‘Society being divided by hate’: Kharge targets govt

In his first speech as Congress president on the party’s foundation day, Kharge laid out a road map to make the Congress more inclusive.

New Delhi/Mumbai: India’s basic idea is under attack and a ditch of hatred is being dug across the country, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said on Wednesday as he hit out at the BJP and hailed the Congress’s contributions to India’s democratic character.

“The basic idea of India is being continuously attacked. The ditch of hatred is being dug across the country. People are suffering from inflation, unemployment, but the government is not concerned about it,” Kharge said, after he hoisted the flag at the party headquarters here to celebrate its 138th foundation day. (Satish Bate/ HT PHOTO)

In his first speech as Congress president on the party’s foundation day, Kharge laid out a road map to make the Congress more inclusive. “The basic idea of India is being continuously attacked. The ditch of hatred is being dug across the country. People are suffering from inflation, unemployment, but the government is not concerned about it,” Kharge said, after he hoisted the flag at the party headquarters here to celebrate its 138th foundation day.

Kharge, who took charge on October 26, also laid down the priorities for the Congress. “Defence of India’s borders, defence of India’s social fabric, rights of all citizens, protection of education and employment for the public and protection of scientific thinking in the country, this is the resolution of the Congress,” he said.

Speaking about the road map for the future, Kharge added: “To make the Congress party inclusive, we have to involve youth and women, marginalised sections, intellectuals and take them along with us to fight against inflation, unemployment and hatred.”

These three issues — inflation unemployment and hatred — have been key themes for the Congress outreach for the past six years. In his rally near Red Fort on December 24, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had accused the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government of diverting the people’s attention from inflation and unemployment. The Congress has also tried to fight elections on these “core issues” but only achieved limited success.

The Indian National Congress was founded in Mumbai on December 28, 1885, with a total of 72 delegates present at Das Tejpal Sanskrit College. The first president of the Congress was Womesh Chandra Bannerjee.

In his speech, the party president hailed his predecessor Sonia Gandhi’s term for landmark laws instituted by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and said Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra has given “sanjivani” to millions of party workers across the country.

Kharge mentioned the party’s history and its contribution in what was seen as a bid to counter the BJP’s narrative that often blames the Congress for misgovernance.

“Around the time of India’s independence, dictatorship took over many other countries. India not only became a successful and strong democracy, but also in a few decades, we became a super power in the field of economic, nuclear, missile and strategic spheres. Agriculture, education, medical, IT and in the service sector, India has joined the top countries of the world,” he said. “All these did not happen automatically. This happened because of Congress’s faith in democracy and in taking everyone along...,” he added.

Later in the day, he visited and addressed party workers in Mumbai’s Chunabhatti on the occasion.

He told workers that party leaders may have some differences but they must keep them aside for the sake of the country and people of Maharashtra. “We must work together and we will come back to power,” he said.

Heralding the Congress’s foundation day, Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi, “I am proud to be a part of such an organisation which chose the path of truth, non-violence and struggle in every situation and always took every step in the public interest.”

(Inputs by Yogesh Naik in Mumbai)