Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
Chandigarh, The Punjab Congress President Mr Partap Singh Bajwa today described the party vice-president Mr Rahul Gandhi as the symbol of aspirational india who was determined to re-energise the party with his new ideas and strategy and tactics in tune with the changing times.
“The situation is fasting changing in the country as evident from the fastest downslide of a prime minister ever in this country. It has taken only a few months for Mr Narendra Modi to become irrelevant. Under the situation, it is Mr Rahul Gandhi who has the capacity to harmonise with the aspirational india that is now dictating the political discourse in the country. His having recused himself from the day to day affairs to reflect over the situation and reshape the party accordingly is in the right direction”, he added.
He said it was Mr Gandhi who took the initiative to involve the youth in the political discourse and democratise the functioning of the bodies like the Youth Congress and the National Students Union of india. It was at his insistence that the party had started giving tickets to the young faces as that was the need of the hour.
Mr Bajwa referred to the challenges that confronted the country after the coming into power of the BJP at the centre under which the divisive forces were trying to dictate the agenda of religio-cultural homogenisation which was anti-thesis to the very concept of unity in diversity that characterise this vast country. Moreover, as evident from the proposed amendments to the land acquisition legislation, the BJP was playing into the hands of a section of the corporate lobby and these amendments were nothing but selling out the interests of the common people. The leaders like Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal were partners in this sell out.
He said the ups and downs were part of the system and no party was immune from it. The Congressy had the capacity to hit back and expressed the hope that Mr Gandhi would act as the power house of the party to revitalise and rejuvenate it as the party structure at the grass roots continued to be intact. Sounding optimistic, he said there was no quarter for despondency.
He recalled it was Mr Gandhi who was the first leader in the country to refer to the increasing drug menace in Punjab and now every party was trying to focus on this issue. It was the Congress in the state which had started the campaign to mobilise people against the menace under the guidance of Mr Gandhi.
He said the Modi government had let down the farmers on the issue of not only the land acquisition but also in the matter of fixing of minimum support price for the farm produce.
