Congress pays tributes to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on his 30th death anniversary 

The Congress on Friday paid tributes to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on his 30th death anniversary. and said he proved that a foresighted and committed leadership can benefit a nation for decades to come.

Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated on May 21, 1991 at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu by a woman suicide bomber at an election rally of the Congress party.

Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi paid floral tributes to his father at his memorial -- Veer Bhumi -- here. He also posted a picture of his father on Twitter along with the words, "Truth, Compassion, Progress", and used the hashtag 'RememberingRajivGandhi'.

Paying homage to the former prime minister, the Congress put out several tweets hailing his contribution in the nation's development.

"A clear, foresighted & committed leadership can benefit a nation for decades to come -- Rajiv ji has proved that time & again. Today, as we fight the Covid-19 pandemic, his visionary Universal Immunization Programme has laid the foundations for our victory," the party said.

“Rajiv Gandhi's vision conceived over three decades ago has proven to be India's greatest asset during her gravest hour of need,” the Congress said.

"Today, as we fight the Covid19 pandemic, vaccinating a billion Indians can turn into a reality thanks to Rajiv ji's UIP framework," it said.

In another tweet, the party described Rajiv Gandhi as a "visionary who understood where the world was heading".

“Rajiv Gandhi steered India accordingly so that one day she could lead the world like she is destined to,” the party said.

"We pay our heartfelt tributes to Shri Rajiv Gandhi- the architect of digital India. Thanks to his vision & efforts, India today is amongst the leaders of the digital world," the Congress said.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, a general secretary of the Congress and Rajiv Gandhi's daughter, also shared her father's picture on Twitter and said, "There is no greater strength than love, no greater courage than kindness, no greater power than compassion and no greater teacher than humility."

In a statement, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said the shock waves from the attack that cut short the life of modern India's most charismatic leader are felt even today.

"In the general elections that were held in 1984, Shri Rajiv Gandhi ji won an unprecedented majority. However, he never used this huge majority and popular support to push through bills in the parliament or centralise power," Kharge said.

Slamming the current dispensation, he said there is a government with much less mandate "that pushes bills which are against farmers and workers without listening to the genuine concerns raised by the opposition because of brute majority".

"There is a government that is misusing the anti-defection law to bring down democratically elected governments in states where the opposition is in power.

There is a government that believes in keeping all powers to itself and refuses to even share tax revenues with state governments," Kharge alleged.

"Rajiv ji will always be remembered as the person who took the first steps to lead India to the 21st century of Industrialisation and Information Technology," he said.

Senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid posted pictures of Rajiv Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi on Twitter, and wrote, "The once and future king of democracy." The Congress also shared videos on Rajiv Gandhi's contribution as prime minister in the country's development.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, senior Congress leaders K C Venugopal, Anand Sharma, Randeep Surjewala, Sachin Pilot, Shashi Tharoor, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav, among others, also paid tributes to Rajiv Gandhi.

On Rajiv Gandhi's death anniversary, the Congress is undertaking COVID-19 relief initiatives such as distributing nourishment among patients' relatives at hospitals, observing a mass mask awareness programme and helping people register for vaccination against the viral disease.

Congress General Secretary In-charge - Organisation K C Venugopal addressing a press conference in Delhi said that today is a solemn day for all of us as 30 years ago our leader Rajiv Gandhi was mercilessly assassinated by destructive forces.

"It didn't deter us from walking the path of truth. Rajiv Gandhi's compassion and resolve to boldly take the road less travelled and implement out of the box initiatives was legendary," he said.

Venugopal said that his "unfathomable dedication" to change India and usher it into the 21st century was "unstoppable".

The Congress leader said that Rajiv Gandhi's zeal to use information technology, telephony and computers as tools of equality and empowerment of India's people reflected his "foresight".

