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‘Will save democracy’: Cong on foundation day
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi framed the elections as a clash between the party's vision of empowerment and the BJP's alleged ideology of hate and inequality
The Congress kicked off its campaign for the 2024 general elections with a mega rally in Nagpur on Thursday, promising a minimum support income, a nationwide caste census and employment for the young, as it hailed Opposition unity and fired salvos at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The rally — organised on the occasion of the 139th anniversary of its foundation day — was named “Hain Taiyyar Hum” (we are ready) and held in Nagpur, which hosts the headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological fountainhead of the BJP.
In the event, attended by nearly 100,000 people, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the party was prepared to save the country from destruction and ready for the ideological battle in next year’s polls. He framed the elections as a clash between the Congress’s vision of empowerment and freedom and the BJP’s alleged ideology of hate and inequality.
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said the party was committed to implementing the Nyay scheme — which was part of its 2019 manifesto and promised cash up to ₹72,000 annually to the bottom 20% of families — especially for women. Speaking in Marathi, Kharge also said Nagpur was the land of revolutionaries where BR Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhi once worked, and that the BJP will finish democracy if it came back to power.
Gandhi attacked the BJP for questioning the Congress’s contribution to the country and said that before Independence, princely states were “in partnership with the British”, while it was the Constitution shaped by Mahatma Gandhi, BR Ambedkar and Jawaharlal Nehru that protected the people’s rights and gave every citizen the right to vote.
“The people in the RSS and BJP were against this... for years they never saluted the national flag,” he alleged.
Gandhi said the BJP’s ideology was that of kings who did not listen to anyone. Citing a conversation with an unnamed BJP member of Parliament who was earlier with the Congress, Gandhi said that the BJP treated its workers and leaders poorly and when an order came from the top, it had to be adhered to.
“Some days back, a BJP MP met me in Lok Sabha. He was in Congress earlier. He met me with fear. He said that he wants to speak to me. I asked him why he wants to speak to me as he is in BJP. He was tensed. He told me that he can’t tolerate as he is in BJP but his heart is in Congress. This means that he is fearful of getting back in Congress. I asked him why he is not happy in BJP as he has become an MP. He told me, ‘BJP me gulami chalti hai. Whatever the high command says, we have to do it. We don’t have a choice’,” Gandhi said.
He said current Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole had to leave the BJP after questioning Modi on farmers’ issues. In the Congress, in contrast, the concerns of workers are listened to by all higher-ups including him, Gandhi added.
The rally comes weeks after the Congress suffered a drubbing in three key heartland states, unable to retain its governments in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, and failing to displace the Bharatiya Janata Party in Madhya Pradesh. The party won Telangana in a strong showing but with just months left for the general elections, its poor performance in north India that accounts for at least 225 Lok Sabha seats is a cause of concern.
On Wednesday, the Congress announced Gandhi will undertake a 6,200km-long Bharat Nyay Yatra from the northeastern tip of India to its western shore between January and March, in what was a reiteration of a Kanyakumari-to-Kashmir Bharat Jodo foot march that galvanised workers but produced mixed electoral dividends.
In his 35-minute speech, Gandhi said Nagpur was chosen for the party’s grand revival rally as it was in this land that the battle of ideologies started almost a century ago. Accusing the BJP and RSS of consolidating power over democratic institutions, he criticised the central government for exerting control over institutions and said investigative agencies operated under government pressure.
The people of India including women had no rights before Independence and Dalits were subjected to untouchability, Gandhi said, alleging that “this was the ideology of the RSS which Congress changed, and these people want to bring back the pre-Independence era situation again.” “The foundation of the battle for political power is ideology and the Congress’s objective is to hand over power to the common man,” he said.
He also made a strong pitch for the 28-party Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).
“The BJP government has pushed a large number of people back into poverty…We do not want two Indias. Only the INDIA alliance can provide employment to the youth,” Gandhi said.
He reiterated that after coming to power, INDIA will conduct a caste survey. “How many youth have been given employment in the last ten years by the Modi government? Unemployment is at an all-time high now,” the Congress leader said.
Other backward classes (OBC), Dalits and tribals do not have representation commensurate with their population in many sectors, Gandhi said. “Earlier, PM Modi would describe himself as an OBC. But after my demand (of caste census), he says there is only one caste, the poor. If there is only one caste, why do you say you are an OBC,” the Congress leader asked.
Kharge said Nagpur was associated with two ideologies — the “regressive” one of the RSS and the “progressive” one of BR Ambedkar, who led hundreds of thousands of his followers to Buddhism in a landmark event in 1956 at Deekshabhoomi in the city.
“If the BJP and RSS came to power again, democracy will be finished. There are two ideologies in Nagpur, one is the progressive one which belongs to Ambedkar, and other is that of the RSS which is destroying the country,” the veteran leader said.
Modi was against social justice and equality, Kharge alleged. “Democracy is under threat. Inflation has skyrocketed, unemployment is also high. There are 30 lakh vacancies which are not being filled up because Backward Classes would have to be accommodated,” he said.
The poor are becoming more poor while the rich are becoming richer under the Modi government, Kharge said. “If the INDIA alliance is voted to power, the Nyay scheme will be implemented for the empowerment of the poor including women,” he said.
Senior BJP leader and Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who hails from Nagpur, dubbed the Congress event as a “micro” rally. “The Congress had boasted it was going to be a mammoth rally. But after seeing the public response, it can be easily said it turned out to be a micro rally,” he said.
