New Delhi: Days after a major organisational rejig in the party, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday did some plain-speaking with top office-bearers, stressing that they will be held accountable for future election results in states under their charge and asking them to be wary of ideologically weak turncoats.
Addressing general secretaries and in-charges, including those appointed last week, at a meeting held at the party’s headquarters at Indira Bhawan here, Kharge emphasised the importance of promoting those people who are committed to the ideology of the Congress and stand with us like a rock even in adverse circumstances. Kharge also hinted at some more changes in the organisation, saying some changes have already taken place and some more are in the offing.
“I want to talk to you about the most important thing of accountability. You all will be held accountable for revamping the organisations in states and for all future election results,” he told the office-bearers. The party recently brought in new office bearers in the revamped organisation.
Among those who attended the meeting were former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, senior leaders Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, K C Venugopal and Jairam Ramesh, and all general secretaries and in-charges in various states. At the meeting, Kharge also flagged the issue of alleged “voter list manipulation” and claimed that it is happening on a large scale in elections.
He noted that Rahul Gandhi also raised a question about this in the Lok Sabha. “All of you will realise that these days the names of our supporters are deleted from the voters list. Or the name is removed and added to the adjacent booth. New names are added by the BJP just before the election. This rigging has to be stopped at all costs,” the Congress chief asserted.
Kharge pointed out that earlier the Chief Justice was also included in the selection committee of Chief Election Commission (CEC) by the order of the Supreme Court but the CJI was removed from the panel by the Modi government.
“The government does not even trust the impartiality of the Chief Justice of the country. This matter was to be heard in the Supreme Court, but the government announced the new CEC before that. Rahul Ji also said that what is the use of such a selection committee, where you are using Leader of Opposition only for certification?” he said.
Kharge also raised the issues of inflation and unemployment, alleging the Modi government has completely failed on that front. He urged the office-bearers to strengthen the organisation.
“It is your responsibility to strengthen the organisation from state headquarters to booth as soon as possible. You will have to go to the booth yourself for this work, work hard, interact with the workers. Our Frontals – Cells will have to be involved. I especially want to say about the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), that they are an important part of us, involve them too in organisation building,” Kharge said.
“If you yourself go to the booth, division, block, district, state level at the grassroots level, then you will be able to add new people there. You will be able to bring trustworthy and ideologically strong people with you.You can bring forward those people who can be very useful for the party but did not get a chance,” he said.
Kharge called for promoting those people who are committed to the ideology of the Congress and “stand with us like a rock even in adverse circumstances”. Many times, to strengthen the party, people are inducted in a hurry, he said, adding that they could be weak in ideology and run away in difficult times. Using a Hindi proverb, he advised the office-bearers to be wary of choosing “imitations over original”.
In his opening remarks at the meeting, Kharge said Delhi voted for change and lauded the efforts of the state leadership in putting up a good fight despite lack of resources. The BJP returned to power in Delhi after more than 26 years, winning 48 of the 70 assembly seats. The AAP won 22 seats while the Congress drew a blank in the polls held on February 5.
The Congress chief said the party leaders must raise issues of public interest in the next five years and strive to make the organisation emerge as the principal opposition party in Delhi. Hitting out at the government, he said the prime minister failed to stop the insult of Indians deported from the USA.
“Despite Modi ji’s visit, America is sending back Indian citizens handcuffed as before. Vegetarians were given non-vegetarian food. Our government also failed to protest this insult properly,” Kharge alleged. “America is also hurting us deeply in economic matters. They imposed reverse tariff on us, but the prime minister did not even protest against it. They are forcibly imposing a loss-making deal on us, which our government is silently accepting. This is clearly an insult to India and the people of India,” the Congress chief claimed.
Noting that the “Jai Bapu, Jai Bhim, Jai Samvidhan” programme will continue for the next one year, Kharge said under this, activities such as padyatra, dialogue, corner meetings can be conducted. “But the aim of every such program should be the empowerment of the organisation,” he said.
In a major organisational revamp, the Congress on Friday appointed former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel as general secretary in-charge of Punjab and Rajya Sabha MP Syed Naseer Hussain as general secretary for Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
