On the eve of Gandhiji’s birth anniversary, the congress party has launched a fresh strategy to fight the upcoming elections against the current Modi-led BJP government. After paying tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th birth anniversary at Rajghat, the Congress party conducted its Congress working committee meeting at Mahadev Bhawan in Sevagram village in Wardha district, Maharashtra.
The meeting was presided over by Congress president Rahul Gandhi. Some other leaders from United Progressive Alliance (UPA) who attended the meeting were the chairperson Sonia Gandhi, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, leader of the Opposition in the Rajya sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad and Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge.
Marking the significance of the day, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala had said, “In 1942, Congress Working Committee had met in Sevagram under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi to adopt the ‘Quit India’ resolution and again a meeting was held there in March 1948”. He also said that this time the Congress is fighting against “falsehood, violence and fear”.
Two resolutions were passed by the Congress Committee, emphasizing the contribution of Mahatma Gandhi to the “Indian thought process, its soul and body”, and late Lal Bahadur Shastri ‘s call of ‘Jai Jawan Jai Kisan’, saying it was “not just a slogan but a way of life”, reported HT. Lal Bahdur Shastri’s birth anniversary also falls on October 2.
It said that legacy of Mahatma Gandhi is being used for political gains and there is no plan of implementing Gandhian principles in reality.
“One may borrow the Mahatma’s spectacles for publicity campaigns, but implementing his vision will remain unfulfilled unless his principles are followed in complete essence. The Congress Working Committee resolves to expose the hollowness and doublespeak of the ideologies and organisations who have never believed in, let alone followed the Gandhian path of truth, tolerance, harmony and non-violence”, it said in the resolution.
The Congress Working Committee plans to contest the 2019 elections on these ideologies and the Congressmen will follow the principles laid out in Sevagram Document henceforth.
The committee also called upon the people of India to stand against the politics of fear, hatred and bigotry and defend the foundational values of our nation with which Mahatma Gandhi had fought for his entire life and even sacrificed his life for the same values. The Congress aims to take forward this message and spread it across the nation in times ahead.
The meeting was followed by a foot-march in Sevagram, and garlanding “bapu’s” statue after which Rahul Gandhi addressed the Sankalp rally in which he accused the BJP of making false promises and leading the politics of hatred and violence. Attacking PM on the Rafale fighter jet deal, he asked Modi to give an answer to the people of the nation. He also said that Gandhiji worked towards uniting the people India and Modiji is on a mission to create division among the people of India.
Stirring again the demonetization move by the government, Mr. Rahul said that all the black money has turned into white through this move. Addressing the people, the Congress President asked the people to put their trust in Congress again.
Earlier, a Prayer meeting was also held in ‘Bapu Kutir’ Sevagram ashram. Sevagram was earlier named as Shegaon. When Bapu bulit his residence there in April 1936, he renamed it Sevagram which means ‘Village Of Service’.