RL Francis
Addressing the 84th plenary session of the Congress AICC president Rahul Gandhi raked up many issues like unemployment among the youth, farmers’ problems, J&K problem, GDP, skill India and Swachh Bharat without addressing who has given these problems to the country. The Congress remained in power for more than 50 years, why could not it bring about improvement on all these fronts ?. Why could it not generate employment? Why could it not solve farmers” problems? Why was the Kashmir problem allowed to linger on?
As the Congress held its plenary session after eight years, it shows how serious is it about the problems of the nation.
A plenary session of any political party is aimed at assessing its achievements, drawbacks and the future strategy. It is important when a party is on the verge of extinction. But the Congress did not seem to be doing anything of the sort in its session. Whether it was an inaugural address or the party president”s concluding address the Congress president Rahul Gandhi seemed to be just focusing his attack on the Modi government. He did not seem to be concerned about the fate of the Congress, nor could he tell participants from all over the country why the Congress has been losing election after an election.
He should have shared the party”s new vision with the workers. The session should have discussed what should be done to revive the party. What new the Congress needs to do to come back to life? What new strategy has it got to win back the confidence of the people? In 2014 Lok Sabha elections the Congress could get meagre 44 seats. It could not even get the status of an opposition party. After 2014 the Congress has been losing one state after the other and today out of 29 states it is in power only in three states. In Karnataka also the return of the Congress to power looks difficult.
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the Modi government has destroyed the economy, but then why did th GDP fall to five per cent during his tenure? Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram said the Congress pulled 14 crore people out of poverty, then why did it lose power? During the Congress rule poverty line for urban areas was fixed below Rs 32 and for rural areas below Rs 28 which was mocked at in the world.
After the Modi government took over, India”s image as a strong nation has improved, the economy has improved, reforms have been speeded up.
There has been not a single militant attack beyond J&K. There is no allegation of corruption on the government. It seems the Congress just wants to criticise for the sake of it. The Congress held its last plenary session in 2010 and this time it was held after eight years. Rahul Gandhi”s address at the session looked more like an electoral speech as he just focused on attacking the BJP.
The session did not touch on why the Congress stood marginalised today. Why has it been thrown out of power? The Congress session should have been used to infuse new life among workers, to re-energise them. There was a need to present the session in a new manner, but Rahul Gandhi failed to do that.
(The writer is a Delhi-based freelancer)
