Twenty Point Programme for the Revival of Congress.

Twenty Point Programme for the Revival of Congress. 

Lots of people have written the obituary of the Grand Old Party, the Congress party. This is what RSS through BJP and Prime Minister Modi  wished for and successfully accomplished. Questions have been raised about Congress’ pro-poor, pro-minority policies and both have been dubbed as vote catching appeasement policies. The party is heckled for its liberal secularism, dubbed as “sickularism”. The congress has been roundly defeated but it is not finished yet. The party has a lot of intellectuals, well educated liberals whose cerebral understanding of key national issues defy all critics who are eager and in a hurry  to bury it and raise a triumphal flag over it. 

I have no affinity with the present day moping Congress, in a perpetual state of introspection. Nor have I any affinity with its opponents who want to decimate it, as such a situation spells doom for democracy. Congress has to re-invent itself and this cannot be done by introspection. It has to come clean and spotless and to that extent pack its leadership with proven honest persons. We need Yudhishtras not Dhridarashtras who are blind to corruption and malpractices of a few errant individuals. What the opposition has done is to seize upon those  few black sheep to paint the whole Congress party black. The party should get out of its stupor and work out programmes that are strategically and practically implementable. 

I have been a simple academic who had progressed in life through honesty, hard work, God given intelligence and pursuit of unselfish, altruistic Gandhian idealism. I have no personal axe to grind as I am past seeking any benefits. But born and brought up in the Gandhi- Nehru-Rajaji era, I feel deeply disturbed and compelled to do my bit to restore true democracy(different from the present day definition of democracy as seeking people’s mandate every five years) in India.

I list below the 20 point programme for a new Congress which should be once again  be known as Congress(I)where “I” stands for ‘inclusiveness’. It can also be called  Congress  National party as it should embrace persons from all walks of life to work for a second freedom for India- freedom from corruption, freedom from violence, freedom from fear and freedom from all ills that plague the mental and physical well being of all Indians.
 

1.      1. Make the  present Gandhis- Mother, Son and Daughter Margdarshis. Even if Congressmen and women are averse to borrowing ideas from their political enemy, let not that ego stand in the way of rebuilding a party shattered to smithereens by the Modi earthquake. The true Gandhis are still around. Chief among them are Gopala Krishna Gandhi, Tushar Gandhi, Rajmohan Gandhi who have through their words and writings shown the right path to follow. They are not aspirants for any office, but they have the interest of the nation. Seek their wisdom to rebuild the Congress.

2.   2. Elect a new leader(M/F), young and dynamic, well educated and articulate to make an intelligent and impressive appeal to unite all sections of society – the elite, the aspiring middle class, the poor and the underprivileged to make India once again a cultured, civilized and progressive nation.

3.    3.   Select state-wise leaders known honest, educated and intelligent and who follow Gandhian ideals simple living, high thinking( There are a large number of young idealists whose idealism have not been tapped by any party these days.)

4.    4. Organize Round Table Conferences inviting academics, scholars, intellectuals, writers, business leaders,  lawyers, political leaders, scientists, religious leaders  to arrive at a broad consensus towards solving major developmental issues- education, employment, environment, economy, justice and health for all.

5.    5. The party should stand up for our Constitutional obligation towards a renewal of India as a Nation, One and Indivisible, founded upon Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.

6.     6. Educate all Congress cadres on the true meaning of secularism which in essence means to exclude religion from all civil, political and social matters.

7.     7. Work for giving Federal status to all states like the European form of Federalism which favors a common federal government, with distributed power at regional and national levels.

8.     8. States must be free to decide their own policy on education and language while adhering to uniform standards of learning. Centre should have its own university and schools in all states and this will enable the state universities and state schools to raise their standards to compete with central institutions. Educate young men and women in citizenship and its responsibilities in place of the pseudo value education that is increasingly farcical today.

