Lok Sabha elections 2019: Congress kicks off campaign blitz at PM Modi’s home turf

Congress leaders attended a prayer meeting at the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad before convening for a meeting of CWC — its first in the state in 58 years — followed by a public rally where Priyanka Gandhi Vadra delivered her first speech since being appointed a general secretary

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is “cynically exploiting the national security to hide his colossal failures”, the Congress said in a statement on Tuesday following a meeting of its topmost decision-making body that marked the launch of its Lok Sabha campaign from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) stronghold in Gujarat and coincided with the 89th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s Dandi salt march.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi and Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra during Jan Sankalp Rally, in Gandhinagar, Tuesday, March 12, 2019. (PTI photo)

Congress leaders attended a prayer meeting at the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad before convening for a meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) — its first in the state in 58 years — followed by a public rally where Priyanka Gandhi Vadra delivered her first speech since being appointed a general secretary.

“On the anniversary of Gandhi ji’s historic Dandi march, the Congress Working Committee in Ahmedabad, resolved to defeat the RSS/BJP ideology of fascism, hatred, anger and divisiveness,” Congress president Rahul Gandhi said in his speech at the CWC meeting, where his mother Sonia Gandhi, too, made an address.

The CWC passed a resolution that suggested the Congress was turning its campaign focus back to economic and social issues such as jobs and the purported weakening of constitutional institutions.

It also sent out a “stern and unequivocal” message that “India is a resilient democracy, proud of its brave armed forces. It shall never be defeated by forces of violence and terror”.

United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi targeted PM Modi in her address at the meeting. “The Prime Minister harbours an imaginary sense of victimhood without realising that the people of this country are the real victims of his wrong policies,” she said.

The BJP, she added, “thrives on delusion and division”. “BJP has greed for power. We must put forward our own agenda,” Sonia Gandhi, Rahul and Priyanka’s mother, said, urging party leaders and workers to highlight the achievements of the UPA government which was in power between 2004 and 2014.

The BJP hit back, saying the opposition party was spreading untruths from the land of Mahatma Gandhi. “These Gandhis are obviously different from the Gandhi we all know. The latter followed the path of truth. These Gandhis follow lies,” BJP leader and Union minister Prakash Javadekar said in New Delhi.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while targeting the Congress on the day of the CWC meet, wrote in a blog that “the antithesis of Gandhian thought is Congress culture”. “In many of his works, Gandhi ji said that he does not believe in inequality and caste divisions. Sadly, the Congress has never hesitated from dividing society. The worst caste riots and anti-Dalit massacres happened under Congress rule,” Modi wrote.

The CWC endorsed Rahul Gandhi’s promise to ensure minimum income support to the poor, weak and marginalised sections of the society when the Congress comes to power.

In her first intervention at the CWC meeting, Priyanka Gandhi suggested the proposal should be named as Nyay, an acronym for Nyuntam Aay Yojana (minimum income scheme). It was decided that her suggestion would be incorporated in the Congress manifesto and not in the CWC resolution.

Priyanka Gandhi also indicated that the minimum income guarantee proposal “did not get the kind of publicity” it required, according to a leader aware of the discussions.

Later, while addressing a rally, Priyanka Gandhi urged party workers and people gathered to think about what they choose. “You have a weapon with you…weapon of vote. This weapon is not to be used to hurt or harm anyone, but to strengthen yourselves. Use this weapon wisely. In the elections, many issues will be presented to you. But, it is your responsibility to choose right issues of unemployment, women’s security, agrarian distress,’’ she said.

In the resolution, the Congress said the five years of Modi-BJP government has been a period of false promises and betrayal of people’s trust and confidence. “This government has been a failure on all fronts and has inflicted pain and misery on the people through its reckless decisions of demonetisation and hasty imposition of a flawed GST [Goods and Services Tax],” it said.