Sonia tears into BJP's ideology, policies
Tara Shankar Sahay in Pachmarhi
Congress president Sonia Gandhi today launched a frontal assault on the Bharatiya Janata Party-led ruling coalition and rejected its political philosophy of 'one nation, one culture, one people'.
Addressing the party's Pachmarhi orientation camp, she underscored her party's belief of India being one nation, plural cultures and diverse people. This, she pointed out, was India's strongpoint for centuries and pledged not to allow politics to divide the people, inflame religious passions, ignite caste tensions and fan regional sentiments.
While underlining that a divided India could not survive, the Congress chief also asserted that it could not prosper if fractured. An India in which an Indian is set against an Indian cannot keep its 'tryst with destiny', she pointed out.
During her blistering attack on the BJP-led government, she said there was no evidence of firm and decisive direction in any branch of the Vajpayee government's activities. She reiterated that if and when the need arose, the Congress would fulfil its constitutional obligations without hesitation and provide 'stability and purpose'.
While reminding Congressmen of the need to discuss freely and frankly other important tasks, she said firstly her party had to take up the ideological crusade against the communal circus from whatever source it arose and spread. Religious fundamentalism was alien to India's culture, she stressed, and appealed to her party men not be smug about this. The forces of religious fundamentalism were out to destroy India's tradition of tolerance and mutual accommodation, she said.
The Congress chief said electoral reverses were inevitable and were, by themselves, not cause for worry. But what was disturbing was the loss of the Congress party's social base. Intra-party discord seemed to take up much of the party members' time and energy when it ought to be channelised into working together to regain popular support and public credibility.
Significantly, she took a dig at senior leaders like Sitaram Kesri by saying that she did not share the view that prospects for the party were bleak. She also stressed that she did not want to be over-optimistic but wanted to tread a carefully chosen path which was realistic and would lead to all-round progress. She wanted her party men to do some soul searching so that mistakes could be corrected and a new chapter started.
Stressing the need for cleansing public life, in her
30-minute address, in both English and Hindi, she urged the leaders to
ensure that electoral reforms were adopted by Parliament during the
winter session so that the role of money and muscle power would be
reduced.
She wanted the Congress to prepare special programmes for the
youth who constituted 60 per cent of the country's population. The
party should address their concerns and work for implementation of
programmes for their welfare, she said.
Sonia regretted that the party could not pay much attention
to Dalits and Adivasis, and this was one of the reasons for the
party's setback in northern states, especially Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. The party should pay serious attention to this and realise
that promises were not enough, she said.
She said the Congress still enjoyed goodwill among the people and
there was no need for despair or gloom as the party had faced much
worse challenges in the past. Congressmen should ensure an end to
intra-party discord so that the party could regain credibility.
She said there was growing sense of frustration about the
effectiveness of the parliamentary system in delivering the goods.
Though society was in a state of transition, the system should
not be allowed to be tampered with.
After her opening remarks, the delegates divided themselves
into five groups for an in-depth discussion on political, economic,
foreign affairs, agriculture and organisational matters. The
discussions were on the basis of background papers prepared by the
five committees headed by Arjun Singh, Dr Manmohan Singh,
Pranab Mukherjee, Balram Jakhar and Ghulam Nabi Azad.
Notable absentees at the conclave, being held for the first time
in the past 25 years, were former Congress presidents P V Narasimha
Rao and Sitaram Kesri, senior Congress leaders K Karunakaran and A K
Antony. Kesri and Karunakaran are undergoing treatment in
hospitals.
After detailed deliberations the conclave will adopt the
'Pachmarhi Declaration' on September 6, which will
form the basis for the party's future course of action.
Additional reportage: UNI
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