Published date: Mar 2nd-15th 1981, New Delhi

Did Rajiv Gandhi bring off the Kisan Rally? Perhaps not single-handedly, but there is little doubt that the Rally was his brain-child. The Rally itself was a historic anti-climax. But it yielded the Congress(I) a massive propaganda victory. From beginning to end, the entire affair was characterised by a relentless media blitzkrieg, helped along by the party’s organisational expertise.

In early January, Rajiv and his friends, looking around for a way to prop up Mrs Gandhi’s and the Party’s sagging morale, hit upon the idea of convening a Kisan Rally. Why a Kisan Rally? Because, Rajiv’s men argued, a party workers’ Rally would smack of storm-trooping and win little acclaim. Farmers in various parts of the country were raising banners of revolt. What better way to deflate those “sham” farmers’ leaders, and the opposition parties who sought to take up their cudgels, than to call a farmers’ Rally? What better way to demonstrate the Party’s crowd- gathering power than to stage a gimmick that Charan Singh had invented in 1978, and succeed doubly?

All that was needed was a quiet suggestion to Arjun Singh, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, who responded admirably. On 16 January, Singh summoned six fellow CMs (Dar- bara Singh, Gundu Rao, Bhajan Lal, VP Singh, Jagannath Mishra and Jagannath Pahadia) to a meeting at MP Bhavan in Delhi. Word went out immediately to the Party’s far-flung outposts.

One man who helped Rajiv a lot was Romi Chopra, the balding adman who, very evidently, was in charge of “conceptualising” the Rally. Chopra supervised the design and construction of the huge rostrum on the Boat Club grounds, inspected floral designs, decided the colour scheme for the bunting, arranged for closed-circuit television at the venue, and in general, was Rajiv’s very efficient factotum.

As the rostrum neared completion on 13 February and miles of barricades came up, dividing the huge swath of land from the Boat Club to India Gate into enclosures, Rajiv began to make regular appearances at the site to supervise things. The first day he drove up in Sanjay’s Matador and attracted a lot of attention. Along with Romi Chopra and DPCC(I) Pres- ident HKL Bhagat, he also oversaw the placement of 125 television sets. The rostrum was to be draped in Congress(I) colours, and Rajiv asked Pramod Mathur, a flee-lance photo- grapher, for lighting suggestions. Mathur was to produce a short film on the Rally. When a photographer from the National Herald clicked a few shots, he was requested firmly not to print them.

Uneasy: The next day, wiser, Rajiv arrived in a brand-new Ambassador, accompanied again by Chopra. This time, NEW DELHI’S photographer managed to get a few shots from a distance. But Rajiv was patently un- easy. He kept gravitating towards Chopra’s side, and when Chopra was not close by, went off to a shady corner. All the while, however, Rajiv issued instructions on seating arrangements for dignitaries, security precautions and the like.

Chopra was not idle, meanwhile. He frequently visited AICC(I) headquarters at 24 Akbar Road, where he seemed to enjoy unrestricted access to the general secretaries. Affecting a casual jean-clad look (as did Rajiv) Chopra, a packet of Dunhill cigarettes in hand, became a familiar figure- talking to deferential police chiefs, Congress(I) leaders and workers, gesticulating, scribbling instructions on a tear-pad, and hovering around Rajiv. Worried that NEW DELHI might use the Rajiv photograph, Chopra produced a complicated simile. “Why do you want to photograph a woman when she has just got out of bed?” he said. “Take all the pictures you want when she’s put on her make-up.”

Even Mrs Gandhi’s white sari seemed hand-picked, because it stood out in vivid contrast to the flaming orange canopy over her head.

The master stroke, however, was that Rajiv himself was not present when the Rally actually took place. The previous night, he visited most of the 27 kisan camps around Delhi, met the farmers, enquired after their welfare, and returned to the Boat Club to oversee final touches. Early in the morning, on Rally day, he took a joy-ride in Vishwa Bandhu Gupta’s balloon and had a bird’s-eye view of the arrangements. Then he drove off home, confounding the prophets who had predicted that he would be “ordained” officially at the Rally. Later, basking in the well-executed Rally’s aftermath, a Congress(I) lead- er had the honesty to admit: “If it wasn’t for Rajiv, this Rally would have never got off the ground.”