Regain
the lost citadel in the North: Sonia
by Pankaj Yadav
Rajiv
Nagar (Hyderabad): Congress president Sonia Gandhi has
exhorted her partymen to strive and win back the party's
political fortune in northern India. May be in a reference
to the prevailing situation in Uttar Pradesh, where the
party has been struggling to regain its traditional votebank
for over two decades, Sonia said: "There is a dire need
to assume power in North India. I know it's not a magic
wand, it will be accomplished with your efforts. It will
be a long and struggling phase. I also know that I will
have to give more attention in these states," she said while
addressing her partymen at the 82nd Plenary Session being
held on the outskirts of Hyderabad. At present the Samajwadi
Party (SP) is at the helm of affairs in Uttar Pradesh. Both
the Congress and the SP are UPA allies, but have a love-hate
relationship. The bone of contention is the state of UP,
where the SP has a comfortable voteback based on caste lines
and the Congress is keen to revive its traditional votebank,
which it lost in early 1990s, when Mulayam Singh Yadav became
Chief Minister for the first time. The other states to which
the Congress president apparently referred to are Bihar,
Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
Gandhi
also praised the incumbent United Progressive Alliance Government
for its achievements since its assumption of power at the
Centre in May 2004. She particularly lauded the Government's
initiative in bringing the Rural Employment Guarantee Act
into force, which she said would ensure work for people
in the rural areas for at least 100 days in a year. The
Congress president also exhorted her party workers and leaders
to come together to strengthen the party. "We have Congress
workers in every nook and corner of the country who give
us strength. The Congress Party has given a new stature
to the country. We now have historical Rural Employment
Guarantee scheme, which for the first time in history, gives
guarantees for employment. We have the new Right to Information
Act as the main weapon to the Aam Admi, which ensures the
common man has an awareness of his rights," she said. She
once again called upon her partymen to lead a simple life
and desist from wasteful expenditure and ostentatious arrangments
for marriages and other functions and festivals. She said
that people look upon the Congressmen to set examples by
leading a simple life because the party follows the principles
of Mahatma Gandhi. Earlier, a couple of months ago also
Sonia had written letters to all the PCCs exhorting her
partymen and leaders to draw inspiration from "austerity
and humility" of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and lead
a simple life. "I feel sad when I see ostentatious birthday
and marriage parties arranged by the Congressmen. It appears
as if our sympathy for the poor is a cruel joke. Many of
our Congress colleagues use their political posts for their
own personal favours. It is contrary to the lifestyle our
former leaders led. I would appeal to the Congressmen to
follow a particular code of conduct and maintain the decorum
of the traditions of the Congress set over the past 125
years," Gandhi said. "Ours is the biggest political organisation
in the country, so it becomes our responsibility to change
the public opinion towards the politicians and political
parties," she said, adding that it was high time when the
use of money and muscle power was ended and clean politics
paved the way.
She further claimed that the Congress had always set high
standards of maintaining dignity in public life. As far
as the Bharatiya Janata Party is concerned, Gandhi accused
it of fomenting and encouraging partisan and divisive politics.
"Unlike the BJP, we do not play partisan politics when it
came to addressing the sufferings of the people," she said.
Gandhi asked party workers to ensure that the programmes
of the UPA Government at the Centre should not be "usurped"
or "subverted" by the non-Congress Governments in various
states. She asked partymen to organise the people to see
that they got whatever they were entitled to. Talking about
women reservations, the Congress president said that the
party is actively pursuing this goal, and added that she
was determined to see that the party included more and more
women in politics. At present, she said that 35 percent
of women were occupying representative position in local
development bodies across the country. It was also important
to provide succor and support to the underprivileged sections
of society, she added. Expressing her appreciation for the
role played by the armed forces, she said that they not
only protect the common man and safeguard the country's
borders, but have also rendered yeoman services in times
of natural calamities like floods and earthquakes etc. She
also urged the party leaders and workers to focus on fundamental
needs like education and assess economic realities, adding
that the younger generation of Congressmen could play a
significant role in this regard.
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