9.     9.Restrict university admission only to those who want to pursue research and academics. Establish vocational colleges on lines similar to the present day colleges and give degrees that provide the young men and women employment

1 10.  Professional colleges including IITs should make it mandatory for every student to serve at least one year in rural areas and this assignment should be finalized by the respective professional institutions. Only on completion of a year’s service, they will get their degree. Students cannot enter civil services or engineering and medical services without the mandatory service in rural areas.

111.   No need to allure people with depositing money in their accounts. Make a strong social security scheme that gives allowance for a limited period of 3-4 weeks by which time, people should find work for themselves.

1  12.   Skill India is to be modified to be effective. Make it Regional Skills in line with the requirement of each region. More importantly, factor in the arrival of robots for many of the manual jobs done today. Skill training has to be modernized to help people get jobs in the manufacture of robots, precision equipment, surgical tools, industrial machinery, food processing, hotel industries, hospitality management, healthcare assistance etc. The Congress should reach out to people and talk about the new policies, their futuristic dimensions, the benefits that will accrue and above all how they will restore to people the dignity of earning money with new skills, keeping pace with modernity.

1  13.  An improved version of Mohalla clinics in all villages, a functioning medical centre in all taluks, district hospitals and Referral-cum-research hospitals in the capital cities of India should be of topmost priority. 

1  14.  Government should promote a scheme of Rs. 25 per family per month from villagers,Rs.25 per head per family from district population and Rs.100/ per family from city slum dwellers as medical insurance that will entitle  people to free hospitalization that includes free medicines and free surgery

1  15.   Congress should make efforts to bring a synthesis of tradition and modernity by deciding on policies that relate to culture, art, aesthetics, and literature. Promote healthy traditions and educate the people to clear the superstitious smog that have accreted over tradition through many centuries.

1  16.   Foreign policy should be once again back to Nehru’s non alignment policy, maintaining a healthy respect towards all nations. Though there is no Western block and Eastern block, the world is divided between ideologies of the Right and the Left,  interspersed with centre of right and centre of left leanings.  There is also religious fundamentalism raising its ugly head, not to leave out the perennial binary conflicts in different parts of the world between India and Pakistan, Israel and Palestine, Taliban and Afghans, Sunni and Shia in different parts of the Middle east. In such a world riven with ideological and religious differences, our policy should not be government centric, but people-centric. To find solutions, government should encourage people- to people contact and communication  and through cinema, music, art, literature and television serials bring conflicting nations like India and Pakistan together. There are many Malalas in our midst who will be ready to connect with Malalas in Pakistan. The effort should be to bring people together as the two nations share in many ways language, literature, culture, art and music.

1  17.   Never speak like a hawk. Never try to humiliate and isolate Pakistan. Pakistan is our neighbour and asking countries to ostracize and isolate Pakistan has only backfired. Dr.ManMohan Singh’s dignified words and silence in many ways curbed the Pakistan military’s hatred and vengeful acts. Highlight this policy and make people understand the value of cultivating humanity with the help of people.

1  18.   Congress should not show a negative mentality and attack PM Modi. Take a leaf out of President Obama who maintains dignified silence even as Trump tries to overthrow all the reforms including Gun license control that Obama had brought. If policies are wrong, explain how it could be set right, explain to the people why it has to be opposed and not give the impression of opposing for the sake of opposing. PM has been elected for five years and there should be no unseemly and undignified haste to pull him down.. Match his oratorical and demagoguerical skills with reason, logic, clarity bereft of emotion and sensation.

1  19.   Try to form a National Government subordinating party differences to the national interest in the present time of crisis when there is a looming fear of curtailment of privacy and freedom of expression that is on the rise. A government with a single agenda to bring an opposition-mukht Bharat is likely to become a fascist /autocratic government.Already it has set in motion what we have to eat, what we can read, what to be banned and they  do not augur well for democracy. Congress has to work doubly hard to make people understand their value as citizens of a democratic nation and this is possible if it takes the lead to have an all inclusive government.

2  20.   The main slogan should be Cultivate Humanity.