The Rahul Gandhi factor was the single most important factor at the Chintan Shivir of the Congress, with clear indications that he was being propelled centre-stage in the party.
The MP from Amethi has often been criticised for being silent on global issues but it was on India-Pakistan tension that he spoke most vociferously. In his view along with steps like scaling down of the dialogue process and trade ties- Pakistan should be isolated diplomatically at the international level. He also said that Congress still had little understanding of the problems of people at the grassroots – case in point being of the 70 odd members in this group only two were tribals, three were from the minority communities and four were Dalits. Congressmen in general were concerned over the growing socio-economic inequalities. There has also been a vociferous demand for 30 per cent reservation for youth within the party. On the same lines, demands have been put forward for women reservation in private sector jobs and government jobs.
There was much deliberation on how to address the fiscal deficit – some were of the view that corporate houses should be roped in to take part in social welfare schemes. There was a proposal that CSR should be made mandatory and even CSR initiatives could be linked to education and health flagship programmes like the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and RTE.
It was felt that while only a certain section had benefited from the economic reforms, more stress needed to be given on employment generation to alleviate the rural and semi-urban sections.
In order to give relief to the common man, Congressmen were of the view that indirect taxes could be reduced while expanding the base of direct taxes like the Income Tax.
While there were several dissenting voices especially among the youth members about the economic reforms of the UPA which saw diesel deregulation and hike in petrol prices, Veerappa Moily, Petroleum minister decisively ruled out any rollback. He explained that tough steps needed to be taken and assured that by the time the party goes in to general election in 2014, all concerns would be alleviated.
Tribal Affairs minister KC Deo spoke passionately about Naxal affected areas and how the economic package was woefully inadequate. Speaking on similar lines, MoS Home M Ramachandran said that the Naxal problem was a socio- economic problem and not a law and order issue and should be dealt with accordingly. Even as Congress President Sonia Gandhi listened intently, Deo proposed that the proceedings of gram sabhas should be videographed so that there are no irregularities. Congress leaders like Renuka Chowdhury stressed on a relook at the government’s skill development policy which left out a large section of youth and failed to provide adequate development.
Ramachandran frankly pointed out the anamoly that the word “socialism” was missing from the draft paper itself. He cautioned that at least when drawing up economic policies the UPA should not lose focus of the poor and economically weaker sections.
With 350 Congressmen brainstorming for over eight hours spread across two days, the points that had been highlighted by Sonia Gandhi including addressing organisational weaknesses that had pulled down the party in several states were addressed. AICC general secretary Birender Chaudhary speaking from his experience as state incharge of Himchal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, frankly admitted that while the Congress had won both states, it was a difficult task – while some tended to desert the party others became rebel candidates. In his view such tendencies could be curbed by adopting Rahul Gandhi’s methods in
the Youth Congress – democratisation and proportional representation. Looking at past experiences, it was proposed that Pradesh Congress Presidents and District Presidents as well as General Secretaries in charge of states should not be allowed to content the Assembly and Parliament elections as they were wont to concentration more on their own seats.
Rahul Gandhi, who has already been formally appointed as the head of the Election Coordination Committee for 2014, in his intervention in the group discussing organizational challenges stressed on the need to infuse democratization within the main party, taking a leaf out of the Youth Congress experiment.
With 2014, on top of everyone’s agenda, several senior members in the group headed by senior leader AK Antony, were of the view that the party had suffered at the cost of their coalition partners. While it was felt that existing alliances should continue, new alliances would be approached with caution. most members felt that the Congress should not enter into any alliances in Bengal and in Uttar Pradesh.
As Congress President Sonia Gandhi herself has taken keen interest in Women Empowerment issue, the group saw several concrete suggestions being made - the need to set up a nationlised Women bank to help Self Help Groups, to ease out the means for receiving widow pension by lowering the age from 40 years to 18.
There was also a strong demand made by women members especially those from Youth Congress and NSUI that there should be reservation for women within the party.
These suggestions which would also go towards forming the basis of the Congress campaign strategy would after being vetted by the Congress Working Committee, be adopted by the AICC session tomorrow. Incidentally, it was at Rahul Gandhi’s insistence that an AICC session was clubbed with chintan shivir for the first time.
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