New Delhi ,Oct 26 .Opening Remarks of Congress President Smt.Sonia Gandhi GeneralSecretaries /In-charges/PCCPresidentsMeetingtoday Rahul ji, General Secretaries and In-Charges, PCC Presidents and friends,You are all well aware of the CWC Meeting we had a few days back.
She said I am sure you have read the three resolutions passed by the CWC and that they have been communicated and dis-tributed in your states. Today's get-together is a follow-up to that meeting.Thedetailedscheduleforfull-fledgedorganisationalelectionsisalreadywithyou.Thenation-wideCongressmembershipenrolmentprogrammebeginsonNovember1st,2021,andrunsthroughtillMarch31st,2022.I take this opportunity to emphasise to each one of the PCC Presidents, General Secretaries and In-Charges that new members are the lifeblood of any political movement. Young men and women across the nation seek a movement to give voice to their aspirations.
It is our duty to provide them with a platform, as we have done for generations past. You will have to ensure the proper printing and distribution of forms for every ward and village. You will have to identify and assign Congress leaders and office bearers, the task of going house to house, to enrol members in a transparent fashion.You must ensure the clear delin-eation of the responsibilities of these individuals at the state, district, block, ward and village level. This is a vital responsibility that you are entrusted with. Training programmes for our workers are therefore an absolute necessity. You have received acircular from the AICC with regard to the organisation of suchprogrammes at every level.
I want to emphasise that you should take it on priority. The fight to defend our democracy, our Constitution and the Congress Party’sideology begins with beingfully prepared to identify and counter falsepropaganda.We must fight the diabolical campaign of BJP/RSS ideologically. We must do so with convic-tion and expose their lies before the people if we are to win this battle. The AICC releases important and detailed statements almost every day on issues facing the nation. But it is my experience that theydo not percolate down to our grass root cadres at the block and district level. There are policy issues on which I find a lack of clarity and cohesion even amongst our state-level leaders.You must train our workersto take on theunceasing onslaught of malicious disinformation campaigns at the behest of the BJP/RSS. And you must train our people to fight it while upholding and projecting the core Congress ideology.
Ourownhistorybearswitnesstothefactthatifanorganisationistosucceedagainstinjusticeandinequality,ifitistoeffectivelychampiontherightsofthemarginalised,itmustbecomeawidespreadagitationdowntothegrassroots.TheModiGovernmenthassoughttoerodeour
institutionssoitmayevadeaccountability.IthassoughttounderminethecorevaluesofourConstitutionsoitcanholditselftoalowerstandard.Ithasquestionedtheveryfundamentalsofourdemocracy.We must redouble our fight for those who are the victims of this government’s worst ex-cesses:our farmers and farm labourers, our youth fighting for jobs and opportunities, small and medium scale businesses, our brothers,oursisters with particular focus on the deprived.To make this promise truly meaningful, we must also make our organisation more representa-tive of this cross-section of society.
Five states are going to election in the coming months. Congress party workers and leaders in these states are gearing up to take on these battles. Our campaign must be founded upon concrete policies and programmes emanating from widespread discussions with all sections of society. Finally, I would like to re-emphasise the paramount need for discipline and unity. What should matter to each and every one of us is the strengthening of the organisation. Thismust overridepersonalambitions. In this lies both collective and individual succes
