Beyond Rahul Gandhi's blooper, it's the success of Amma canteens that Congress wants to emulate

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi while inaugurating the first Indira canteen in Bengaluru today mistakenly referred to it as Amma canteen once.

He said the canteen will serve the "poorest" and the "weakest" in Bengaluru and assured that the services will be comparable to any good restaurant in the city.

Rahul Gandhi's "Amma canteen" slip-of-tongue shows just how popular Amma canteens are. Launched in 2013 by then Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa, Amma canteens, or Amma Unavagam, are synonymous with good and affordable food.

At an Amma canteen, idlis cost a Re 1 each, while sambar rice or curry leaf rice costs Rs 5. A day after Jayalalithaa's death in December last year when entire Chennai was shut, Amma canteens continued to serve people.

In May 2014, a delegation from Egypt praised Amma canteens and expressed a desire to replicate the model back home. The Amma canteen by then had become a huge hit in Tamil Nadu, and consolidated Brand Amma.

Along with other social welfare initiatives such as Amma vegetable outlets, Amma water, Amma cinemas and Amma pharmacies, Jayalalithaa ensured she reached out to the electorate. The popularity of schemes such as Amma canteens manifested in a win for the AIADMK in 2016 Assembly election in Tamil Nadu.

OTHERS STATES COME UP WITH CANTEENS

The success of Amma canteen prompted other states to launch similar initiatives. In Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu inaugurated Anna NTR Canteen in June last year. Daily-wage workers and poor are provided subsidised meals at these canteens.

In 2015, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced that Aam Aadmi Canteens would replaced the Jan Ahaar project of the previous Sheila Dikshit-led Congress government.

After much delay, Delhi finally got its first Aam Aadmi Canteen in January this year. The first such canteen was opened at the Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan Hospital on a pilot basis where the meals cost Rs 10.

LITMUS TEST FOR CONGRESS IN KARNATAKA

Now, ahead of the Karnataka Assembly election, likely to be take place next year, the Congress government under Siddaramaiah has launched Indira canteens.

The election is a litmus test for the Congress after dismal performance in the 2017 Assembly elections in five states. Against an aggressive campaign by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and some of the old Congress hands, including S M Krishna, joining the party, the Indira canteen may help the Congress reach out to more people.

By emulating the Amma canteen, the Congress perhaps is also expecting to emulate the electoral success of former Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa. Amma canteen, errr... Indira canteen may just help it do that.

ALSO READ:

Chennai is all shut, but Amma canteens continue to serve food to people

Indira Canteen so that nobody in Bengaluru goes hungry: Rahul Gandhi

Brand Amma: How Jayalalithaa's rice, kapda and TV schemes won her popularity

ALSO WATCH: Faux pas: At Indira Canteen launch, Rahul calls hunger-free Bengaluru a vision of Amma canteen