Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Sunday drew parallels to the Mahabharata epic and said Congress has fought for the truth like the Pandavas, while the BJP had "made a man accused of murder their President".
He was speaking at the 84th Congress plenary session. The party had earlier slammed the Modi government’s foreign policy, saying it was “confused” and conducted in a “cavalier manner”, damaging India’s profile globally.
"Voice of the nation"
Mr. Gandhi compared the Congress to the protagonists of the Mahabharata, the Pandavas and said they had fought for the truth. "Thousands of years ago, there was a huge battle on the fields of Kurukshetra. The Kauravas were extremely well organized, had huge army money but arrogant. The Pandavas had a small army but humble and fought for truth," he said.
The Kauravas were drunk with power, he added and the "BJP will fight for power" like them. Mr. Gandhi also added that like the Kauravas, the BJP had "made a man accused of murder their President".
He said the BJP was the voice of an organization, while Congress was voice of the nation.
Mr. Gandhi also spoke about Mahatma Gandhi and Veer Savarkar and said, "Gandhiji spent 15 years in jail and died for India. India must never forget when our leader was sleeping on the floor, their leader Mr Savarkar was writing a letter to the British."
Mr Gandhi also said that the corrupt and powerful control conversation in the country, and added, "Let’s break wall between party’s workers and leaders."
On the BJP government
"In the last few years of our government, we didn't stand up to expectations. We in fact let the people down. On the one hand, the fastest growing economy and on the other hand, millions don't have jobs. China is everywhere. It's in our shops, in Doklam, in Nepal, Burma, in Sri Lanka.
"You can steal 33,000 crore and the government will be silent. Finance Minister and his daughter work in crony capitalism. If you are poor, you can be a contract labourer. You can be in Modi Maya. An imaginary world of acche din, swach bharat and 15 lakhs," said Mr. Gandhi.
Mr. Gandhi also took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the PM jumps from events. "From surgical strike to demonetization to Gabbar Singh Ttax to yoga parade in front of Parliament. PM keeps jumping from events."
"PM does not speak when he needs to and prevent us from speaking. We are the servants of the people. We won't be quiet,"said Mr. Gandhi and added, "They tell our tribals the land does not belong to them. They tell our Muslims who supported our great nation go to Pakistan. They tell our women to dress properly."
Mr. Gandhi added, "The man who steals money from banks is also Modi. The most corrupt man in cricket is also Modi. Modi symbolises collusion. BJP's religion is only to usurp power. The trust people had reposed on Modiji has been broken."
On unemployment
"Two biggest problems is employment and farmers," said Mr. Gandhi. "Everyone who's asking how can we solve the employment problem. Only one organization can give jobs," he said and added that this organisation needed to change.
"Some of you may not like this, but I have to tell (sic). Our workers have energy and power to change the country. But between them and our leaders, there is a wall," said Mr. Gandhi. "My first task is to break the wall. Not with anger but with love."
Rahul to choose members of new working committee
The Congress unanimously passed a resolution Mr. Gandhi to choose members of the new working committee.
Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad moved a resolution, proposing that the new party chief selects his own team of the working committee, the highest decision-making body of the party.
Mr. Azad earlier asked the delegates whether there should be an election for the working committee, an idea which was outrightly rejected by them.
The Congress president will have to set up a new CWC in place of the steering committee which was formed after the working committee was dissolved by him.
The working committee will be established after the plenary session.
NDA messed up economy, mismanaged J&K: Manmohan Singh
Earlier in the day, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh launched a scathing attack on the NDA government, accusing it of having “messed up” the economy and mismanaging the dispute in Jammu and Kashmir.
Dr. Singh described the government’s demonetisation move as “ill-considered” and the GST as “hastily implemented”.
“The BJP-led government messed up the Indian economy. The ill-considered demonetisation and hastily implemented GST have destroyed small scale enterprises,” he said.
(With inputs from PTI)