There’s a new energy in our cadres

The decision has rattled the BJP and its affiliates... The strange part is that there is a huge propaganda being carried out by saffronites that there will be no difference when Rahul takes over.

The moment for which millions of Congress workers have been waiting has finally arrived. Rahul Gandhi will be becoming Congress president next month. It is for all to see that Mr Gandhi has been making interventions all along, be it in his constituency, in the party or when the United Progressive Alliance was in power.

He has been a part and parcel of the Congress family leading the party. Now his officially taking charge will further motivate Congress cadres to go amongst the people and campaign for the removal of this antipeople government.

The decision has rattled the Bharatiya Janata Party and its affiliates — that is why they have started targeting Mr Gandhi. The strange part is that there is a huge propaganda being carried out by saffronites that there will be no difference when Mr Gandhi takes over.

If, according to the BJP, Mr Gandhi is not going to make any difference, then why are they constantly speaking about him? The fact is now the BJP is scared.

Since this government has come to power in 2014, Mr Gandhi has been raising pertinent issues that are uncomfortable to the government. The “suit boot ki

sarkar” was a fine example that made the government wake up to the issues of the poor, farmers and downtrodden.

Mr Gandhi has visited remote areas to be with tribals, farmers who are under heavy debt and others. Three months back a tragedy occurred in Gorakhpur, which both the Central and state governments wanted to brush under the carpet.

The death of young children and newborn was of unimaginable proportions. The Prime Minister did not go there. It was the Congress vice-president who visited the place.

In the last couple of months it has become a habit of the BJP to keep saying that Mr Gandhi raises issues that are irrelevant. I would like to ask that if the issues are irrelevant, why does the government have to field a battery of Union ministers and senior BJP leaders to counter him? This happened after the address of Mr Gandhi in Berkeley.

The government is on the backfoot because of the questions being raised by Mr Gandhi. That is precisely the reason it has deferred the Winter Session of Parliament.

We have questions and they need to be answered. Instead of empty rhetoric and election gimmickry, this gove-rnment has comple-tely failed on all fronts.

The Congress now has a young leader who is at the helm. There is no going back. The 2019 battle is still some time away and the Con-gress under Mr Gandhi will make our presence felt in each and every election.

There is a new energy in our cadres, which is evident from the fact that in our internal elections almost all the state units passed unanimous resolutions to make Mr Gandhi president of the party. Once Mr Gandhi is firmly at the helm, there will be a major surge amongst cad-res, and the impact will be there for all to see. The writer is an AICC member