Wardha: The Congress Working Committee held meeting in Maharashtra’s Wardha on Tuesday. Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh along with other Congress leaders were present at the meeting. The meeting was held on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti. This year marks 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
On the occasion, Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Randeep Surjewala and Jyotiraditya Scindia took part in foot march as well. Holding its meeting at Mahadev Bhavan, Sevagram Ashram, in Wardha district of Maharashtra on the 149th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the CWC also condemned the use of force against protesting farmers on their way to the national capital.
Addressing a press conference, party spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said the CWC has passed two resolutions recalling the contribution of Mahatma Gandhi to the “Indian thought process, its soul and body”.
“(Former prime minister) Lal Bahadur Shastri’s call of ‘Jai Jawan Jai Kisan’ is not just a slogan but a way of life. We will continue to fight for farmers’ rights,” he said.
Surjewala said the second freedom struggle will be against the Modi government for practising politics of “hatred, divisiveness, fear, polarisation, crushing dissent and debates”.
“The Modi government is against India’s plurality and is indulging in politics of revenge, falsehood and betrayal. It is easy to talk about Gandhiji in speeches. It’s just political opportunism,” he said.
The CWC underscored the hypocrisy of those who vilified Gandhi and his thoughts, but are brazenly championing it now, he said.
“The second freedom struggle will be against the government that practices politics of hate, vendetta, threat, murder, intimidation, crushing healthy debate and dissent,” he said.
“Farmers who had come to seek grievance redressal were beaten up and lathi charged. Water canons and tear gas was also used. We condemn the autocratic Modi government and the prime minister who is drunk with power. We express solidarity with the farmers and resolve to redress their grievances if voted to power,” he said.
The CWC meeting was presided over by Congress president Rahul Gandhi and attended among others by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and former prime minister Manmohan Singh.
Resolution adopted by Congress Working Committee, Sevagram (Mahadev Bhai Bhawan) , Wardha | 2nd October, 2018The Congress Working Committee (CWC) is meeting today at Sevagram as we begin the 150th year celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi's Birth Anniversary. Sevagram was Bapu’s historic karmabhoomi for over a decade from the time he set up his ashram there in April 1936.
At the end of its intensive nine day meeting at Sevagram, the CWC on July 14, 1942, adopted the ‘Quit India’ resolution demanding immediate independence for our country. The Quit India Movement launched a month later under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi was an unprecedented, spontaneous peoples’ uprising to bring freedom for our country from colonial rule.
The CWC underscores the blatant hypocrisy of the RSS that vilified and rejected Mahatma Gandhi during his lifetime, and which today has brazenly proclaimed itself to be his champion. It is its ideology that was responsible for spreading the atmosphere of hate that led to the Mahatma’s tragic assassination.
The CWC also paid tribute to Former Prime Minister and Gandhian, Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri on his birth anniversary. The CWC noted that ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’ is not a slogan but a cardinal principle of faith for the Congress party.
Today, a new freedom struggle is the urgent need of the hour – a massive movement to combat the forces of divisiveness and prejudice, to confront the Modi government whose politics is the politics of threat and intimidation, the politics of polarization and divisiveness, the politics of crushing debate and dissent, the politics of imposing an artificial uniformity in a nation of extraordinary diversity, the politics of hate and vendetta, the politics of subverting all Constitutional values, principles and practices, the politics of lies, deceit, fraud and subterfuge.
The CWC notes that appropriating Mahatma’s legacy may be politically expedient for some, but imbibing his principles and values in thought, word and deed is impossible for those who see in the Mahatma only electoral opportunities. One may borrow the Mahatma’s spectacles for publicity campaigns, but implementing his vision will remain unfulfilled unless his principles are followed. The CWC resolves to expose the hollowness and doublespeak of the ideologies and organisations who have never believed in, let alone followed the Gandhian path of truth, tolerance, harmony and non-violence.
The Mahatma sacrificed his life to neutralize the venom of communalism in India. Less than six weeks after his death, with the nation still grieving, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru met many prominent leaders as well as colleagues of Gandhiji in Sevagram, and urged for unity and commonality of purpose to address the fundamental issues dividing India. Pandit Nehru asserted, “confronting danger and facing up to adversity is the Congress way”. That message of his is all the more relevant today for our mighty organisation.
The CWC underlines that it is only the Indian National Congress that truly embodies the ethos of ‘Bharat’ that is fundamentally inclusive, liberal, secular and assimilation of India’s plurality and diversities. It is only the Congress that is deeply committed to the principles of justice, liberty, equality, and fraternity, laid down in the Preamble of the Constitution. The CWC resolves that this fundamental message must be renewed and propagated to all corners of India, especially to the younger generation, by every member of the Congress party.
Most importantly, the CWC takes inspiration from the Mahatma’s unyielding commitment to listen to every voice, to defeat the forces that are today dominating the will of the people. Elections will come and go. But the ideological battle has to be relentless and unswerving. The CWC rededicates the Indian National Congress to this sacred task.
The CWC calls upon the entire nation to fearlessly defend and uphold India’s foundational values and idea of India, which Mahatma Gandhi stood for, lived for and even sacrificed his life for.
The CWC calls upon all countrymen and women, particularly the young, to determinedly fight the politics of fear, intimidation, lies and deception- ‘To never bend, to never stop; till we achieve our goal.’
