The Congress took an unambiguous official stand on Saturday by adopting “a pragmatic approach for cooperation with all like-minded parties by evolving a common workable programme to defeat the BJP-RSS in the 2019 general elections.”
Already trying to forge unity among the Opposition to take on the Modi government, it opened its cards in a 10-page political resolution adopted on the first day of the 2-day 84th AICC plenary session at the jam-packed Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium here.
It is almost a repeat of the Shimla Sankalp of 2003 that had helped the Congress in overthrowing the ‘India Shining’ Vajpayee government in 2004 by forging an alliance with parties that shared a common ideology.
The Congress, however, had overturned the Simla Sankalap in Jaipur in 2013 by moving to address aspirational class and youth, instead drumming up secularism.
Echoing the sentiments of a broad opposition, the political resolution summed up India as standing at a crossroads — facing the threat posed by authoritarian, divisive and disruptive forces under the BJP regime where farmers, unorganised sector workers, Dalits, minorities, traders, unemployed youth and the poor have been betrayed.
“Today, our core constitutional values are under attack. Our freedoms are in jeopardy. Our institutions are under stress and their independence compromised. Our Republic must be protected,” the resolution, drafted under the guidance of Dr Manmohan Singh, read.
Applying a course correction, the resolution began by recalling Mahatma Gandhi’s speech at the AICC session in November 1947 — that described Congress as “of Indians, of all those who inhabit this land, whether they are Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs or Parsis”.
Touching upon the legacy of Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhash Chandra Bose, Vallabhbhai Patel and Maulana Azad with a broad brush, the resolution noted that “Bapu was snatched away by forces of violence and communalism… the very forces which he stood up against”.
Incidentally, besides Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, it also mentioned PV Narasimha Rao’s contribution in steering the country out of crisis and transforming it by launching economic reforms.
The resolution specifically targeted the BJP-RSS, saying the country’s core constitutional values are under attack and freedom of all is in jeopardy, with institutions under stress and their independence compromised.
The party said it was prepared to make sacrifices 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 prime minister and the BJP government are intolerant towards any criticism and remain in arrogant denial. The RSS-BJP is misrepresenting, distorting and misusing religion to exploit the sentiments of the people and capture political power,”the resolution noted.
In a separate section on security environment, the Congress deplored the attempts of the government and the BJP to whip up hysteria and create a division in the polity on the issue of counterterrorism on which the whole nation stood united. “This is most unfortunate and counterproductive,” the resolution said.
Blaming the BJP government for disrupting the constructive engagement in pursuit of power and political opportunism, the Congress asked the government to correct its flawed approach in Jammu and Kashmir and rebuilding the trust and restoration of normalcy.
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