Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, May 15: Acknowledging that the party’s connection with the people has been “broken”, the Congress on Sunday announced wide-ranging organisational reforms to make the party “battle-ready” for the next round of Assembly and Lok Sabha polls and deciding on wider representation to those under 50 years of age and enforcing ‘one person, one post’ and ‘one family, one ticket’ rules strictly but with some riders.
In a bid to re-establish the party’s connect with the people, the party announced launching of the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ from Kanyakumari to Kashmir beginning on Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti, on October 2. The party will also launch the second phase of its ‘Jan Jagran Yatra’ at the district level from June 15, the Congress president Sonia Gandhi announced at the conclusion of the three-day “Nav Sankalp Chintan Shibir” in Udaipur in Rajasthan.
In the Udaipur Declaration, the Congress also announced setting up of three new departments — public insight, election management and national training. The party announced enforcing the ‘one family, one ticket’ rule with exception to be made only when another family member has been working in the party for at least five years. The party also decided that no person should hold one party position for more than five years to give opportunity to new people. The party has also decided to provide 50% representation to those below 50 years of age at all levels of organisation.
The Congress president will set up an advisory group from among Congress Working Committee (CWC) members to deliberate on political challenges, the party announced. In her concluding address, Congress president Sonia Gandhi announced that a task force would be set up to initiate the organisational reforms. The Congress held the three-day conclave in Udaipur in the backdrop of a string of electoral defeats and dissent in the party for the past many years.
As the Chintan Shibir drew to a close, the former Congress president Rahul Gandhi said the party would have to accept that its “connection” with the people has been snapped and work towards re-establishing it by turning the focus from internal matters to the welfare of the public
“It is a complaint. Our entire discussion… is about our internal matters…. who is getting which post. That is our internal focus. In today’s time this internal focus will not work. Our focus should be external. We will have to turn our attention to the people and we will have to go to them. Not just for us, but for the country…. Be it our senior leaders, junior leaders or workers, we should go and sit with the people,” he said.
The senior leader added: “Their issues… we should understand. Jo Congress party ka connection janta se tuta hai usko humhe accept karna padega (we have to accept that our connection has been snapped). We will have to re-establish that connection.” On the “Yatra” from October, Rahul said,
“That is the only way to reach out to the people. Shortcuts will not help. It can only happen by shedding sweat. We can do it. You can do it. We have the ability and that is our DNA. This organisation has lost its touch with the people and we have to go to the people once again,” he said.
He added that the party should also transform the way it operates. “Not the nature in terms of its thinking, not nature in terms of its ideology, but nature in terms of the way we do our work. The 21st century is about communication. And that is one area where our opponents outdo us. So, we must think about communication… completely reform our systems and communicate with the people of India, with the youngsters in a new way.”
Advocating for bringing in more youths into the party, Rahul said: “I am not saying there should be no older people. I am saying that when it comes to PCCs, block Congress committees, and leadership, we should have a healthy mix of youngsters and seniors. And I think the time has come that we aggressively do this.”
Speaking about the one party one ticket idea, he added that the Congress party should “ensure that one person per family should get a ticket. “I know (AICC General Secretary in charge of Organisation) Venugopal has made a caveat to that, but I do think that it is very important that we limit the number of family members that are involved in our organisation. Let them work, let them develop and then let them join the organisation. We must not have a situation where 5 or 6 or 7 members of a family are in the organisation,” he said.
He assured party members that he will himself fight against the BJP along with them. “I have never been corrupt haven’t taken any money and I am not scared and will fight,” Gandhi said. “India doesn’t yet understand the consequences of muzzling expression,” he warned while launching a blistering attack on the BJP and RSS accusing them of being totalitarian and dangerous for the country. He said the grand old party was criticised for allowing internal conversations as party members can bluntly tell the leadership what they feel “unlike BJP and the RSS.”
Attacking the BJP government at the centre, Gandhi said, “It is critical for the union of the country that the states and the people are allowed to have a conversation. The only alternative to a conversation between the people of India is violence between people of India,” he said. He alleged a “systematic destruction” of various institutions was taking place. “The day this country’s institutions stop working, the day this country stops having a conversation with itself, we will be in serious trouble,” he said.