In her remarks on Saturday, Sonia Gandhi also said the party is ready for the internal elecAddressing the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting, interim President Sonia Gandhi on Saturday slammed party leaders for speaking to the media. In her opening remarks, Sonia Gandhi said: “I have always appreciated frankness. There is no need to speak to me through the media. So let us all have a free and honest discussion. But what should get communicated outside the four walls of this room is the collective decision of the CWC.”
News Delhi, India : Sonia Gandhi’s statement came after senior party leader Kapil Sibal had recently said that “there is no president in our party, so we do not know who is taking all the decisions. We know it, yet we don’t know, one of my senior colleagues perhaps has written or is about to write to the interim president to immediately convene a CWC meeting so that a dialogue can be initiated”.
Congress Interim President Sonia Gandhi chairs Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting at AICC office in Delhi pic.twitter.com/kOPzRkVRl3
In her remarks on Saturday, she also said the party is ready for the internal elections.
“Today is the occasion for bringing clarity once and for all. A schedule for the full-fledged organisational elections is before you.”
She also praised young leaders for taking over leadership role
“In the last two years, a large number of our colleagues, particularly the younger ones have taken on leadership roles in taking party policies and programmes to the people, whether it be the agitation of farmers, provision of relief during the pandemic, highlighting issues of concern to youth and women, atrocities on Dalits, Adivasis and minorities, price rise, and the destruction of the public sector. Never have we let issues of public importance and concern go unaddressed.”
CWC meet – What Sonia Gandhi said on farmers’ protest, Kashmir killings, fuel price hike
Regarding the farmers’ protests, the Congress interim President said: “The shocking incidents at Lakhimpur Kheri betrays the mindset of the BJP, how it perceives the Kisan Andolan, how it has been dealing with this determined struggle by Kisans to protect their lives and livelihoods.
She said that the economy continues to be a cause of great concern in spite of the government propaganda and the only answer the Centre seems to have for the country’s economic recovery is selling off national assets built with great effort over the decades.
“The public sector has had not just strategic and economic objectives, it has had social goals as well, as, for instance, empowerment of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes and development of backward areas. But all this is in jeopardy with the Modi government’s single-point agenda of ‘Becho, Becho, Becho’.”
She said that prices of essential commodities, including food and fuel continue to rise unabated.
“Could anyone in the country ever imagine that petrol prices would be over 100 Rs rupees a litre, diesel would be nearing the Rs 100 a litre mark, a gas cylinder would cost Rs 900 and cooking oil would be Rs 200 a litre. This is making life unbearable for people across the country.”
Sonia Gandhi also condemned the killings in Jammu and Kashmir and said minorities clearly have been targeted.
“This must be condemned in the strongest possible terms. We have done so and I do so again this morning. Jammu and Kashmir has been a Union Territory for two years. The entire responsibility for bringing the perpetrators of these barbaric crimes to justice is that of the Union government. Restoring social peace and harmony and confidence amongst the people in Jammu and Kashmir rests with the Modi government too.
“There has always been a broad consensus on foreign and neighbourhood policy in our country. But that consensus has been damaged because of the Prime Minister continued reluctance to take the Opposition into confidence in any meaningful manner. Foreign policy has become a diabolical instrument of electoral mobilisation and polarisation. We face serious challenges on our borders and on other fronts. The Prime Minister telling the opposition leaders last year that there had not been any occupation of our territory by China and his silence ever since is costing our nation dearly,” she added.
The Congress faces many challenges but, “if we are united, if we are disciplined and if we focus on the party’s interests alone, I am confident that we will do well”.
Centre’s foreign policy diabolical instrument of electoral mobilisation, polarisation
Claiming that India’s foreign policy has become a diabolical instrument of electoral mobilisation and polarisation, Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi on Saturday said the consensus between government and Opposition on diplomatic issues has been damaged because of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s continued reluctance to take the Opposition into confidence. Speaking at the Congress’ Working Commitee meeting, Gandhi said PM Modi’s silence on borders issues is costing the nation ‘dearly’. “There has always been a broad consensus on foreign and neighbourhood policy in our country. But that consensus has been damaged because of the Prime Minister’s continued reluctance to take the Opposition into confidence in any meaningful manner. Foreign policy has become a diabolical instrument of electoral mobilisation and polarisation. We face serious challenges on our borders and on other fronts. The Prime Minister told the opposition leaders last year that there had not been any occupation of our territory by China and his silence ever since is costing our nation dearly,” she said. She also slammed the Centre’s National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) scheme, and said the country’s social goals are in jeopardy because of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government’s single-point agenda of “Becho, Becho, Becho” (sell, sell, sell). The Congress chief said the economy continues to be a cause of great concern “in spite of the government propaganda to make us believe that it is not.” “As we all know, the only answer the government seems to have for economic recovery is selling off national assets built with great effort over the decades. The public sector has had not just strategic and economic objectives—it has had social goals as well, as, for instance, empowerment of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes and development of backward areas. But all this is in jeopardy with the Modi government’s single-point agenda of Becho, Becho, Becho,” she added.
