Congress CWC: Time for second freedom struggle against Modi Govt, RSS

In the backdrop of police using force against the farmers’ protesting at the Delhi border, the Congress Working Committee, the highest decision-making body of the Congress party, vowed to launch a “second freedom struggle” against the Modi Government and the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh to combat the ideology of “hate and violence”, on Tuesday, October 2.

On the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the CWC met at Mahadev Bhavan in Mahatma Gandhi’s Sevagram Ashram in Wardha district, Maharashtra, and noted that the “blatant hypocrisy” of the RSS had vilified Gandhi and his thoughts, throughout his life. However after his death, they “brazenly proclaimed to be his champion,” underscored the CWC.

Addressing a press conference after the meeting, which was attended by the former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, party spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said that the second freedom struggle will be against the Modi government for practicing politics of “hatred, divisiveness, fear, polarisation, crushing dissent and debates”.

Saying “a new freedom struggle is the urgent need of the hour”, Surjewala said that a massive movement to combat the forces of divisiveness and prejudice would be launched at the national level.

When asked about the timeline and nature of the struggle, he told media persons that every unit of the Congress party will hold peaceful agitations against the Modi Government in coming days.

“The Modi Government is against India’s plurality and is indulging in politics of revenge, falsehood, and betrayal. It is easy to talk about Gandhi ji in speeches. It’s just political opportunism,” he added.

Expressing the CWC’s resolve to expose “the hollowness and doublespeak of the ideologies and organisations that have never followed the Gandhian path of truth, tolerance, harmony and non-violence,” Surjewala said that the Congress party is an embodiment of the Bharat which is fundamentally inclusive, liberal, and secular and a plural.

Surjewala told media that the CWC has also adopted a resolution on the farmers’ crisis, slamming the Modi government for the worsening condition of farmers all over the country. The CWC also condemned the use of force against protesting farmers who were on their way to the national capital Tuesday.

Farmers who had walked from Haridwar in Uttarakhand to Delhi to seek redressal of their grievances were stopped at the Delhi border on Oct 1, then beaten up and lathi-charged on Oct 2, when they tried to enter the capital. “We condemn the autocratic Modi government and the prime minister who is drunk with power. We express solidarity,” said Surjewala, adding that the Congress party will continue to fight for farmers’ rights.

Lauding Lal Bahadur Shastri’s slogan ‘Jai Jawan Jai Kisan’, Surjewala reiterated that the slogan coined by the former Prime Minister is a way of life.

The third CWC meeting was presided over by Congress President Rahul Gandhi and attended by senior leaders including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mallikarjun Kharge, Ashok Gehlot and Ashok Chavan, among others.