Vowing to build a stronger Congress and a fairer India, former party chief Rahul Gandhi on Thursday told district unit chiefs that there is a difficult ideological battle, which is ensuing and reminded them that the Congress had fought the British empire, in comparison to whom the BJP and the RSS “are a joke”.
Addressing the first of the three scheduled meetings of District Congress Presidents, Gandhi emphasized their role as the foundation of the Congress.
“Without them, the party cannot thrive, cannot succeed. Our fight is not just against the RSS-BJP, it is for an India where every citizen, every community has the right to dream and achieve. Together, we will build a stronger Congress and a fairer India,” he said in a post on his WhatsApp channel after the meeting.
In a video of the meeting shared by him on his WhatsApp channel, Gandhi is heard saying that the Congress is fighting an ideological battle.
“There are two visions of India, two concepts of India. On one side there is the RSS concept — dictatorship, hierarchy, suppression of lower caste, suppression of weaker sections, suppression of women, disrespect to women — and on the other side there is the Congress ideology, which gave us our freedom, which treats everybody equally,” he said at the meeting.
Gandhi said the Congress ideology treats all castes equally, all religions equally, and aspires to make India a fair and a harmonious place.
“You know the division the BJP is causing. You can see two or three businessmen are operating like the East India Company used to operate. They own everything, they own the media, they own the telecom infrastructure, they get anything that they want, they get land, if they want ports, they get ports, if they want defence contracts, they get defence contracts,” he added.
Gandhi said this is not the India that the Congress intended to build, adding the party intended to build an India where all can aspire to greatness and everybody can dream.
“So this is what the fight is. The fight is a difficult fight, but we have fought much more difficult fights before. We fought the British empire, if you remember, and the RSS and the BJP are a joke in front of the British empire,” he said.
The Congress leader said, “We are capable of defeating the BJP, but we will never be able to defeat the BJP without a strong district unit.”
“What do we expect of District Presidents – that you will grow the party, bring in more members, and bring in capable leaders,” he added.
Gandhi said the party expects the District Congress Committee (DCC) chiefs to defend from attack when they see the party’s ideology being attacked, weaker sections being attacked, Dalits, tribals, and minorities being attacked.
He said they are also expected to ensure better coordination among their party people.
The Congress leader said the DCC chiefs must run a district where everyone feels they are part of the family and the district does not run for one faction or for your own interest.
“We also want to give you the tools to be able to do that. We cannot say that we expect this from you and we are not going to give you the tools to do your job because at the end it is a partnership between yourselves and us,” he said.
Gandhi emphasised the role of the DCCs as the foundation of the Congress party.
Seeking to strengthen the party at the grassroots, top Congress leadership held the meeting with the district unit chiefs and urged them to work unitedly with a long-term strategy to ensure victory in the upcoming state elections.
In his inaugural address, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge asserted the organisation’s ideology is strong, but it cannot be implemented in the country without attaining power.
This is the first time in years that the Congress organised such a meeting with the district chiefs which was attended by 338 DCCs from 13 states and three union territories.
This was the first in the series of meetings, with two more slated here on April 3 and 4.
