Congress must sustain momentum of LS polls: Sonia Gandhi on upcoming elections

Sonia Gandhi said the “mahaul (public mood)” is in the party’s favour but there is a need to sustain the momentum

Congress Parliamentary Party chief Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday said that the “national politics will undergo a transformation” if the Congress performs well in the upcoming assembly polls.

Sonia Gandhi was speaking at the Congress Parliamentary Party meeting held at in the national Capital. (ANI photo)

Addressing the first meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party in the ongoing monsoon session of the Parliament, Sonia Gandhi spoke about the importance of the upcoming polls for the first time.

“In a few months, elections will be held in four states. We must sustain the momentum and goodwill that had been generated for us in the Lok Sabha polls. We must not become complacent and over-confident. The ‘mahaul’ does favour us, but we have to work unitedly with a sense of purpose. I dare say that if we perform well, reflecting the trend that we witnessed in the Lok Sabha elections, national politics will undergo a transformation,” Gandhi said.

Assembly elections are due in Maharashtra, Haryana, Jharkhand and Jammu & Kashmir this year while Bihar and Delhi go to polls early next year.

Gandhi, in her speech at the meeting, expressed condolences to the families affected by the Wayanad landslides.

Gandhi also spoke about the demands of farmers and youths being ignored in the Union Budget by the current ruling dispensation.

“Allocations in a number of vital sectors have not done justice to the tasks required to be fulfilled”, she said.

“There has been widespread disappointment, in spite of the prime minister, the finance minister and others to talk up the Budget and its so-called accomplishments. The Union government, especially its top leadership, continues to be self-delusional as crores of families across the country are devastated by mounting unemployment and price rise,” she added.

Gandhi pointed out that the PM Narendra Modi-led central government has not learnt any lessons from its electoral decline in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls.

“We would have hoped that the Modi Government would draw the right lessons from their significant decline in the Lok Sabha elections.Look at how the rules have been suddenly changed to permit the bureaucracy to participate in the activities of the RSS. It calls itself a cultural organization but the whole world knows that it is the BJP’s political and ideological base,” Gandhi said.

From 303 seats in 2019, the BJP managed to get 240 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Gandhi also expressed concerns over the delay in conducting the census.

“It is clear that the government has no intention whatsoever to conduct the census that was last due in 2021. This will prevent us from having an up-to-date estimate of the population of the country, especially of the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST). It also means that at least 12 crore of our citizens are denied the benefit of the National Food Security Act of 2013 – now repackaged as PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana”, she said.

Criticising the government over the state of education system in the country, Gandhi said education has been amongst the worst casualties in the past years.

“Education has been amongst the worst casualties in the past years. Instead of taking the nation forward, the entire educational system is being shown as flawed and manipulated. The exposure of how competitive examinations have been allowed has destroyed the faith of lakhs of youth and dealt their future a body blow. The professional character and autonomy of organisations like the NCERT, UGC and even of Constitutional bodies like the UPSC have been all but destroyed,” she said.

Gandhi continued her criticism in wake of the government’s handling of the recent terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir.

“This makes a mockery of the claims being made by the Modi government that all is well in J&K. The situation in Manipur shows no sign of any improvement. The Prime Minister travels the world over, but steadfastly refuses to go to the state and take the initiative to bring about normalcy”, she said.