In its political resolution, moved at the 84th Congress Plenary session, on 17 March, the Rahul Gandhi-led party launched a scathing attack on the BJP-RSS. India's core constitutional values are under attack and freedom of all is in jeopardy, with institutions under stress and their independence compromised, the political resolution noted.
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The Congress resolved to bring together all like-minded parties and formulate a common and workable programme to defeat the BJP-RSS in the 2019 general election. This indication of a pre-poll tie-up comes in the wake of efforts by the party to evolve a consensus among various opposition parties to unitedly take on the BJP.
Here are the key excerpts from the Congress’ political resolution:
On BJP-RSS
The party hit out at the BJP-RSS ideology, alleging that it was creating an environment of “distrust, fear and intimidation” in pursuit of their “insidious and divisive agenda”.
The resolution reads: “The prime minister and the BJP government are intolerant of any criticism and remain in arrogant denial. The RSS-BJP is misrepresenting, distorting and misusing religion to exploit the sentiments of the people and capture political power”.
The Congress condemned the BJP government for “brazen abuse of power and misuse of central agencies for targeted political vendetta to harass, humiliate and persecute its political opponents”.
On Dalits, Minorities, Tribals
The Congress’ political resolution said that under the BJP regime, the people of the country, be it farmers, labourers, unorganised sector workers, self-employed, Dalits, traders, minorities and the poor have been “betrayed”.
On Elections
Calling the BJP “authoritarian, divisive and disruptive”, the Congress’ political resolution said the BJP's move to hold simultaneous elections is “misplaced” and is “incompatible with the Constitution, as also impractical”.
The resolution also called for reverting to the old practice of paper ballot, as adopted by other major democracies, to help restore the credibility of the electoral process. This, the party said, was necessary as there were misgivings on the “misuse” of EVMs to “manipulate the outcome contrary to popular verdict”.
Facing the challenge of defections in the party, with the BJP poaching many of its leaders, the party sought debarring defectors from contesting elections for six years to check the “brazen misuse of money power to create political instability”.
On Corruption
On corruption, the party said that the BJP government “lacks sincerity in fighting corruption, to ensure transparency and accountability”.
On Internal & External Security
The nation today faces serious challenges to its security both internal and external. Terrorism, insurgency, attacks along the LOC and International border and Left-Wing extremism are grave threats to internal security, the resolution noted.
On Judicial System
The Congress said the judicial system needed urgent reforms for effective and timely dispensation of justice.
On the Media
The Congress’ political resolution called upon the media to restore the balance in national narrative to safeguard democracy.
On Women Empowerment
On Youth
The plenary session indicts the BJP government of betraying the youth of India by not fulfilling the promised two crore jobs every year. The government not only failed to create jobs but through its decisions, India lost millions of jobs in MSME and informal sector.Congress’ political resolution
On Andhra Pradesh
The creation of Telangana and the successor state of Andhra Pradesh was enacted through the AP Reorganisation Act by the UPA government in 2014, only after consensus by all the major political parties present in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh.
Dr. Manmohan Singh announced the award in Special Category Status of Andhra Pradesh among other things in Parliament on 20 February 2014.
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