Mumbai, Feb. 5: He came, didn’t speak to the media, didn’t see the people gathered alongside roads and ignored the protesting Shiv Sena workers, but by the time he left had captured the city’s imagination. No waving of hands, no hankering about the
Congress’ hand being with the downtrodden, no coming close to barricades to shake hands with people. Congress MP Rahul Gandhi had more daring plans on his much-awaited Mumbai visit on Friday. He managed to trick the Sena agitators and even frazzled his own securitymen by going on an impromptu ride on the metropolis’ lifeline — taking a local train from Andheri to Dadar, and then from Dadar to Ghatkopar, all in one trip.
After interacting with students from different colleges for an hour at Vile Parle’s Bhaidas Hall, the Congress icon left, ignoring the waiting media, to spring the day’s surprise. He had arrived at the venue in an SUV after flying in by chartered helicopter to a nearby helipad, and on leaving was scheduled to head for his next destination at Ramabai Nagar, Ghatkopar, by the helicopter which was waiting for him. To everybody’s surprise, however, instead of heading back to the helipad, his motorcade headed straight for Andheri railway station, stopping only at an ATM on the way where Rahul withdrew some money.
At Andheri station, he bought a ticket, boarded the train and found a seat for himself, leaving co-passengers almost in a state of shock to see the Congress general secretary in their midst. Rahul got off at Dadar, spoke to people there, shook hands with a few and even signed some autographs. He then switched over to the Central Railway line from the Western Railway, boarding the 1.29 pm Kalyan local, which stopped at Kurla on the way to Ghatkopar, where he disembarked. Rahul went to Ramabai Nagar, where he briefly met Youth Congress leaders, garlanded Dr B.R. Ambedkar’s statue and then headed back to his waiting helicopter to fly to the airport. His next stop would be Puduchery.
The Shiv Sena, meanwhile, had its tail between its legs. Sena supremo Bal Thackeray had called for black flags to be shown to Rahul Gandhi in protest against his statement that Mumbai "belongs to every Indian"; directly challenging the Sena line that the Marathi manoos should reign supreme there. The police, fearing violence and disturbances, had made elaborate security arrangements for Mr Gandhi’s visit, with police commissioner D. Sivanandan personally standing by at the Vile Parle site to supervise.
The Sena did hold protests, but there was no punch in it on Friday, particularly after many of its activists were picked up on Thursday night. Early on Friday morning, Sena corporator Rajul Patel, wearing a black sari and accompanied by a dozen others, was seen protesting outside Bhaidas Hall and was picked up, as was Ravindra Waikar, MLA from Jogeshwari (East), from near N.M. College. Sena protesters burnt Rahul’s effigy near Cooper Hospital, but it was a lack lucklustre show.
Umesh Mohite