Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge told the party’s working committee on Tuesday that the country “wants change” and the Narendra Modi government’s guarantees “will meet the same fate as the ‘India Shining’ campaign of 2004”.
‘India Shining’ was a key slogan of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in the run up to the 2004 general elections, but it failed to capture the discontent on the ground and Vajpayee lost the polls. Kharge’s comments assume importance as ‘Modi’s guarantees’ are one of the key planks of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in this election.
The CWC met this morning to approve the draft Lok Sabha election manifesto of the party, and is also expected to pass resolution on the success of the ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ led by Rahul Gandhi.
While the approval is a foregone conclusion, the Congress president in his opening remarks said that to defeat the BJP , “every worker of our village and city will have to stand up; your manifesto will have to be delivered to every home”.
Kharge also asked senior leaders to play the role of motivators. “After this, all you senior leaders will play a very important role. I request all of you to play the role of a motivator in taking all its major issues across the country, from village to locality and to every home.”
{{/usCountry}}Kharge also asked senior leaders to play the role of motivators. “After this, all you senior leaders will play a very important role. I request all of you to play the role of a motivator in taking all its major issues across the country, from village to locality and to every home.”
{{/usCountry}}He also insisted that the Congress leaders retain their focus on raging national issues, which have been the focus of the ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’.
“In the end, I would like to say to all the colleagues that we should keep ourselves focused only on all the basic issues related to the public. We have to present our views strongly on what our policy will be, what our programs will be and what our priorities will be during the next 5 years,” he said.
Former Congress presidents Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, senior leaders P Chidambaram, Mukul Wasnik, Randeep Surjewala, Jairam Ramesh, Meira Kumar, Tariq Anwar, BK Hariprasad, were among those who joined the meeting of the CWC, which was expanded last year to include enhanced quota for women, SC, ST and youth.
This would also be the last CWC meeting before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Kharge explained that the committee tried “our manifesto should not be an academic exercise, but there should be widespread public participation in it. Contacted and communicated for this. (It) invited suggestions through website. The website was named ‘Awaaz Bharat Ki’. Due to this, this manifesto has become the voice of the people,” he said.
The Congress chief also emphasised that “the promises we have made will be fulfilled” and “Before making promises, we investigate deeply whether we will be able to fulfill them or not. That is why the manifesto of Congress has remained a “document of trust” in the political history of the country since 1926.”
He also reminded that the first manifesto after independence was issued in 1951 under the leadership of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. It was called ‘What Congress Stands For’.
Kharge also heaped praises on Rahul Gandhi and said, “I would like to especially mention the 63-day long Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra under the leadership of Rahulji, whose issues have been discussed a lot in the country and abroad. With this we were able to draw the country’s attention to the real issues of the people. The yatra concluded in Mumbai on 16 March.”
“These yatras are not only politically important but have also been recorded in our political history as the biggest effort of public contact. Such a long march has not been undertaken by any politician for a long time, which cannot be ignored even if one wants to,” he added.