When she speaks politics, Wayanad's UDF candidate Priyanka Gandhi can seem slightly uninteresting. But when she sets out to touch hearts, the effect can be near magical. Priyanka's stump speeches across Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency is a mix of bland politics and wondrous emotional connect. What the orator in Priyanka demonstrates is the instinct of a publisher of short stories. The smartest of these publishers keep the impactful stories in the first pages and equally good or even better ones towards the end. The mediocre ones are spread in between.

The idea is to draw the readers in with the initial stories, create in them enough anticipation to devour even the middling stuff and then, just when persisting any longer would seem worthless, throw in a couple of brilliant tales that will leave them thinking that they had read a great collection. Priyanka does just this. And this strategy of hers was on show at Pookkottumpadom, a small town in Nilambur, Malappuram, on Wednesday.

This was also her last stump speech of the day. She had two big voter baits that were delivered at the start and the end of her speech. In the first bait she accounted for her brother's decision to choose Raebareli over Wayanad. In the second, she told voters in Wayanad, especially women, what they meant to her, and in a way nobody would have told them before. She reserved her most poignant political skills to drive home these two messages. In between, like mediocre offerings in a great short story collection, Priyanka packed her political points. And these were bland, uninspiring, and unnuanced. Mostly cliches. " Asking questions is the right of the people," was one. (This was ironical as the security detail around her made it impossible for any ordinary voter to ask her a question.) Here is another: " In a democracy, it is the power of the people that is paramount."  Another: " What we need most is progress."

Self-harming rhetoric
At times, her remarks were self-defeating. They sounded like a rebuke of her own party. " Look at the immense potential of this land," she said of Wayanad. " This could be a tourist centre to match any other in the world, " she said. Fact is, ever since Wayanad Lok Sabha was formed (in 2009), her party alone had won the seat. Her lament about the fall in the prices of agricultural products also sounded self-recriminatory. " The quality of your crops is unmatched. Yet rubber farmers are crying. You simply don't get enough support from the government, " she said. It is no secret that rubber prices started to tumble after the ASEAN-India free trade agreement was inked by the UPA government led by Manmohan Singh. Yet, thanks to the two voter baits Priyanka placed at the start and end of her campaign speeches, her hypocrisy would have easily gone unnoticed.

Forever grateful
She began with her brother. Priyanka did not give any excuse for Rahul Gandhi's decision to vacate the Wayanad seat. Any explanation would still have left Wayanad voters disappointed, even feeling betrayed. And before anyone could call her brother thankless, Priyanka disarmed her voters by collectively describing them as her brother's saviour. Causing many gathered women to tear up, she said she and her family were deeply indebted to Wayanad."My brother's career in politics has been one full of difficulties," Priyanka said. "Lies were spread against him in the media and social media by the BJP leadership. And many people believed these lies. Many people turned their backs on him. Some of his closest colleagues left him. And it was at this time, the most difficult period in his life, that he turned to you for support and encouragement," she said. Priyanka credited Wayanad voters for all her brother's achievements. "I am honoured to stand here before you because it was you who immediately recognised this man. No matter what lies were being told about him, you alone realised that this man is being attacked because he is standing for what is right. It is you who gave him the courage to keep fighting. It was because you were there that he could walk over 4000 km from Kanyakumari to Kashmir in the name of unity, in the name of peace and in the name of India," she said. There was wild applause but many were in tears.

Mother India
And before she wound up, she made them far more emotional. Nearly 80 per cent of the people who had gathered at Pookkottumpadom were women, mothers. By then it was 4 p.m. She send them a knowing smile. " I am told many of you have been sitting here since one o'clock. At the back of your mind you must be worrying about your children," she said. She had also called up her son and daughter and asked what they were up to, she said. There were smiles all around. " The minute you become a mother you start understanding what sacrifice is, what duty is, what responsibility is," she said. There were knowing nods from the gathered women. " And what do you ask for in return, from your children? You don't ask for castles or positions or that you should become this or that. You only ask that they should love you," she said. Again, there were nods, this time vigorously. " And when the child comes running and hugs you and holds you, you know that you have everything in the world and you don't need anything more," she said. Some of the women had started sobbing. And then, Priyanka turned herself into the mother who wanted nothing but the hugs. "This is the way I feel about you. You are my duty, you are my responsibility. I want nothing from you except your love and affection. " Saying this she stepped down the podium and, with an inviting smile, dashed towards the crowd. And the women, like an exuberant wave, swirled around her and submerged her.