Putting up a brave face after the “unexpected scale of defeat” in the assembly polls, Congress today said it should not be “written off” in the Lok Sabha polls as Rahul Gandhi reached out to the deprived sections in a big way in the party’s manifesto making exercise.
As the Congress launched the first major consultations for preparing the party’s manifesto for 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the party declared hat Gandhi has opened the closed doors of politics by ensuring grassroot participation in policy making.
Addressing a meeting of Dalits, tribals and OBCs, Gandhi said that politics is so far being done from behind the closed doors and windows and the political process is restricted to some 500 odd people. “It is a narrow elite, which constitutes the political establishment and each party is run by a narrower group,” he said promising to open the system.
Briefing reporters later, party General Secretary Mukul Wasnik gave signals that the party would have to take a call on the issue of reservation of private sector if the affirmative action plan being implemented so far does not get full backing of the business and industry.
He cautioned the private sector that it will have to pay attention to the affirmative action effectively otherwise, the demand for reservation in the section will grow louder.
Refusing to go into post-mortem of assembly results, which concluded recently giving Congress a 4-1 jolt, Union Minister Jairam Ramesh said that he sees it “not as the worst of times” for his party as similar things have happened in past including in 2003.
“We should not be written off. There is a need to learn appropriate lessons from the defeat we have suffered in the assembly election….The scale of defeat was unexpected….It is disappointing but not demoralizing…We have faced such situations in the past.
“You will see it in the coming days how Congress rises to the occasion. I do not see it as our worst of times. 2003 was equally bad. We had lost Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh very narrowly Chhattisgarh and had also lost Mizoram. We were written off by all you. Contrary to all expectations, we came to power,” Ramesh said replying to a volley of questions.
Moves are also afoot to hold an AICC meeting, possibly in January to chart out the strategy for the Lok Sabha polls due in April-May.
The manifesto will be ready by the first week of February and it will be open for public discussion for the next one and a half months, Ramesh said.
A highlight of the manifesto meeting was Gandhi’s assurance that the public consultation process was “only the beginning” and that he will work towards opening the processes to develop policy and political representation through allocation tickets to candidates.
He said that the main way to empower the marginalized sections was to improve their access to quality education and that “the education syllabi must be inclusive and reflect the worldview and culture of those on the peripheries of society.”
Senior Congress leaders including Union Ministers present in the exercise were P Chidambaram, Kumari Selja, M Veerappa Moily, Kishore Chandra Dev, Chairmen of the national commission of scheduled castes P L Puniya and that of scheduled tribes Rameshwar Oraon.
The consultation process entitled as “Your Voice Our Pledge” has been started in view of the fact that the Lok Sabha polls are largest democratic exercise of the world and it must help shape the agenda for India, Gandhi said.
He also said that true governance is that which provides dignity and respect to the people and that ensure that voice of each and every citizen is heard.
On the six-hour long manifesto meeting today, which saw Gandhi holding interactions for around 75 minutes with odd 235 representatives of the SC/ST and OBC communities, Ramesh said that this manifesto will be the basis of the agenda for governance for UPA-III.
Replying to a question on price rise, Ramesh said the UPA government will definitely check it but caveated his response with remarks, “How can any political party totally do away with inflation. Except Japan there is no country, where the inflation is zero.”
“Price rise is definitely a very important issue and the finance minister has said it is a problem afflicting all sections of society. He said reducing inflation is a priority for Congress even today and it will not wait for 2014 elections to do it,” Ramesh said.
The suggestions at the meeting revolved around the key things like access to quality education, affordable healthcare and livelihood opportunities. Given the expanding scope of the private sector, many participants stressed the need for reservation in private sector.
The need for ensuring adequate representation of SCs, STs and OBCs within the party and the government was also discussed.
Another important thing that emerged was the need to provide comprehensive social security to the unorganized sector of which the SCs, STs and OBCs comprised the over-whelming majority, a party release said.
A number of participants suggested that the land reform agenda should be revisited and access to the land for the poor should be enhanced AICC Chairman of the the Scheduled Castes Department K Raju said that there was an overwhelming demand for central legislation to ensure national coverage of SC sub plan and tribal sub plan as it was noted that there are currently problems in its implementation in states.
Two Congress ruled Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have already passed SC sub-plan and tribal sub-plan legislations to prevent diversion of funds meant exclusively for the benefit of SCs and STs, a fact appreciated by the participants.
Five such consultations are being organised by the party with various sections like minorities, women and youth.
To a question about Congress declaring its Prime Ministerial candidate, Ramesh said that Congress President Sonia Gandhi has answered it in clear and categorical terms that the PM candidate will be announced at an opportune time.
Ramesh said that the state level elections are different from central elections.
“We have lost elections. It is a matter of disappointment but also a huge challenge. We will rise to the occasion,” he said. He also felt that Congress’s come back in Bastar region of Chhattisgarh is a big development.