Lashing out at the Congress leadership for its indecisive stand on attending the Ayodhya Ram temple inauguration, veteran Congress leader V.M. Sudheeran said it would be suicidal to attend the Sangh Parivar-sponsored ceremony, which would be akin to falling into the trap set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Speaking to the media here on Sunday, defying an All India Congress Committee (AICC) diktat to Congress members against commenting on the issue until the party leadership takes a final call, he said that the party should have outrightly rejected the invite to the ceremony instead of discussing it.
‘Diluted secularism’
“The Bharatiya Janata Party and Mr. Modi are attempting to flare up communal passions as part of their political agenda. When they were attempting to gather support for this agenda, the Congress should have been able to see through it and reject the invitation to the ceremony. I don’t understand the purpose of discussions before taking a decision on this. Secularism is the cardinal principle of the Congress party, but now attempts are being made to water it down. We followed a soft Hindutva approach in some States and tasted defeat in the Assembly elections. The BJP’s hard Hindutva cannot be countered with soft Hindutva,” said Mr. Sudheeran.
Economic policies
Mr. Sudheeran demanded that the Congress leadership have a relook at its neo-liberal economic policies. Jawaharlal Nehru’s and Indira Gandhi’s policies of nationalisation and supporting the public sector kept the country in good stead. Although Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh initiated the neo-liberal shift with good intentions, it did not turn out the way they expected it to. The BJP, while transferring all the national assets to the Ambanis and Adanis, are claiming that they are only implementing what the Congress initiated. This should make the Congress rethink its economic policies, he said.
On groupism in State
He also trained his guns on the Congress State leadership, expressing disappointment at the groupism that has engulfed the party. He criticised Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president K. Sudhakaran for falsely claiming that Mr. Sudheeran had left the party, when he was still participating in party-related events.
“When Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan and Mr. Sudhakaran took charge at their respective positions, I was one of the persons who welcomed them, because I had expected them to put an end to the groupism in the party. But, this did nothappen. Instead, the number of groups increased from two to five, and there are sub-groups too within the groups. I decided to stay away from the KPCC’s events as no action was taken on my complaints regarding this to the high command. Yet, I continued to take part in District Congress Committee and UDF events. In such a scenario, how can the KPCC president claim that I have left the party?” asked Mr. Sudheeran.