It is only natural that in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic and unimaginable devastation, we rededicate ourselves to the life of a leader, who not only dared to dream but implemented life altering transformation and change. Millions of workers and leaders of the Indian National Congress have, therefore, undertaken a special 'SEVA' drive on Friday in the service of the people," Venugopal said.

He said that over the last one year, the Congress, its frontal organisations and its workers and leaders have completely dedicated themselves to the service of the people in the time of the Covid-19 pandemic.

"To heal, to hold hands, to share and alleviate the pain has been our sole motto, as guided by Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi," he said.

Launching an attack on the central government, he said that as a deliberately negligent and callous leadership in the central government was caught napping during the second Covid wave, which hit the country in January-February 2021, the Congress and its frontal organisations, especially the Indian Youth Congress (IYC), have done stellar work in the service of fellow countrymen, with dedication and humility.

He said that from providing free ambulances to hearse vehicles, from providing oxygen and oxygen concentrators, from providing medicines to home isolation kits, from arranging plasma donors to tele-consultations, from providing dry ration to food packets and even assisting in cremation and burial of the loved ones, the Congress and its workers have shown fortitude and resilience in the most painful times.

Venugopal said that the Congress President had set up a four-member "AICC Control Room" on April 25, 2021 to create PCC Control Rooms and co-ordinate with them in providing relief to those in need during the pandemic.

Subsequently, the Congress President constituted a high-level COVID-19 Relief Task Force on May 11, 2021 under the chairmanship of Ghulam Nabi Azad to co-ordinate, supervise and guide the relief measures being carried out by the party across all the States and Union Territories ever since the onslaught of the second wave of Covid-19, he said.

Venugopal said that the Committee held extensive deliberations with the party general secretaries, in-charge of respective States and Union Territories, the Congress Committee Presidents, the District Congress Committee Presidents and the State Control Rooms.

Pursuant to these deliberations, the task force arrived at a list of relief measures to be provided to the people throughout this crisis.

These measures will continue for as long as required for the people of India, he said.

Slamming the government, he said, "We cautioned the government about the impending danger; giving constructive suggestions to protect our people from this onslaught. Today is not the day to talk about the government's attitude with us! but it breaks our heart to realise that when Congress men and women are out in the field helping whoever can be helped - with whatever possible - oxygen, medicine, ambulance etc the party in power, the BJP, is busy maligning us, our leadership through absolute fakery."

"They created fake content just to divert attention from their own failure," he said.

"We are happy that BJP and its leadership's bluff has been called. They have been exposed!! We don't want to say anything about these serial offenders. We want to leave it to the highest court - people's Court. I could have demanded action from the BJP President but what action can one expect if he himself is involved in peddling lies," Venugopal said.

Highlighting the work of the party since April, he said, "Since April, across the country, 1,600 ambulances have been arranged, out of which 456 have been arranged from the MLA LAD Funds of various states, 1,34,000 requests for hospital Blbeds fulfilled, 64,000 requests for Oxygen cylinders fulfilled, 15,00,000 home isolation kits arranged, 3,23,700 requests for critical Covid medication fulfilled, 89,000 requests for tele-consultation fulfilled, 50,000 requests for Oxygen concentrators have been fulfilled."

He added that 5,000 requests for Plasma and 976 Dldoctors onboard for Hello Doctor, have been fulfilled.

He said that on Rajiv Gandhiji's martyrdom day, the party takes the opportunity to place the efforts and rehabilitation undertaken so far as also the special SEVA drive being undertaken.

He said that 1.50 crore masks, 25 lakh sanitisers and over 10 lakh home isolation medical kits as approved by physicians, food distribution drives for the poor and for those in need of assistance in and around hospitals, funeral sites etc., 11 lakh dry ration kits for the poor who have been impacted by the pandemic have been provided. Congress MLAs and MLCs from some states have set aside a significant amount from their MLA and MLC LAD funds to procure medicines for Covid-19 patients and distribute them for free.

(With agency inputs)

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