Accepting that Cong has lost contact with people, Rahul calls for mass contact programs

Admitting that the Congress has lost the connection with the people, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the party will have to reach out to the people to “tackle the vicious agenda of the BJP and the RSS”.

“We need to go to the people, rekindle the bond that Congress once had with the people. We have to accept that we have lost that connection,” he said during his farewell speech on the last day of the Congress party’s Chintan Shivir in Udaipur.

Saying there was no shortcut to this, Rahul said, “It was decided that the Congress will go to the people, perform a yatra and reconnect with the masses… This organization was born from the public; we have no choice but to return to the people.

Call for Mass Contact Programs

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“We need to have mass contact programs that don’t last a day or two but last months,” he said, adding, “We need to transform the nature of Congress, not in terms of thought and practice. ideology, but in terms of how we work.

Saying that the party has prepared documents that give clear direction and outline the way forward, Rahul stressed the need for good communication. “If there’s one area where our opponents are better than us, it’s in communication. We must completely reform our communication system.

Also Read: In Chintan Shivir, Cong Reflects on Narratives to Revive ‘Endangered’ Social Justice Politics

Briefly referring to internal wrangling in Congress, he said: “We have a lot of internal focus in the party – who gets what job and everything. Our objective must be external. We have to reach out to the people and fight against the current system.

Promotion of youth

He also came out in favor of the idea that certain positions within the party should be reserved for younger people. “We need to have a healthy mix of young and old; we have to do it aggressively, Rahul said, adding, “We have to aggressively change our district and block the congressional committees so that they can tackle the vicious agenda of the BJP and the RSS.”

“I also approve of the idea that only one person in a family should receive a ticket. I know there is a caveat here, but we need to do this as much as possible. Let the other members of the family to work for the organization,” he said.

‘Cong the main force to fight the BJP’

Putting Congress at the forefront of the fight against the ruling BJP, which he called “not easy”, said the Congress leader, “It’s not a fight that regional parties can fight It is an ideological fight between the ideology of the BJP-RSS and that of the Congress.

“Regional parties have no ideology; they have an approach that changes from place to place. Congress ideology is common across the country,” he said and to back up his point, “BJP attacks Congress, not regional parties, because BJP knows regional parties cannot win. the BJP at the national level”.

‘BJP, RSS destroying institutions’

In a virulent attack on the BJP and the RSS, Rahul pointed out that the ruling party was compromising institutions. “We see this destruction every day when opposition MPs are not allowed to speak in parliament, when the media is muzzled, when institutions are compromised.”

Attacking the central government over its policies, he said: “Indian farmers are facing a crisis. Fashion i banned the export of wheat; its impact can be felt across Punjab and other states. Today, Indian youth cannot find employment. The government has destroyed the future of our youth through its crony capitalism that favors 4-5 industrialists, policies like demonetization and the flawed GST.

“We are turning the demographic dividend into a demographic catastrophe,” Rahul said, adding that the coming struggle was ideological and Congress had a responsibility to counter the BJP and its policies.

“I am against the hatred and violence propagated by the RSS and the BJP and I want to fight this… We are not fighting a political party. The party is only a party; we fight every institution in the country, we fight the biggest crony capitalists in the country,” he said bluntly.

He was convinced that “there was now (after Chintan Shivir) a lot of clarity on the direction the party should take in terms of politics and policies.” He also called for more talks like the ones held in Udaipur: “I think we should have these talks much more often. They also allow us to come together and work as a family.

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