Congress’ revival will not be easy, reminds Sonia

Udaipur, May 13 (UNI) It is time for both Chintan and Atma-chintan, said Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Friday as she asked party members to repay their debt to the party, and made it clear that the path for Congress’ revival will not be easy.
“It’s time for action,” she said while addressing the inaugural session of the ‘Nav Sankalp Shivir’ of the party, and slammed the Narendra Modi government for keeping people in a permanent state of polarisation, and said economic progress cannot come in such situation.
The Udaipur session for the party comes at a crucial juncture, when the oldest party has seen repeated failure to bounce back amid calls for a strong leader at the helm and growing disapproval for the family that many still believe binds it together.
Its arch-rival BJP, and its bete noire, which refuses to end strike at the very heart of the party’s existence has for the last decade continued to harp on only one string the Gandhi family and its “questionable legacy” as it brought down the UPA led Congress in 2014.
So just months ahead of its much awaited organisational polls, Sonia Gandhi called upon party leaders to come united and speak in one voice.
Repeating her message that she gave at the Congress Working Committee meet, she said, “This is a time when we have to surrender our personal interests for the party. Party has given us a lot it is time to repay the debt”.
“I request all of you to express your opinions openly. But only one message should go outside, the message of unity… We will not be finished by our failure. Nor are we unaware of the challenges ahead and the hope that people have with us,” she said
“We are here to take united decision. We will bring our party back in to national politics in the same way as it has always been and as expected by people of the country.
“We are doing introspection but let’s decide when we go out of here we will have new confidence, energy and dedication, ” she added.
Sonia Gandhi said the meeting provides an opportunity to discuss the numerous challenges the country is facing as a result of policies of BJP, RSS and it’s affiliates.
“This is a meet for both Chintan over national issues and atma-chintan (self introspection) about our party…” she said.
Slamming the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, the Congress President said, “By now it has become abundantly and painfully clear what Prime Minister Modi and his colleagues really mean by their slogan ‘Maximum governance, minimum government’. It means keeping the country in a state of permanent polarisation, compelling people to live in a constant state of fear and insecurity”.
“It means viciously targeting, victimising, and often brutalising minorities who are an integral part of our society and equal citizens of our republic. It means using our society’s age-old plurality to divide us and subverting the carefully nurtured idea of unity in diversity.”
The Congress President accused the BJP of threatening and intimidating political opponents, maligning their reputation, jailing them on flimsy pretexts, misusing investigating agencies and eroding independence and professionalism of all institutions.
She also slammed the BJP for its repeated attacks on first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
“It means glorifying the killers of Mahatma Gandhi and their ideologues. It means the blatant undermining of our nation’s constitution and its pillars – justice, liberty, equality, fraternity and secularism,” she said.
She also accused the government of turning a blind eye towards weaker sections, specially Dalits, Adivasis and women.
“It means more anti-slogans, diversionary tactics, and utter silence on the part of an ever so eloquent Prime Minister when the healing touch is most needed. It is not just undermining of our long cherished values but also pitting them at grave risk. The fire of hatred that is being ignited has taken a heavy toll on the people, on their lives. This is having serious social consequences. Much more serious than we can even imagine,” she said adding that a vast majority of Indians want to live in atmosphere of peace, harmony.
“BJP and it’s cohorts and surrogates want to keep people in a state of perpetual frenzy and conflict. They constantly provoke, instigate and inflame.”
The Congress President asked party members to combat it.
“We have to combat this growing virus of divisiveness that is being maliciously and mischievously spread. This we must do at all costs. it is imperative to sustain high economic growth to provide employment”.
She said the intolerance and bigotry shakes the very foundation of economic growth, and slammed the government over growing unemployment.
“For the first time it appears vast number of people have simply given up hope for getting a job,” she said.
“Whatever support central government has been able to provide to people has been on account of UPA programs, to name just two of them – MNREGA and National Food Security Act,” she said.
Sonia Gandhi also mentioned the protests against the three farm laws, and said, “Promise made to farmers when they withdrew their agitation is still to be fulfilled.”
She also mentioned the rising inflation, and privatisation of public sector enterprises.
