Mallikarjun Kharge takes over, his clarion call Rahul Gandhi's 'daro mat' slogan
New Delhi, October 26
History was created on Wednesday with 80-year-old Karnataka leader Mallikarjun Kharge assuming charge as the first non-Gandhi Congress president in 24 years, signalling the beginning of a new era in the journey of the 137-year-old party that faces the worst-possible odds ever.
The Congress retains power in only Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, faces an aggressive BJP in poll-bound Himachal and Gujarat this year and nine states—MP, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Tripura, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Mizoram—in 2023.
The new Congress president’s clarion call to cadres today was former party president Rahul Gandhi’s slogan “Daro Mat” (do not fear). Kharge “expressed gratitude” to Rahul for undertaking the “mass connect” event, urging workers to ensure national resonance for the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, and said, “When Congress workers shed fear, the mightiest of empires kneel down.” Kharge, who took over from Sonia Gandhi at an event at the AICC headquarters today, dotted his acceptance speech with generous praises of the outgoing chief and Rahul even as he promised to demolish BJP’s “dispensation of lies, deceit and hate”, and questioned the government’s “new India” as the one where “the youth lacked jobs, Godse was called a patriot and Mahatma Gandhi a traitor”.
The 47-member steering committee Kharge announced today—his first official orders—to function in place of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) features all three members of the Gandhi family, Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka, along with former PM Manmohan Singh, G23 leader Anand Sharma, former ministers Ambika Soni, Jairam Ramesh and Pawan Bansal, and Randeep Surjewala. The panel was necessitated after the CWC members and AICC office-bearers resigned to make way for a new organisation under Kharge.
After receiving his election certificate from the AICC poll panel chief Madhusudan Mistry, Kharge described his anointment as “an emotional moment” saying he had been humbled by the fact that an “an ordinary worker and a labourer’s son” had been elected Congress president.
In his maiden message to the party, Kharge termed the present times as “difficult” and acknowledged that the “voters were disenchanted with the Congress”, which would “fight to restore democracy with like-minded people”.
“Attempts are underway to change democracy, which the Congress institutionalised. But we will demolish this dispensation of lies, deceit and hate,” the new Congress chief said amid slogans in favour of Sonia, Rahul and occasionally himself.
Kharge pinned hopes of Congress revival on the youth promising 50 per cent AICC posts to leaders under 50, besides implementation of reforms the party’s Udaipur ‘Chintan Shivir’ adopted, among them the establishment of public insight and election management departments and formation of political advisory and social justice advisory committees across states.
Taking on the BJP, Kharge asked, “What kind of new India is this where the youth have no jobs, farmers are mowed down… national assets are being sold, starvation is growing and rupee is depreciating…”
Sonia, while relinquishing charge after 22 years, said she felt “truly relieved” at having passed the mantle.
