Congress focus on corruption, cross-border terrorism,home-grown communal violence -19/12/10

Congress focus on corruption, cross-border terrorism

Smita Gupta

The Congress looked all set on the opening day of the 83rd plenary session to adopt a tough posture on a range of issues — from corruption to cross-border terrorism to home-grown communal violence — issues, critical to its credibility, and capacity to take on an aggressive opposition. Indeed, the draft resolutions discussed on Saturday by the party's top leadership, recalled the dark pre-Emergency years, and the last years of Rajiv Gandhi as Prime Minister, and pointed to the need for vigilance, lest the party falter again before a belligerent Opposition.

But the resolutions are not just tough talk. The political resolution, top party sources told The Hindu, looks at the achievements of the United Progressive Alliance, dividing it into two sections — from May 2004 when it came to power to the last plenary session in Hyderabad in January 2006 and then during the post-Hyderabad period — focussing on the rights-based social security architecture that it has sought to put in place: if the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and the Right to Information Act are cited as the positives of the first phase, the Right to Education Act and the promised Food Security legislation are seen as a continuation of those efforts.

Similarly, in the economic resolution, the party acknowledges the “reality” of living with price rise, while taking credit for protecting the economy from the negative impact of the global economic slowdown and stresses that once the Right to Food is enshrined, it will go a long way in protecting the vulnerable sections of society. It also talks of the need for a coherent land policy to protect the farming community. Phrases like “sustainable development” and “inclusive growth” occur in this resolution. In the discussion on the economic resolution, many members expressed their concern on the growing gap between the rich and the poor.

The political resolution has a section on corruption and probity, but it simultaneously takes the Opposition to task for stalling Parliament and points out the need for reasoned debate.

To counter the Bharatiya Janata Party's criticism that the UPA government is ‘soft' on terror, there is a section on dealing firmly with cross-border terrorism in the foreign policy resolution. The political resolution seeks to put the BJP on the mat by asking the government to investigate the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh's terror links, but it avoids using the word “Hindu,” informed sources said. The volatile situation in Jammu and Kashmir and the worrying internal security position in the country are also discussed in the resolutions.

Rahul's intervention

If Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi kept their own counsel — both are scheduled to make speeches in the next two days in Burari — party general secretary Rahul Gandhi made two interventions: one was on development for all sections, a line that he has articulated publicly on many occasions. But the second — on the importance of justice for the minorities — attracted more attention. The context was a discussion on Ayodhya when Mr. Gandhi stressed that the destruction of the Babri Masjid was not an instance of “vandalism” but a “crime.” Later, senior party sources told The Hindu, “I think in the coming days we are likely to hear Rahul expand on this subject, just as he was earlier focussing on the welfare of Dalits.”

Indeed, Mr Gandhi's intervention on the minorities assumes significance, coming on the heels of the WikiLeaks relating to a conversation he had last year with the U.S. Ambassador to India in which he had said that Hindu extremist groups springing up in response to the LeT's activities were more dangerous than support for the LeT among a section of Indian Muslims.

Mr. Gandhi, too, is likely to speak on Sunday, where sources say he may expand on this issue.

Panel meets

The party's brass – named the Subjects Committee – met at the Parliament House annexe to go over the four drafts, ahead of the two-day session in Burari on the rural northern edge of Delhi, where the resolutions will be adopted after an open discussion in which State-level delegates will participate.

The political and the 125th anniversary resolutions were taken up between 12 noon and 1.45 p.m. and the economic and the foreign policy resolutions between 2.15 and 4 p.m. It was also decided that the terms of the Congress president and the State presidents will be increased from three to five years.

Keywords: Congress plenary session, United Progressive Alliance