New Delhi: The Congress Working Committee, the highest decisionmaking body of the party, on Wednesday met at the Indira Bhawan party headquarters and posed the question “is this government worthy of the people’s trust” when it comes to the key issues of “the future of the youth, the faith of the people and the borders of the country”.
The meeting, attended by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress Parliamentary Party leader Sonia Gandhi, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, and general secretaries KC Venugopal, Jairam Ramesh and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra along with a number of party CMs, attacked the BJP-led government at the Centre on the issue of neglect of youth, Ram Temple donation embezzlement and alleged actions by China on the border.
In his opening remarks, which provided the larger view in the party, Kharge attacked the Centre on the issue of youth, Ram Temple donation case and the border issues. While the meeting came amid the Vande Mataram singing controversy involving Congress, Kharge's opening remarks avoided any mention of the issue.
On the issue of youth, he said “the government's faulty policies have pushed our youth into a quagmire of profound despair” and “in the race of communal frenzy and `revdi culture’, the education and employment of youth has been neglected the most.”
Kharge insisted that “over the past 12 years, the Modi government has ruined the future of young people” as 94,000 schools have closed, privatisation has made education expensive and institutions were “increasingly being taken over by RSS affiliates”.
The Congress president said Rahul Gandhi had brought the concerns of the youth on the national stage through the “Chhatron ki Goonj” programme and the party also raised the issue of alleged atrocities against students.
As if to counter the growing popularity of the Abhijeet Dipke-led Cockroach Janata Party, which forced the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, the Congress has now decided to expand the Chhatron ki Goonj programme to 800 cities.
Kharge also said that “the time has come for Congress to prepare a clear, comprehensive and time-bound “Education-to-Employment Roadmap” for the youth.”
On the issue of Ram Temple, the Congress attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Kharge said, “He announced the formation of a trust in Parliament for the construction of the Ram Temple and must have carefully included his own people in the trust.” So, he reasoned that now that a massive scam has taken place, “people are asking questions, but Modi remains silent”. He demanded that the PM should apologise and provide answers.
The Congress also raised the issue of “China's encroachment on our border”. Kharge said the government should have addressed this issue honestly but was “hiding behind sources” to declare such reports as false. “Our position is clear: national security should not be politicized. But national security should also not be ignored at any level,” the Congress president said.
Kharge said following the 2020 Galwan clash, the PM had said that “no one has entered, and no one is still there”. Noting that “serious questions about the border are still being raised, Kharge charged that “the government is not providing clear information”. He said, “Our question is for the government. In a democracy, we must ensure government accountability.”
The CWC later passed a resolution which also identified E20 petrol and women’s reservation as two other major issues.