The three-day Nav Sankalp Shivir will end on May 15.
In her opening remarks at the historically important brainstorming session addressing members of the CWC, the party chief spoke of the heritage of the venue and the path ahead of Nav Sankalp Shivir that will revamp the legacy of her party.
Here’s her speech:
“It gives us an opportunity to discuss amongst ourselves the numerous challenges that the country is facing as a result of the policies of the BJP and of the RSS and its affiliates.
“It is also an occasion to deliberate on the many tasks ahead of us.
“So it is both a chintan about national issues and a meaningful atma-chintan about our party organization.
“I am well aware that many of our colleagues wanted to be here but we had to limit participation for a variety of reasons. I am sure they will all understand. Not being here does not in any way devalue the role they are playing in our organization.
“By now it has become abundantly and most painfully clear what Prime Minister Modi and his colleagues really mean by their frequently repeated slogan: maximum governance, minimum government.
“It means keeping the country in a state of permanent polarization, compelling our people to live in a constant state of fear and insecurity.
“It means viciously targeting, victimizing and often brutalizing minorities who are an integral part of our society and are equal citizens of our republic.
“It means using our society’s age-old pluralities to divide us and subverting the carefully nurtured idea of unity in diversity.
“It means threatening and intimidating political opponents, maligning their reputations, jailing them on flimsy pretexts, misusing investigative agencies against them.
“It means eroding the independence and professionalism of all institutions of democracy.
“It means the wholesale reinvention of history, the constant denigration of our leaders especially Jawaharlal Nehru and systematic moves to distort, deny and destroy their contributions, achievements and sacrifices.
“It means glorifying the killers of Mahatma Gandhi and their ideologues.
“It means the blatant undermining of the principles and provisions of our nation’s Constitution, of its pillars of justice, liberty, equality, fraternity and secularism.
“It means turning a blind eye to continued atrocities across the country on weaker sections, especially dalits, adivasis and women.
“It means using fear to make the bureaucracy, to make corporate India, to make civil society and sections of the media fall in line.
“It means more empty slogans, diversionary tactics and utter silence on the part of an ever so eloquent Prime Minister when the healing touch is most needed.
“It is not just the undermining of our long-cherished values embodied in the Constitution that are now at grave risk. The fires of hatred and discord that are being ignited have taken a heavy toll on peoples’ lives. This is having serious social consequences.
“The vast majority of Indians want to live in an atmosphere of peace, amity and harmony. The BJP, its cohorts and surrogates want to keep our people in a state of perpetual frenzy and conflict. They constantly provoke, instigate and inflame. We have to combat this growing virus of divisiveness that is being maliciously and mischievously spread. This we must do at all costs.
“We must sustain high economic growth to provide adequate employment opportunities for our youth, generate revenues needed for welfare programmes and improve the standard of living of our people. But the worsening environment of social illiberalism and bigotry shakes the very foundations of economic growth.
“Starting with the disastrous demonetization of November 2016, the economy has been on a steep downslide. A large majority of MSMEs have been crippled. Unemployment has risen alarmingly and for the first time it appears that vast numbers of people have simply stopped looking for jobs.
“Whatever support the central government has been able to provide in the past two years to people has been on account of at least two landmark initiatives of the Congress party—Mahatma Gandhi NaREGA and the National Food Security Act.
“The sheer tenacity of the farmers and their organizations compelled the Modi Government to repeal the three black farm laws. The Congress party stood by them steadfastly throughout their long struggle, both within Parliament and outside. But the promises made by the Prime Minister to the farmers when they withdrew their agitation have yet to be fulfilled. Meanwhile it looks as if procurement of wheat this year will fall steeply threatening the very foundations of our national food security.
“Prices of essential items of mass consumption—like cooking gas, cooking oil, pulses, vegetables, fertilizers, petrol and diesel– continue their upward march placing an intolerable burden on crores of families.
“Public sector companies built up with such careful planning with economic and social objectives in mind by earlier Congress governments are now being privatized with a vengeance, and to a chosen few. This will have disastrous repercussions. Among other things, this means that one avenue for assured employment for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes will get closed.”