Our connection with people has snapped… No shortcuts, need to sweat it out: Rahul Gandhi

In his concluding remarks at the three-day Nav Sankalp Shivir in Udaipur, Rahul also announced the party’s decision to enforce the one family, one ticket rule and give more representation to the youth at all levels of the party.

“It is a complaint. Our entire discussion… is about our internal matters…. who is getting which post. That is our internal focus. In today’s time this internal focus will not work. Our     focus should be external. We will have to turn our attention to the people and we will have to go to them. Not just for us, but for the country…. Be it our senior leaders, junior leaders or workers, we should go and sit with the people,” he said.

The senior leader added: “Their issues… we should understand. Jo Congress party ka connection janta se tuta hai usko humhe accept karna padega (we have to accept that our connection has been snapped). We will have to re-establish that connection.” Rahul further said that the Congress will begin a yatra from October to reach out to the people.

Today, India is facing a breakdown of institutions. Our demographic dividend is turning into a demographic disaster. Price rise & Unemployment are rampant.

BJP has systematically destroyed instruments that allow conversations between people.

Our country is in serious trouble. pic.twitter.com/nngUUMZQUX

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 15, 2022

“That is the only way…. Shortcuts will not help. It can only happen by shedding sweat. We can do it. You can do it. We have the ability and that is our DNA. This organisation has lost its touch with the people and we have to go to the people once again,” he said.

He added that the party should also transform the way it operates. “Not the nature in terms of its thinking, not nature in terms of its ideology, but nature in terms of the way we do our work. The 21st century is about communication. And that is one area where our opponents outdo us. So, we must think about communication… completely reform our systems and communicate with the people of India, with the youngsters in a new way.”

Which other political party in this country would allow this type of a conversation?

A conversation where the seniormost leadership is bluntly told without holding back, without any hesitation, what the Congress party feels.

— Congress (@INCIndia) May 15, 2022

Advocating for bringing in more youths into the party, Rahul said: “I am not saying there should be no older people. I am saying that when it comes to PCCs, block Congress committees, and leadership, we should have a healthy mix of youngsters and seniors. And I think the time has come that we aggressively do this.”

Speaking about the one party one ticket idea, he added that the Congress party should “ensure that one person per family should get a ticket. “I know (AICC General secretary in charge of Organisation) Venugopal has made a caveat to that, but I do think that it is very important that we limit the number of family members that are involved in our organisation. Let them work, let them develop and then let them join the organisation. We must not have a situation where 5 or 6 or 7 members of a family are in the organisation,” he said.