Unfulfilled 2003 pledges embarrass Congress think tank

As the Congress  prepares for a ‘Chintan Shivir’ (brainstorming session) at Jaipur later this month to formulate its strategy ahead of the general elections, party leaders have been embarrassed by the discovery that none of the pledges made at the ‘Vichar Manthan’  held in Shimla 2003 has been implemented so far.

Senior party leaders, including defence minister AK Antony, health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, transport minister CP Joshi, AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh and former external affairs minister SM Krishna, are engaged in devising a draft to be adopted at the brain storming conclave.

At the Shimla meet 10 years ago, Congress president Sonia Gandhi had threatened to step down if she failed to supervise the implementation of the ‘sankalp’ resolutions. She had declared: “The Shimla Sankalp will be implemented fully, in letter and spirit. And I would welcome being held accountable for it by all of you.” Even though no party leader would be in a position to hold her accountable, they are trying to evolve a draft for the current session to avoid any such future embarrassment.

Since the ‘Vichar Manthan’ was held when the BJP-led NDA government was in power, the Congress made communal toxification of text books a major issue.  It decided to set up a trust to pursue detoxification of  text books. But nobody in the party thought of pursuing the trust idea after the NDA was ousted in 2004.

Sonia had also called for launching a trust comprising eminent men and women committed to vision of a modern, secular, progressive India to fight prejudices in schools and educational institutes and to install pride in the Indian heritage.

She had also talked about setting up a national training institute for Congress workers. The project never took off, except for AICC general secretary Janardan Dwivedi remaining chairman of the training department for the past 10 years. He has remained fixed on merely writing Sonia’s speeches and managing relations with the media. This institute, Sonia had said, would impart training and an orientation course on contemporary political, economic and social issues and constructive work.

Senior party leaders say the Chintan Shivir will draw up an agenda for the government to achieve during the next 12 months, including a populist budget in February and enactment of vital laws in Parliament where numbers often throw up a crisis every time. Legislations on food security to all and land acquisition and the Lokpal Bill are pending before Parliament. Possibilities of fresh electoral alignments and the emergence of newer forms of protests make the challenges diverse and formidable.

The Congress party’s ability to retain its allies and attract new partners for 2014 will also depend on the assembly elections this year. While existing allies such as the NCP and the DMK are already showing signs of unease, the Congress is toying with the idea of aligning with Lalu Yadav in Bihar again as the leadership looks to offset the possible losses in Andhra Pradesh. Their role will be crucial during the year which will be the last chance for the government to pass women’s reservation and communal harmony bills that are pending for ages.