground was packed, security personnel closed the gates and did not allow anyone to enter to prevent stampede. A large number of disappointed people had to wait on the main thoroughfares and listen to the speeches. Soon after the meeting, many of them were seen making enquiries with those coming out of the college grounds to get an insight into the goings-on in the ground.

Some of the women seemed to be thrilled at watching Ms. Sonia Gandhi wearing a deep maroon coloured cotton saree "just like us.'' And there was the `tilak' too on her forehead.

Earlier, Ms. Sonia Gandhi inaugurated the new super speciality cardiology block at the Jaya Hospitals being run by the former MP, T. Kalpana Devi. She went round the establishment and made enquires on the facilities available. She later distributed assets worth Rs. 1 lakh donated by the hospital to the handicapped women. The new block was dedicated to the memory of Rajiv Gandhi.

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