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Go back to the people, Sonia urges Congressmen at Motihari

Congress president Sonia Gandhi today launched a country-wide campaign to rejuvenate and revitalise the Congress with an appeal to party workers to open a new chapter by selflessly striving to bring back minorities, dalits and other weaker sections to the party fold.

Congress workers should go to the people and win their confidence through service, Sonia said while addressing a largely attended public meeting at Motihari in East Champaran district where Mahatma Gandhi launched his civil disobedience movement against the British in support of indigo farmers on this day in 1917.

The Congress should take up the issues of the people, organise agitations if necessary, and work for the all-round development of the country, she said. All efforts would be made to revitalise the party and restore it to its past glory, with the active involvement of the grassroot level, she said to the applause of the large crowd which assembled at Motihari ignoring the scorching heat.

Drifting away from the people, especially the minorities and other weaker sections, was the main reason for the Congress's degeneration and, therefore, Congress workers should work hard to reverse this trend, she said.

Recalling Gandhiji's satyagraha movement, she said such selfless service to the people was the need of the hour for the Congress.

She said the Congress workers should agitate against social injustice and for solving the problems of the poor and the downtrodden. She recalled that, even after the successful satyagraha in Champaran, Mahatma Gandhi went around the villages in the area to give a new life to the rural masses by improving their living conditions and educating their children, as he believed that satyagraha was incomplete without social service.

In Bihar the Congress should start a major agitation if sugar mill owners failed to pay dues to the sugarcane growers. She regretted that sugar mill owners owed millions of rupees to the sugarcane growers.

Describing the demolition of Babri mosque as the saddest chapter in India's history, Sonia said the failure of the Congress to prevent its demolition had shattered the minorities's confidence in the party, compelling them to go to other parties. So the Congress should be able to bring them back as that alone could ensure their welfare and development, she said.

The revitalising process in the Congress would have democratic practice as the basic ingredient, she said. The real representatives of workers should come up at the block, district, PCC and AICC level.

Recalling Rajiv Gandhi's contribution in institutionalising panchayati raj, she said this should be strengthened to help the people and fulfil their aspirations. Indira Gandhi had taken special interest in women's welfare, she said, stressing the need for efforts to improve the representation of women in state assemblies and Parliament. If women were not empowered, the development of the nation could not be complete, she said.

Sonia regretted that the sustained development of Motihari, from where Gandhiji launched his disobedience movement, was not getting the attention of the state government. Though some work was done on the Ghantak irrigation project, the Masan dam work was yet to be completed, she said in particular reference to the development programme in Bihar.

UNI

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