Ahmedabad: Pitching its tent on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home turf, the Congress is set to make a fresh attempt, this time a little more unequivocally, to craft a response to the BJP’s twin pillars of religion and nationalism.
“Pseudo-nationalism” is how the Congress is going to brand the BJP’s fusion of nationalism and religion. The principal opposition party plans to call out the ruling dispensation for being an “active” participant in attacking minorities, “particularly Muslims and Christians”, ThePrint has learnt.
The Congress’s articulation of its position on these issues—on which the BJP has built a formidable narrative over the past decade—will be outlined in its umbrella resolution, which also covers areas such as Centre’s “weak-kneed and failed” foreign policy, and the economy.
The resolution will be adopted at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) session Wednesday on the banks of the Sabarmati between Sabarmati Ashram and Kochrab Ashram—both founded by Mahatma Gandhi.
Through the resolution, which was deliberated upon at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting Tuesday, the party will also make a bid to project itself as the original champion of reservation for OBCs based on the Mandal Commission report, eyeing the assembly elections in Bihar due later this year.
The party will also adopt a resolution on Gujarat at the AICC session.
“The pseudo-nationalism of the BJP-RSS is nothing but sheer opportunism for power. Their goal is not our unifying nationalism, but a Machiavellian quest for exploitative power. In order to grab and retain power by any means, they seek to divide the nation along the lines of religion, caste, region, language, attire and food habits,” reads the draft of the resolution, seen by ThePrint.
It is significant because the political resolution adopted by the AICC at its Raipur session, held in 2023, had no specific reference to nationalism. Also, while the Raipur resolution condemned the attacks on minorities, it did not have any reference to any particular faith.
The Ahmedabad resolution is likely to attack the BJP, underlining that the “ruling regime actively abets religious confrontation and attacks on minorities, particularly Muslims and Christians. The anti-conversion laws and the amendment to the law on waqf board are part of this polarising strategy.”
On foreign policy, the AICC resolution is likely to taunt the Modi government over US President Donald Trump’s imposition of over 27 percent tariff on Indian goods exported to the US.
“The Indian National Congress remains a strong votary of close ties between India and the United States but it can never happen at the expense of India’s national interests. During the PM’s visit to Washington DC, we were publicly insulted in the PM’s presence and our country was labelled as a tariff abuser. Indian migrants were treated like animals and deported from the US in chains and handcuffs…” reads the draft resolution.
Meanwhile, the AICC is also likely to approve an amendment to the Congress constitution to empower the party’s district presidents with more authority in selection of candidates to fight polls ,and also on matters of finance.
“We are going to have a massive organisational reshuffle, and there will be guidelines for it. Our general secretaries and in-charges are on it. Also, we have already decided on the issue of empowering the DCC presidents and duties and powers of the DCCs have been discussed in various forums. We are going to roll out that proposal in the near future,” Congress general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal told reporters Tuesday.
Tuesday’s CWC meeting was attended by 158 leaders, including the party’s top leadership faces such as Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Venugopal, among others. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was among the 35 members of the extended CWC who did not attend the meeting.
Venugopal said Vadra had informed the party leadership about her inability to attend the Ahmedabad conclave as well as the just finished budget session of the Parliament.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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