NEED MASSIVE CONNECT: RAGA
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday stressed upon the need to connect with people, saying this was not possible through “any shortcut”. Speaking at the concluding day of the three-day brainstorming session, ‘Chintan Shivir’, in Udaipur, Gandhi said, “We have to revive our connection with people and need to accept that it was broken down. We will strengthen it. This will not happen with any shortcut, it requires hard work.”
To strengthen connections with people, the Congress will take out a nationwide yatra in October. The three-day event was necessitated following the extremely humiliating defeat in the assembly elections in five states by the BJP and the AAP in March 2022.
Our focus must be external. We have to look at the people and go to the people. We have to go to the people without thinking twice. The connection we had has been broken. We have to accept that and rebuild the connection with people. People want us and we have to reach out to them, it is our responsibility. The entire party will go to the people, conduct yatras and rebuild the ties.
There are big powers against us. We are not fighting only against a political party, but against all institutions and the biggest crony capitalist of India. But don’t be nervous. I am there with you. I have never taken a single rupee from corruption. I have not taken a single rupee from Bharat Mata. The BJP doesn’t talk about regional parties. BJP knows regional parties have their own space but they can’t defeat BJP due to lack of ideology. Only Congress can take on the BJP. This is a battle for India’s future.
Not the ideology or thinking, but the way we do our work must change. The 21st century is about communication and if there is one area where opponents outdo us, it is communication. They have more money and are better at this. But we have to connect to people, youth.
No other political party will allow this type of conversation. The senior leadership is bluntly told what the Congress party thinks. Certainly RSS-BJP will never allow such discussions.
However, as they say, all’s well that ends well. While most dissenting leaders’ viewpoints were accommodated, it appeared that most participants still pitched for Rahul to take over the party.
Meanwhile, the Shivir represented most dissenting leaders. Barring Kapil Sibal, most were not only invited but were also given important convenorships of discussion panels.
However, most leaders were of the opinion that for the Grand Old Party to defeat the BJP, it has to reach out to a large section of Hindus, including those caste groups which have gone unrepresented and underrepresented. It will be interesting to see how much of the declaration is actually implemented and how much of it remains on paper.