It was a national convention of the revamped Youth Congress under Congress scion Rahul Gandhi. By the end of it, it had also served as a public platform for the Prime Minister and the UPA chairperson to get their message across on crucial issues besieging the government, such as foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail.
Attacking the opposition for stalling the functioning of Parliament, PM Manmohan Singh elaborated on FDI and inflation, while Sonia Gandhi addressed the issue of corruption and measures to tackle it. This was also the Congress president’s first public engagement since her return from surgery abroad.
The two-day convention, ‘Buniyaad’, attended by around 8,000 elected functionaries of the youth wing, saw senior leaders of the party address it, and domain experts like sociologist Ashish Nandy and UID man Nandan Nilekani. So did Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit.
While the PM went into a detailed explanation of how FDI in the retail sector would benefit the country, he set aside notions of it being a hasty decision and stated it was taken “after a lot of consideration”. With parties opposed to FDI having taken the upper hand in disseminating their view that it would finish off the small retailer, Singh contested this. And, highlighted the benefits of better prices for farmers, lower costs for consumers, modern technological inputs and generation of jobs.
On the issue of inflation, Singh took the opportunity to get across the government’s stand. He highlighted the rise in global prices of commodities and of petroleum products and what his government had done to address price rise. Holding the opposition responsible for the present logjam in Parliament, he said crucial legislation was being held up.
UPA head Sonia Gandhi, while congratulating the Youth Congress for bringing in office bearers through elections, urged them to spread the message of central government schemes to the people and “to act as pressure groups for better implementation of these programmes”.
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She reminded everyone that it was the UPA government that brought in a national Right to Information Act, “a powerful weapon against corruption”. Highlighting the government’s intent to also bring in a strong Lok Pal bill, she “hoped the Opposition will support us in bringing it (Lok Pal) in”.
She mentioned the Right to Food as a important bill the UPA wished to enact. And, that electoral reforms were in the offing, such as state funding of elections. These steps would all work towards tackling corruption, she said. She emphasised that the Congress-led UPA in its seven years of rule had brought in “great relief to the ‘aam aadmi’.”
Her son, Rahul, who had spearheaded the Youth Congress revamp, addressed the delegates on their responsibilities. Citing Mahatma Gandhi as the role model, Gandhi put forth his “ideas”. “Try and earn the trust of the people, which is the only thing a politician will ever have in his career.” He also advised the leaders to “listen to opponents”. “Understand that leadership, in our tradition, is not about taking, but about giving. It is not about leading people, but leading yourselves,” he said.