Noting the BJP’s stubborn refusal to conduct caste census in the country, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) that met on Saturday in Hyderabad called for increasing the existing upper limit of reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and OBCs.
Taking a serious view of what it perceived a serious assault on the Constitution by the Narendra Modi government, the CWC rejected the ‘One Nation, One Election’ proposal as yet another brazen attack on the federal structure of the country and voiced its strong opposition to the proposed Bill to change the appointment procedure of the Chief Election Commissioner and other commissioners of the Election Commission.
The party called upon all the democratic forces to oppose the Modi government’s deliberate attempts to undermine the principles and implementation of cooperative federalism.
The party’s highest decisionmaking body also took a serious note of what it described the increasing unemployment and continuous rise in prices. The CWC resolution called the rozgar melas (employment fairs) by the Prime Minister a hoax.
“So, we have inflation, unemployment, slowing growth, falling exports, falling imports and the government’s responses...completely going back to the olden days of market distortion, import duties and other trade distorting measures. These are not the answer to India’s economic challenges,” former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram told reporters while briefing on the CWC’s deliberations.
Three evils
In the 14-point resolution, the CWC recalled Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for a 10-year moratorium on casteism, communalism and regionalism. “Ironically, the three evils have aggravated in the last nine years, thanks to the divisive and discriminatory policies adopted by the Prime Minister, his government and his party,”the CWC resolution said.
“The political discourse of the BJP, inside and outside Parliament, is laced with poison, promotes hate speech and violence, encourages divisive forces, and polarises society,” it added.
Contributions of past Prime Ministers, specially Jawaharlal Nehru, have been belittled and distorted.
Stating that farmers were burdened with growing debt and agriculture and the rural economy are in deep distress, the meeting reminded the Modi government of the commitments it made to the farmers and farmers’ organisations on the issue of MSP and other demands.
Other points in the resolution passed by the CWC include demand for a JPC into the startling revelations against the “Adani business group that has been the prime beneficiary of the Prime Minister’s close friendship” and incursions by China into the Indian territory.
The CWC also noted the transformational moment in Indian politics brought about by the Bharat Jodo Yatra even as many members urged former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi to launch its second edition soon.
