Govt favours powerful: Congress
Party president Sonia Gandhi accuses NDA government of pursuing ‘communal and divisive’ agenda
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday again hit out at the BJP-led government, accusing it of pursuing a “communal and divisive” agenda and following policies that favour the “few and the powerful” at the expense of the weak.
Addressing a Youth Congress national convention on former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Sonia said the government and its “masters who exercise their control from behind the scenes are systematically working to dismantle” the legacy of the Congress.
Sonia asserted that the party will not allow such forces to succeed.
“The ideology at work shuns the pursuit of secularism, tolerance, inclusion and equality. Spokespersons of its agenda make blatantly partisan appeals to obtain votes,” Sonia said, referring to the recent Bihar assembly elections.
Lauding party workers for the NDA’s defeat in Bihar, she said it was possible for the Congress to overcome recent “setbacks and obstacles” through hard work and perseverance.
“We should never forget that the Congress is much more than just a political party, it is a people’s movement,” Sonia said.
On his part, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the country’s economic policy has “no sense of direction”, as evident from the Narendra Modi-led government’s decision to scrap the Planning Commission.
Singh also dismissed as “malicious” propaganda that no development had taken place during previous Congress regimes even as he advised Modi to follow in the footsteps of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi.
“Economic policy has no sense of direction and this is largely because Planning Commission, with all its deficiencies .... was a positive dynamic instrument of steering the country’s economy,” he said.