BELAGAVI (KARNATAKA), Dec 26: The Congress on Thursday announced a 13-month-long political campaign, including padyatras, to raise issues such as the alleged attack on the Constitution as well as people’s concerns over price rise and corruption.
The party also called for a major organisational overhaul based on accountability and capability starting immediately and running through the next year.
These decisions were taken at the extended Congress Working Committee meeting — ‘Nav Satyagraha Baithak’ — to mark 100 years of Mahatma Gandhi assuming the presidentship of the party at the Belgaum session.
Two resolutions were passed by the CWC — one on Mahatma Gandhi and the other was a political one.
Top Congress leaders, including party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chief Rahul Gandhi, general secretaries Jairam Ramesh and K C Venugopal, among others, were in Belagavi to attend the “historic” meeting.
Adressing reporters along with Congress general secretary in-charge (communications) Jairam Ramesh and AICC media and publicity department head Pawan Khera, Congress general secretary in-charge (organisation) K C Venugopal said 2025 is going to be a year of an organisation revamping programme at every level, from booth to the top.
He said accountability and a thorough inquiry about the capability of the leadership will form the basis of a “massive revamp” of the organisation.
Venugopal also said there will be a ‘Jai Bapu, Jai Bhim, and Jai Samvidhan abhiyan’ from December 27, 2024 to January 26, 2026 which will be a continuous campaign featuring a continuous series of padayatras and village, block, district, and state-level rallies.
This will be led by national, state and local level leadership, he said.
“In that campaign, we will raise the issue of attack on Constitution, degredation of values of Constitution, people’s issues such as price rise and corruption,” he said.
In April, the Congress will hold an AICC session in Gujarat where Mahatma Gandhi was born, he informed.
PM not ready to accept mistake on ‘insult’ to Ambedkar: Kharge
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the government are not ready to accept the mistake Home Minister Amit Shah made with his “extremely insulting” remarks about B R Ambedkar and asserted that the party will fight for the respect of the architect of the Constitution.
In his opening remarks here at the Congress Working Committee meeting, Kharge alleged that constitutional institutions are being controlled and cited the example of the Election Commission.
“The matter of concern is that people’s faith in the electoral process is gradually decreasing because questions are being raised on the impartiality of the Commission. A few days ago, they changed the election rules so that the information that the court had ordered to be shared could be stopped. What is it that they are trying to hide?” he said.
“Sometimes the names of voters are deleted from the list, sometimes they are prevented from casting their vote, sometimes there is a sudden increase in the number of voters in the list, sometimes at the last moment of voting, the vote percentage increases unexpectedly. These are some questions that keep arising for which no satisfactory answer is found,” Kharge said.
Raising the issue of Shah’s remarks on Ambedkar in Rajya Sabha earlier this month, Kharge said the statement was “extremely insulting to the maker of the Constitution.
“We raised objections, protested, demonstrated. Now protests are taking place all over the country. But the Prime Minister and the government are not ready to accept their mistake. Far from seeking an apology and resignation from Amit Shah, they supported the objectionable statement,” he said.
The Prime Minister issued a statement in defence of the Home Minister and a false case was filed against Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, he said.
“This is the attitude of today’s rulers towards the Constitution and its architect. But we are not going to be afraid of anyone nor are we going to bow down. We will fight till the last breath for the ideology of Nehru-Gandhi and the respect of Babasaheb,” Kharge stated.
The Congress chief asserted that 2025 will be the year of the party’s organisational empowerment.
“We will fill all the vacant posts in the organisation. We will fully implement the Udaipur Declaration. We will equip our organisation with the skills required to win elections from AICC to Mandal and booth,” he said.
“We will have to find such people who are ideologically committed. Who are ready to fight to protect the Constitution. Those who believe in the Congress party’s idea of ??India will have to be connected to the party. They will have to be brought into the mainstream. They will have to be involved in the organisational work,” he said.
“Only hard work is not enough, timely concrete strategy and direction are necessary. There is a need to give a chance to new strength, there is also a need to nurture local and new leadership,” he said.
Kharge said the Congress has the power of ideology, the legacy of Gandhi-Nehru and the heritage of great heroes.
“We will return from Belagavi with a new message and new resolution. That is why we named this meeting is named ‘Nav Satyagraha’ because today even those who hold a constitutional post, are questioning Mahatma Gandhi’s Satyagraha,” he said.
“Those who have taken oath on the Constitution are the ones spreading lies. Those in power take the help of falsehood and accuse us. We have to expose and defeat such people,” he said. (PTI)
