Having suffered staggering election defeats since 2014 beneath his management and that of his mom Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi on Sunday admitted that the Congress’s “connection” with the folks is “broken”, and must be repaired urgently.
To reestablish that connection, Sonia introduced the social gathering will undertake a Bharat yatra from October 2 this yr. The social gathering additionally introduced a sequence of organizational reforms on the finish of its three-day chintan shivir right here to deliver new and younger faces into management roles.
As curtains got here down on the brainstorming session, there have been indications that Rahul is more likely to return as Congress president later this yr. While Sonia delivered a brief speech, Rahul spoke at size.
The former Congress president attacked the BJP authorities on the Centre, accusing it of spreading hatred, urgent the judiciary, arm-twisting the Election Commission, destroying establishments, and muzzling the media.
But his focus was extra on making ready the social gathering to “go back to the people”; he instructed the chintan camp there have been no “shortcuts” to revival.
The social gathering must settle for that its “connection” with the folks has been snapped, and it ought to work in direction of reestablishing that connection, Rahul mentioned. The total focus of the Congress at the moment is on “internal matters” resembling who’s getting what put up, he mentioned, and requested the leaders to show their consideration in direction of the folks.
“It is a complaint. Our entire discussion, our conversation…is about our internal matters…who is getting which post. Internally that is our focus. In today’s time this internal focus will not work. Our focus should be external. We will have to turn our gaze to the people and we will have to go to the people. Not just for us…for the country… Be it our senior leaders, junior leaders, or workers, we should go to the people and sit with them without thinking about anything…,” Rahul mentioned.
“Their (the people’s) issues…we should understand. And the connection that we used to have with the people…jo Congress party ka connection janta se toota hai usko hame accept karna padega… We will have to reestablish that connection…the people want that… They understand that only the Congress can take the country forward….”
The social gathering will take out a yatra in October to strengthen the reference to the folks, Rahul mentioned.
“That is the one method… Shortcuts is not going to assist. It can’t be achieved by means of any shortcuts. It can solely occur by shedding sweat. We can do it. You can do it. We have the flexibility and that’s our DNA. This group has come out of the folks and we must go to the folks once more,” he mentioned.
Sonia introduced a “national Kanyakumari to Kashmir Bharat Jodo Yatra beginning on Gandhi Jayanti this year”. “All of us will participate in it,” she mentioned. “The Yatra is to strengthen the bonds of social harmony that are under stress, to preserve the foundational values of our Constitution that are under assault and to highlight the day-to-day concerns of crores of our people.”
Action stays to be seen
Admission of a “broken connection” and announcement of a Kanyakumari-to-Kashmir Yatra is acknowledgment of the necessity to return to the folks. But as all the time, the query of implementation stays.
Concluding her brief deal with, Sonia mentioned the social gathering would absolutely overcome the challenges it faces. “We will overcome. We will overcome. We will overcome. That is our dedication. That is our nav sankalp (new resolve). The Congress could have a brand new uday (rise). That is our nav sankalp,” she mentioned.
Rahul mentioned his combat was towards the ideology of the RSS-BJP and the “hatred and violence that they spread”.
“For me it is the fight for my life… I cannot accept that hatred, violence and anger can be spread in our dear nation. We are up against some big forces. RSS and the BJP organisation, all the institutions… Don’t think we are fighting against a political party. We are not fighting against a political party…the political party is just a part. We are fighting against every institution of India. We are fighting against the biggest crony capitalists… That is the fact,” he mentioned.
He was not afraid, Rahul mentioned. “I am not scared of these forces. I don’t care. I have not done corruption in my entire life. I haven’t taken a single penny from Bharat mata. I am not scared of speaking the truth… Together we will defeat the BJP and the RSS organization and their ideology,” he mentioned.
Some senior leaders and employees of the social gathering typically really feel depressed, Rahul mentioned. “It is normal. The fight is not easy. Don’t think the fight is easy.”
Regional events can not tackle the RSS-BJP, he mentioned, “because this is a battle of ideologies”. “You have seen the ideology of the RSS is combating towards the ideology of the Congress. BJP will discuss in regards to the Congress, its leaders and employees however is not going to discuss regional events. Because they know that regional events have an area however they can’t defeat the BJP. Because they do not have an ideology. They have totally different approaches. We have a centralized strategy. And our combat is about ideology.”
“This is just not a political combat. This is a combat for the way forward for the nation and to save lots of the nation… It is our accountability to go to the folks and say you might be being divided…and the nation will likely be weakened due to that. No one will profit. The nation will endure due to that,” he mentioned.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
