NEW DELHI: Before I say what happened between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. at the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the top executive and decision-making body of the Indian National Congress, which shapes party policies, interprets the party constitution, and guides the party’s overall political strategy, I would first like to say that I am not a big milk-tea lover, as milk tea causes acidity in my body.
However, I must appreciate whoever made the tea at the Congress’s newly built headquarters in New Delhi, situated on Kotla Marg. The milk tea was the best tea I have ever had in Delhi’s National Capital Region (NCR).
Let’s talk about the four-hour meeting that took place during today’s Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting, where 88 members, including four Congress-ruled Chief Ministers, sat down to discuss the present political situation in India.
During a press conference at around 7:05 p.m., it was informed to the media that the discussion focused on four major issues: paper leaks, Ram Temple “Chanda Chori,” Chinese incursions, and delimitation. During the discussion, only 33 members participated and shared their views at the newly built party headquarters – Indira Bhavan.
Today’s Congress Working Committee meeting was led by Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, and India’s Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Congress general secretary organisation KC Venugopal, along with general secretary communication Jairam Ramesh and Chairman of the Media and Publicity wing Pawan Khera, said that 88 people attended the meeting. They included the CWC members, permanent and special invitees and four Congress Chief Ministers.
Venugopal said that the CWC discussed the students’ unrest across the country over the repeated paper leaks and the prevailing education system. The CWC unanimously appreciated the role of the Opposition during the Monsoon Session in putting the government completely on the backfoot.
The CWC specially appreciated the initiatives taken by Rahul Gandhi through the student outreach programmes like ‘Chhatron ki Goonj” and the “surgical strike” outside the Prime Minister’s residence in support and solidarity with the students’ demands.
It was decided that the ‘Chhatron ki Goonj’ programme will be held in 800 big and small cities across the country, with Rahul Gandhi attending several of these.
During the CWC meeting, the Congress Chief Ministers were asked to prepare a blueprint within one month for the education and examination reforms in their respective states after speaking to all the stakeholders including the students. They were asked to present a concrete plan for restructuring the education system within one month.
Taking the ‘Chanda Chori’ (donation theft) at the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya very seriously, Venugopal said the issue concerns the sentiments of the people. He said, those who are polarising people in the name of religion and temple have been indulging in donation theft also. He said the CWC directed state Congress committees to take the agitation to the village level.
He said the CWC expressed grave concern over the Chinese incursions in Arunachal Pradesh and held Prime Minister Narendra Modi responsible for them. He also referred to the clean chit given by PM Modi to China on June 19, 2020 and saying no Indian territory had been occupied.
On the issue of delimitation, Venugopal said the Congress party’s stand is clear that there must be a freeze on the number of Lok Sabha seats at 543 for next 25 years and 33 percent women reservation must be provided within this number. He also referred to the resolution passed by the Tamil Nadu Assembly along similar lines.
He said, the CWC expressed deep gratitude to the people of Kerala for a resounding mandate to the Congress. It also hailed the post-poll alliance in Tamil Nadu that prevented the BJP’s proxies from stealing the mandate in that state.
The Congress general secretary disclosed that the CWC strongly condemned the ‘shuddhikaran’ (purification) of the venue in Haldwani in Uttarakhand, where Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had addressed a public meeting.
Calling the incident totally unacceptable and questioning the Prime Minister’s silence, Venugopal said the CWC unanimously passed a resolution demanding that the Prime Minister apologise. He asserted that the “purification” was done by people belonging to the BJP-RSS ecosystem with an upper-caste mindset. Kharge, he said, is not a leader of any particular caste but a leader of the masses and the president of the Indian National Congress.
Venugopal informed that a detailed progress report regarding the ‘Sangathan Srijan Abhiyan’ for organisational strengthening was also presented in the CWC meeting, adding that the process is underway across the country and will be completed from the booth level to the state level before 31st October.
Speaking on the occasion, Jairam Ramesh said that the CWC expressed deep concern over the government’s failed foreign policy with repeated surrenders, first before the US and then before China. He said the CWC referred to the curtailing of India’s patrolling rights in the Ladakh region and Chinese incursions in Arunachal Pradesh.
Later replying to a question on the Vande Mataram issue, Jairam Ramesh said that there was no confusion and the Congress was absolutely clear about adhering to the 1937 CWC resolution on the national song. He said, the resolution to sing only the first two stanzas was adopted in the presence of several great leaders, including Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhas Chandra Bose, Rabindranath Tagore and others.
