- Thursday, April 25, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
A war of words broke out between Sonia Gandhi, former chief of India’s opposition Indian National Congress, and the country’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday (25) after the former lashed out the saffron party of prime minister Narendra Modi accusing it of fuelling the fire of hatred and viciously targeting minorities, women, Dalits and tribals and capturing every institution.
The BJP reacted to her remarks saying the opposition leader’s allegation showed her desperation and said she failed to fathom why her party’s appeal to people has become limited.
Addressing the 137-year-old party’s 85th plenary session in Nava Raipur in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, the 76-year-old Gandhi advised the Congress workers to tackle the current regime with vigour and reach out to people to convey the party’s message.
She also accused the BJP-led government of causing economic ruin by favouring a particular businessman, making a veiled attack on Modi over the ongoing controversy over the Adani Group led by Gautam Adani.
Gandhi, who has been the longest-serving president of the Congress (1998-2017, 2019-2022) said the grand-old is not just a political party but it reflects the voices of people of all religions, castes and genders.
She asserted that the party will fulfil the dreams of all of them.
“This is a particularly challenging time for the Congress and the country. Prime minister Narendra Modi and the BJP have captured every institution.
“The BJP is fuelling the fire of hatred and viciously targeting minorities, women, Dalits and tribals,” she said.
“The situation today reminds me of the time when I first entered parliament,” Gandhi said, urging the Congress workers to achieve the goal of defeating the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls under the leadership of party president Mallikarjun Kharge, who took over from her last October.
Speaking about her own journey as the president of the Congress and the chair of the party-led United Progressive Alliance, Gandhi said, “I had the honour of taking office as the party president for the first time in 1998. Over these 25 years, our party has seen times of high achievement and deep disappointment…. Our victory in (the) 2004 and 2009 (Lok Sabha polls), along with the able leadership of (former prime minister) Manmohan Singh, gives me personal satisfaction.”
Gandhi came close to becoming the prime minister but refused to become after her party did well in the 2004 parliamentary elections citing her “inner call”. The widow of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi picked Singh to become the premier.
She also alluded to her retirement from politics saying her innings could conclude with the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ (Unite India March) which the Congress undertook over the past many months under the leadership of her son and former party president Rahul Gandhi.
The BJP hit back at the veteran Congress leader over her charge that the Modi government has captured every institution, calling it an assault on the autonomy and institutional respect of these bodies. Party leader and former central minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said Gandhi’s speech reeked of desperation and lacked realisation as to why the opposition party’s appeal has become limited.
If the people of the country don’t vote for the Congress, then why she should blame the election commission, he said, adding that Gandhi and her party are unwilling to recognise the “stark fact” that under Modi’s leadership, all sections of society, be it Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, women or the middle class, have received the fruits of development.
It happened because of honest governance and delivery, Prasad said.
People also recall the rampant corruption, crony capitalism and the promotion of family rule under the previous Congress dispensations which have led the party to its present miserable position, he said.
