The people of the state prioritise progress, development and job creation over religious polarisation, says Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge
PATNA/NEW DELHI — The Congress on Wednesday blew the bugle for transformation of Bihar, saying people of the state prioritise the progress, development, and job creation over religious polarisation.
Addressing the extended Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting at Patna’s Sadaqat Ashram, the state headquarters set up in 1921, party president Mallikarjun Kharge said that the upcoming assembly elections hold a lot of significance not only for Bihar but for the entire country. These elections, he said, will mark the beginning of the countdown for ending of the corrupt Narendra Modi government at the Centre. It was 85 years ago that the Indian National Congress (INC) session was held in Ramgarh in Bihar in 1940, before independence, where the proposal of a ‘Samvidhan Sabha’ was moved for the first time, he recalled.
Kharge noted the country was facing serious challenges on both domestic and international fronts, the reason being the complete failure of Prime Minister Modi at home as well as in foreign affairs.
Without naming US President Donald Trump, who has adopted an aggressively hostile posture towards India, Kharge taunted Modi that the person whom he (Modi) would proudly proclaim to be his close friend was creating so many problems for India.
Referring to the challenges facing the country, he said a Bihar-like Special Intensive Revision (SIR) was proposed to be carried out across the country, which was nothing but an exercise to disenfranchise Dalits, Adivasis, Backwards and Extremely Backward Classes, minorities and the poor.
He said the ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ led by Rahul Gandhi had created a lot of awareness among the people in Bihar against the vote theft being committed by the government in different states.
He noted that democracy cannot work without impartiality and transparency by the Election Commission of India. He said today the impartiality and transparency of the poll panel had come under question. Instead of answering questions raised by the Congress, it was seeking proof and demanding affidavits, he added.
Kharge took a dig at Modi for suddenly remembering ‘swadeshi’, pointing out that the Congress had promoted and propagated the idea more than 100 years ago when Mahatma Gandhi emphasised it. Cornering Modi further, he said while the PM talks about ‘self-reliance’ (atma nirbharta), imports from China had doubled in the last five years.
He also referred to Modi realising his mistakes on GST after eight years. He said the Congress had been saying from day one that there should be only two tax slabs, which Modi had now accepted.
He revealed that with excessive GST, the Modi government had collected Rs 23 lakh crore extra during the last eight years.
Referring to Modi’s suggestion that citizens should spend more, Kharge remarked that for extra spending, people need jobs and income. He said unemployment and inflation were at their worst, while inequality was deepening as the rich got richer and the poor poorer.
The Congress president also lashed out at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who, he said, believes himself to be Modi’s successor, for banning caste-based rallies in the state. He asked if people protesting against caste discrimination would now be jailed. He also asked the prime minister whether he approved of this move, especially when the Centre has announced a caste census.
Asserting that the people of Bihar want change, he said they do not want religious polarisation but progress, employment, and control over inflation. He said the Bihar government was on a “long vacation” and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had been “retired mentally” by the BJP, which considers him a liability.
Kharge said Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi could not attend the meeting as she was unwell, but had conveyed her best wishes for its success.
Among others who attended the meeting were Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, party general secretary in charge of the organisation KC Venugopal, and other senior party leaders.
