On the 17th of March 2018, the Congress Conclave was conducted at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, where Sonia Gandhi & her son Rahul Gandhi had together launched an attack at the BJP and Narendra Modi.
Given a standing ovation at perhaps her last address to a Congress plenary session, Sonia Gandhi on Saturday took on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, calling his government “arrogant” and accusing it of “dramebaazi”.
Taking the podium after an emotional hug from son and new party president Rahul Gandhi, Sonia called upon the party to work with him to begin a “new chapter” for the Congress in “challenging times”. Congress workers should be “ready for any kind of sacrifice to strengthen the party” and make the country “free from discrimination, vendetta politics and arrogance of power”, she said.
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“The Congress has never cowered before the aggression of power and will never do so,” Sonia said amid cheers from AICC members gathered at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium here for the 84th plenary session. Citing the Gujarat poll verdict, where a resurgent Congress reduced the BJP’s tally to below 100, and the party’s win in recent by-polls in Rajasthan and MP, the former Congress president said, “Those who want to throw the very identity of the Congress out of the country do not know how much people love it… There is only one priority today and that is how to make the Congress stronger. The Congress is not just a party, but an idea several years ahead of its time.”
Assuring the party “old-guard” about their future role in Congress, Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said he would take the youth and seniors together, adding that it was a Congress tradition to embrace change without forgetting the party’s legacy.
Speaking at AICC’s 84th plenary session which is themed “Change is Now” in keeping with Rahul’s take over, the Gandhi scion said, “If the youths have to take the Congress forward, it cannot be done without the experience of the party veterans.” He added, “My task is to take together the seniors and the youth.”
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Rahul’s mention of the issue right at the top of his very brief opening speech showed that it required addressing in the wake of concerns among senior leaders about their future after Sonia Gandhi. The ‘old guard vs GenNext’ faultline is seen as one of the reasons why the party has not gelled as an organization in recent years.
In her address, Sonia Gandhi urged the party to support Rahul which was seen as an appeal to the generation which has worked under her leadership almost for two decades.
Rahul added weight to his reassuring words by pointing to former PM Manmohan Singh, P Chidambaram, Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh and Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah, who was sitting in the front rows saying, “Representatives of the party have fought hard to keep the Congress ideology alive. Senior leaders of the Congress will guide the youth and take the party forward.”
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