The Ahmedabad AICC Session
By G Krishna Mohan Rao
Ahmedabad: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi today strongly pleaded for a pan-Indian caste census for delivering social justice in the country, while appreciating the work done by Congress-ruled Telangana in this regard. Even the Congress President, Mallikarjun Kharge, in his inaugural speech, reiterated the demand for caste based census. Both the leaders were speaking at the two-day, 84th AICC ( All India Congress Committee) session held at the historic Sabarmati front in Ahmedabad.
The two-day AICC session, held in the land of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, tried for various alternatives to revive the Congress party and felt that Caste census could be one of the recipes to counter the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Hindutva line. Speaking at the session in front of about 2500 AICC delegates, Gandhi said that the Congress will demolish the wall that is restricting reservation to 50 per cent for the Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes(STs) and the Other Backward Castes (OBCs) in education and employment.
Rahul Gandhi observed that “in Telangana, 90 per cent of the population consists of OBCs, extremely backward classes, Dalits, extremely marginalised Dalits, minorities and Adivasis. But if you look at Telangana Corporate Sector, check the list of owners, CEOs and senior management, you won’t find a single person from this 90 per cent population segment”. Emphasising that there is almost no participation of this 90 per cent in Telangana’s Corporate sector, the Congress leader said that he was happy that immediately after the caste census, “our Chief Minister and our team in state increased the OBC reservation to 42 per cent”. It may be recalled that recently, the Telangana government had undertaken a mega exercise of Caste-based census in the State.
Rahul, the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, said that he had asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Parliament to conduct a caste census.“I want to know who had what share in this country and whether this country truly respected the tribal, Dalit and backward communities.” He questioned why the Prime Minister and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh are refusing the caste census.
Referring to the new Waqf Act, Rahul Gandhi termed it an attack on freedom of religion and is anti -anti-constitutional. Citing the RSS-linked magazine “Organiser”, Gandhi alleged that the BJP and the RSS have now set their sights now on the rights of Christians and Sikhs. His direct attack on the RSS was significant when he said that the RSS’s ideology is against the Constitution and they “want to control all institutions in the country”. Rahul told party men that “the fight is for the Constitution, and it is not easy. The RSS has got everything at their disposal, but we have truth and the love of the people on our side”.
Significantly, Rahul Gandhi also announced important changes in the Congress party’s organisational structure, stating DCC (District Congress Committee ) presidents will be made the foundation of the party organisation. There will be a political affairs committee at the district level, which will play a crucial role in ticket selection.
In the Centenary year of Mahatma Gandhi’s election as the Congress president and the 150th birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the AICC session adopted a resolution affirming the party’s commitment to the path of justice—NYAY-PATH. The resolution elaborated on 20 concepts to claim why this NYAY-PATH.
The resolution elaborated that “75 years after independence, the BJP government has inflicted grave injustice upon the people via high inflation, unemployment, huge economic disparity, hateful polarisation and state-sponsored cruelty. The very soul of our democracy— the Constitution of India— is under direct assault by those in power, driven solely by their desire to retain power at any cost”.
‘The nation calls out for NYAY in the face of the gross injustices effectuated by the ruling party. Undeterred by the prevailing environment of hatred, negativity and despair, the Indian National Congress is committed to building a future of hope, aspiration and positivity by walking the path of NYAY (justice ) and Sangarsh (struggle).”
After a gap of 64 years, an AICC session has been held in Gujarat. A special resolution focusing on bringing the Congress back to power in Gujarat, where the BJP has been in power since 1995, was adopted during the session today. In fact, it was pointed out that for the first time in its party’s history when a state-specific resolution was brought during an AICC session. Titled ‘Why Congress is needed in Gujarat’ , the resolution outlined the party’s strategy to get back to power with the motto ‘Nutan Gujarat, Nutan Congress’.
*Senior journalist
