24 May 2002

SONIA REBUFFS COMMUNAL SCARE AMONG CONGRESS LEADERS

From Jal Khambata

NEW DELHI: Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Friday touched the raw nerve of the Congress leaders numbed from the communal carnage in Gujarat, pointing out that "we ourselves are intimidated by false propaganda by our adversaries."

In her opening Presidential remarks at the one-day AICC session here, she, however, warned that "we will not indulge in competitive communalism." She criticised all those who mobilise people on communal lines for political gains.

Her dig was apparently at the Congress leaders of Gujarat who were so scared of losing the Hindu votes in the wake of the carnage that they took weeks before they even gathered courage to demand dismissal of Chief Minister Narendra Modi aiding and abetting the Hindus' attacks on the minority.

The "harsh truth" is that yes the communal forces are "well-organised" and "so widely spread" but against them the Congress has to play only one card, the "India card" for the rule of democracy, Sonia Gandhi said. "We must defeat communalism with determination as it is destroying our cultual heritage," she said.

The AICC session being held in the shadow of over two months of the naked communal carnage in Goa aptly reflected the mood in the party as the venue, the Talkatora indoor stadium, was named "Sadbhavna Nagar" and the slogan decorating the dias read: "Sadbhavna aur pragati ke path par" in Hindi and "Towards harmony and progress" in English.

Sonia Gandhi dealt with the threats on the Indian borders, cross-border terrorism, economic ruin under the Vajpayee Government, role of youths and women's reservation, but the main thrust of her over an hour-long Presidential address was on the Gujarat carnage.

She said all must ponder and understand how come Gujarat, the land of Mahatma Gandhi, can become a ground for religious fanaticism. She said whenever Assembly polls are held in Gujarat, the Congress will go to the people with just one message: "Social peace, harmony and religious amity" should prevail and for that they should throw out those who preach and practice "politics of hatred." Gujarat needs "politics that heals and not politics that wounds."

Pointing out that "secularism for us is a matter of conviction and not compulsion" and it stands "not for freedom from religions but for freedom of religions", Sonia Gandhi said the majority of people in Gujarat want harmony and peace and it is only a handful of people who want to trample upon it and they will not succeed if "we ourselves are not intimidated by false propaganda by our adversaries."

Sonia Gandhi gave the "mantra" of "austerity" for the Congress-ruled states like Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, pointing out that determined efforts were needed to defeat the anti-incumbancy factor by ensuring that there is no "vulgar display of power."

She said this was essential since there is special significance of the states going to polls in a year from now as it would have an impact on the next Lok Sabha elections. She also announced at the one-day AICC session here that soon she would come out with "a code of auterity" to which all Congressmen will have to abide.

Sonia Gandhi also said the Gujarat communal carnage should be a lesson to all the Congress-ruled states that the "most fundamental" duty of any government is to maintain law and order and provide security to the people.

Referring to the Goa Assembly mid-term poll taking place on May 30, she exuded confidence that Goa would be the 15th states where the Congress will form the Government since the Goans were all set to give "a clear verdict in our favou to ensure secular legacy and religious heritage of the state."

She said she has already told the Congress chief minister that "any individual or organisation preaching or practising politics of hatred must be dealt with severely" and there must be no compromise in any circumstances.

Referring to the economy in shambles affecting all sections of the society badly, she accused the Vajpayee Government of frittering away the fruits of economic progress by the Congress governments. "Only in social harmony and equity the economy can go and only Congress can take economy forward," she said.

She also announced that soon she would create a council of the Congress chief ministers to provide an institutionalised forum for practising good governance.

Explaining that the Congress had to support the Government in dealing with the cross-border terrorism of Pakistan in this "critical hour", Sonia Gandhi made it clear that it does not mean the party supports the Government in any other area.

There should be no doubts, she said, that "this government has revealed monumental incompetence" corruption is rampant, it is "insensitive to need of people" and this government "is marked by drift propelled by inactions and sustained by nothing but greed of power."

She said the Congress was "the only hope to lead the country from darkness to light and pull it out of the abyss of political paralysis, economic collapse and social ruin.

She laid stress on the Government exploring all avenues for a peaceful settlement of resolution of the Kashmir issue instead of rushing to any kind of confrontation that endangers the country at large. This was perhaps the Congress party's first indirect opposition to the war cries coming from the ruling BJP and its government at the Centre.

Sonia Gandhi stressed that the Centre should take the responsibility to ensure elections to the Jammu and Kashmir are held on time and without any kind of intimidation of the people.

The officially-sponsored political resolution that was passed subsequently by the AICC session was in tune with her remarks as it squarely blamed the Vajpayee Government for its failure to ensure internal security in Jammu and Kashmir and said this alone had made India externally vulnerable. The Vajpayee Government has been "lax" in vigilance at the borders, the resolution said.

The domestic problems of Jammu and Kashmir have been "hugely compounded and magnified" by the external dimensions of cross-border terrorism and even invasion across the Line of Control, the resolution said.

"This is not the way forward. The Congress prefers the path of peace and pacific solution of issues. The Congress calls on the government to explore all avenues for peaceful settlement of issues," the resolution added.

GANG IN POWER: Senior Congress leader Arjun Singh on Friday said India has been captured by a "political gang" whose leadership is in the hands of the RSS and whatever is happening in the government is being done by the RSS while the government is only a silent spectator.

He was moving a political resolution as approved by the Congress Working Committee at the one-day AICC session that began here with the clarion call of Congress President Sonia Gandhi to defeat communalism destroying India's cultural heritage.

Arjun Singh said he kept thinking on how to describe the present government until Friday morning when he felt the apt description would be "rajnaitik giroh (political gang."

"Desh par rajnaitik giroh ne kabja kar liya hai aur aguvayee RSS kar raha hai. Jo bhi sarkar me ho raha hai unke dwara ho raha hai aur sarkar mukdarshak hai," he said while pointing out that this explains the four-year rule of the BJP-led Government in the country and there should be no doubts about it (koyee bhram nahi hona chahiye).

Instead of reading out the lengthy resolution condemning BJP for playing communal card in Gujarat as also touching upon the cross-border terrorism by Pakistan plauging the nation's security, Arjun Singh who was helped by volunteers to climb up the dias and walk to the mike preferred to make only the introductory remarks since the resolution's copy was already distributed to the delegates.

He also made it clear that the BJP has manipulated to capture power on the basis of the numbers mustered by forming a 24-party alliance as otehrwise he said the BJP is not in power because of the people's mandate. He declared that the BJP never got the people's mandate ever to rule in India and will never get that mandate in future. END