Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and other leaders at the 82nd Plenary session of the Indian National Congress in New Delhi on Saturday. (Express Photo by Tashi Tobgyal)
Calling the BJP and the RSS “ideological descendants of the non-participants of the freedom struggle”, the Congress on Saturday resolved to “purge the polity of aberrations witnessed during the BJP regime” since 2014. The resolution is silent on the party’s series of electoral setbacks since its last plenary in 2013.
The party said a resurgent Congress alone can win back the idea of India, and urged the party workers to struggle and defend the “foundational values of the Republic and constitutional democracy”. The political resolution was moved at the 84th Congress plenary session, which is expected to set the agenda for the party for the coming years. The session focussed on the party’s history and highlighted the challenges the party and the country are facing.
Moving the resolution, senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said, “A resurgent Congress alone shall win back the idea of India as envisioned by the founding fathers of our nation.” The resolution indicated the party’s stand on coalitions, failures of the BJP-led NDA government, corruption and the BJP’s double standards on it, and clarified the Congress’s position on Andhra Pradesh, which is going through tumultuous political developments — the state is demanding special category status. It also mentioned the bank scams and government agencies’ failure in acting against the “well-connected and high-profile perpetrators of fraud.”
Besides a political attack on the BJP, the three key elements of functioning of democracy — judiciary, media and electoral process – were also under the spotlight. The political resolution red-flagged “disquiet” in functioning of the judiciary, sanctity of election and asked the media to restore “balance in our national narrative to safeguard democracy” Joining the chorus of those seeking re-introduction of paper ballots in the elections in order to “ensure the credibility of the electoral process” the resolution said: “There are apprehensions among the political parties and the people over the misuse of EVMs to manipulate the outcome contrary to the popular verdict. To ensure the credibility of the electoral process, the Election Commission should revert to the old practice of paper ballot as major democracies have done.”
With Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP aggressively pushing the idea of ‘One Nation One Election’, the political resolution of the Congress rejected it. “The BJP’s move for simultaneous elections is misplaced. It is incompatible with the constitution and is also impractical. It will have serious implications, which must be thoroughly inquired into and a national consensus built,” the resolution said.
Party’s chief whip in Lok Sabha Jyotiraditya Scindia said, “Even if there is an iota of doubt about the electoral process among people, we should actually revert back to ballot from the EVM system.” The resolution, as well as Congress leaders who spoke on it, took strong exception to the “misrepresentation” of religion. “The RSS-BJP is misrepresenting, distorting and misusing religion to exploit the sentiments of the people and capture power,” the resolution stated.
Party MP Shashi Tharoor said the Congress must not surrender the Hindu space to the BJP. “Hindutva is not Hinduism,” he said. The party hit out at the BJP-RSS ideology, alleging that it is creating an environment of “distrust, fear and intimidation” in pursuit of their “insidious and divisive agenda”.
The resolution said: “The Congress condemns the BJP government for brazen abuse of power and misuse of central agencies for targeted political vendetta to harass, humiliate and persecute its political opponents…The Congress party warns the BJP and its government that its undemocratic methods and acts to curtail liberty, freedom of expression and violation of fundamental rights of its citizens as enshrined in the Constitution will be strongly resisted.”
Facing the challenge of defections, with BJP poaching many of its leaders, the party sought debarring defectors from contesting elections for six years to check the “brazen misuse of money power to create political instability”.
Amid allegations that the BJP is indulging in political vendetta against its rivals, the Congress accused the government of “brazen abuse of power and misuse of Central government agencies for targeted political vendetta to harass, humiliate and persecute its political opponents.” It alleged that BJP governments in states have unleashed persecution and atrocities against Congress workers.
The resolution said it was prepared for making sacrifices required to defend the ethos of the Constitution and “we will purge the polity of the aberrations witnessed during the BJP regime, which has failed to honour its commitments to the people of India”.
The resolution alleged that the country was “confronted today by a systematic assault on the foundational principles our Constitution and the values of Indian republic, by the outfits and organisation affiliated to the ruling RSS-BJP combine.”
Asserting that inclusion and secularism are the lifelines of Indian democracy, it said: “The RSS affiliated have created an environment of distrust, fear and intimidation. Their actions tear apart the fabric of social unity and harmony. The Prime Minister and the BJP government are intolerant of any criticism and remain in arrogant denial.”