(THE NEWSMAN OF INDIA)
(By Bhagyashree Pande)
Indian National Congress as a party has always stood for a movement. The movt of freedom struggle was just the birth of the party. Today after the loss of 2019 election it has become even more pressing that Congress put forth with clarity its Idea of India . Instead of limiting itself to who will lead the Congress movt in future what is important is what will Congress stand for on issues of the day.

Nehru modelled Congress on the idea of – setting up govt owned undertakings ,big dams and reservoirs for agriculture, green revolution, technical education institutions like IITs etc. Next Indira Gandhi started with leftist ideas – encouraging trade unionism, cutting down the riches of big landlords ,bringing land ceiling on big landlords , nationalising banks and cutting down on privy purses of the princely states. Then took to hindutva right wing ideas post emergency encouraging saffron outfits like Shiv Sena as also mainstreaming Vishwa Hindu Parishad etc. Even Rajiv Gandhi took to right wing ideas to start with but had to bring in computerisation as an economic tool for progress. Liberalisation led by Narsimha Rao opened our economy and even privatised health ,education etc. In 2004 when Sonia Gandhi lead the Congress to victory she brought in left of centre welfare politics. Schemes for the rural poor like MNREGA, mid day meal scheme, food security,Aadhar identification etc were meant to give certain security to those left behind in the progress of the society. Security of food, and of income during agrarian distress, giving identification to the poor so that they become beneficiaries of govt schemes was the centrepiece of Congress led UPA govt.

Today, when the world is going through a major churn of ideas in every sphere – globalisation vs deglobalisation; liberal values vs conservative ideas; environment protection vs development using more resources – where does the Congress stand? What is the solution it has for climate change ruining agrarian prospects of India? Should India keep building infrastructure projects by cutting down valuable forest resources? Should we keep diverting water resources to industries who in return pollution our rivers ? What are going to be our environmental ethics when we use petroleum products? What are the prospects of quality health, eradication of threatening diseases , quality education to those in lower rung of society ? These and many more issues of the day is what the Congress party needs to address. Today the trouble is that the political discourse is set by only one political party leaving the citizens without a choice of ideas. If Congress does not come with coherent ideas for India in the coming days billions of Indians will be left without a direction and that would mean a chaotic, rudderless Indian society with very bleak prospects.

https://poppolitics.wordpress.com/2019/06/07/rahul-gandhi-congress-old-guard-can-the-congress-reinvent-itself-after-2019/

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