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NEW DELHI: Congress President Sonia Gandhi, in a clearly combative mood while addressing a meeting of Congress Chief Ministers, directly attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his policies.
In a comprehensive speech she flayed the PM and his government in no uncertain terms,
“There is another aspect of both substance and style that I should mention and this relates to a dangerous duplicitous game that is being played out. On the one hand, the Prime Minister wants to project himself as the great champion of good governance and Constitutional values while on the other he allows many of his colleagues to make vile statements and foment communal polarisation. This has already damaged our secular fabric. An atmosphere of fear and foreboding has been deliberately created.”
And again, “In terms of style, there is unprecedented centralisation of power and authority, the deliberate by-passing of Parliamentary procedures and practices, threats to civil society and warnings to the judiciary. The Prime Minister has broken with tradition and taken domestic politics to audiences abroad. Boastful claims, exaggerations and downright falsehoods characterise most of his statements. His election promises are now being dismissed, in the words of one of his own key colleagues, as "chunavi jumlas".” The last sentence was obviously intended as a pointer towards opposition to PM Modi from within the BJP itself.
The Congress president identified three areas for the Chief Ministers and the Congress party itself to focus on.
“First, the manner in which the UPA's flagship programmes are now being implemented by the Centre and the impact that the change is having;
second, the manner in which some of the UPA's key pro-poor policies are being diluted;
and third, the new schemes introduced by the Centre and how the Congress-ruled states are geared to implement them.”
Sonia Gandhi spoke of the need to resist the government and its anti-poor policies. She referred to Jawaharlal Nehru and B.R. Ambedkar specifically, calling upon the Congress and its Chief Ministers to celebrate their legacy. She further added, “. Jawaharlal Nehru is now under sustained assault by forces that guide the ruling establishment. His fundamental contributions are being belittled. His legacy which has enabled our country to flourish an as open, liberal democracy rejoicing in its diversity is being threatened. This must be stoutly resisted.”
The Congress president’s speech basically confirmed the new strategy evident from scion Rahul Gandhi’s recent assertions in and out of Parliament. Both are speaking more directly, and wasting little time on the BJP and the RSS, but taking on Prime Minister Modi directly. The tendency to mince words has been given up in favour of direct speech against the policies of the Modi government, and a firm emphasis on the Congress commitment to a pro-poor agenda.
