Former PM Manmohan Singh and INC President Sonia Gandhi with other party leaders at the partys Central Works Committee meeting at the Party HQ . (Express Photo by Tashi Tobgyal)
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday launched a sharp attack on the BJP government as the Congress Working Committee (CWC) met on the eve of the Quit India movement launch anniversary. “For us in the Congress, the Quit India Movement is a reminder that brute force can and must be resisted in the name of freedom; that even when the odds appear to be against us, and the adversary appears all-powerful, we can succeed if we persevere in fighting for the India we believe in and cherish,” she said. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi did not attend the meeting as he was indisposed.
The CWC passed a resolution condemning the attack on Rahul’s car in Gujarat. Sources said the working committee, the highest policy and decision-making body of the party, did not discuss any other issue, not even the Rajya Sabha election in Gujarat although all the top leaders informally talked about it. In her address to the CWC, Sonia said, “As we pause and take stock on the 75th anniversary of the launch of the Quit India movement, we are deeply anguished by the assault on the freedoms that our people have enjoyed since. Today many sections live in fear, none more than the minorities, the Dalits, the tribals and women. Not a day passes without an incident where the liberty of the individual has been trampled upon by anti-social elements or self appointed vigilantes. Far from curbing their onslaught, the government of the day encourages and empowers them to flout the rule of law and unleash oppression. All this taken together is the biggest threat to liberty, and is the enemy of pluralism and diversity.” She said the Congress must always remain on the frontline in defence of liberty and the values and institutions that go with it.
The resolution adopted by the CWC also expressed “grave concern over the planned and systemic assaults on the foundational values of the country, and the constitutional rights of our citizens” and vowed to uphold and defend the idea of India as envisioned by leaders of the freedom movement and defeat the forces that seek to destroy India’s heritage.
