Rahul Gandhi’s ‘cracked the whip’ reply to Congress chief’s unity call at meeting

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday pulled up warring leaders for making statements beyond the party line and said “tough decisions” were needed to be taken to fix accountability and remove shortcomings by learning lessons from the election results in Haryana and Maharashtra, where the grand old party lost. He also said infighting was hurting the Congress and urged leaders to stop making anti-party remarks.
“Unless we fight elections unitedly and stop making statements against each other, how will we be able to defeat our opponents politically?” Kharge said at the CWC meeting held to analyse the Congress’s defeats in Haryana and Maharashtra. To this, Rahul Gandhi responded by saying, “Kharge ji has cracked the whip.” He also endorsed what the Congress chief said.
During the meeting, Kharge said he believed that the EVMs made the electoral process “suspect” and stressed that it was the constitutional responsibility of the Election Commission to ensure free and fair elections in the country.
He also stressed that state Assembly polls should not be fought on national issues. “For how long will state leaders fight assembly polls on national issues with national leaders, he said.
He also called for removing shortcomings in the party by learning lessons from the election results and said the party would have to evolve a strategy to effectively counter the “propaganda and misinformation” by its rivals.
“Therefore, it is important that we strictly follow discipline. We have to remain united under all circumstances. The party also has the weapon of disciplining. But we do not want to put our workers in any bondage,” Kharge said.
Urging Congress workers not to get dejected with the poll results, he said, “Therefore, everyone needs to think that a victory of the Congress party is our victory and a defeat is our defeat. Our strength lies in the strength of the party.”
Kharge indicated that a major overhauling of the party would be done. Some Congress leaders in the meeting flagged the poor organisational structure in several states.
He asserted that the party cannot achieve success by following old methods. “You have to see what your political opponent is doing on a daily basis. We have to take decisions on time. Accountability has to be fixed,” he said.
The Congress president said that due to the Congress’ repeated defeats, “fascist forces” are making their roots deeper. “One by one they are also taking over the institutions of the state,” he added.
Kharge said that the Congress may have lost elections, but there is no doubt that unemployment, inflation, and economic inequality are burning issues in this country. He asserted that the caste census is also an important issue today.
He also called upon workers and leaders to start preparing for future polls in advance and scrutinise the electoral rolls properly.
Kharge said the ways of contesting elections have changed and the party will have to make its micro-communication strategy better than its opponents.
“Ways to fight propaganda and misinformation will also have to be found. We will have to move forward by learning lessons from the previous results. The shortcomings have to be removed. Tough decisions will have to be taken with confidence,” he said.
He stressed that the mood was in the Congress’s favour during the elections but pointed out that just a favourable atmosphere does not guarantee victory. “We will have to learn to convert the atmosphere into results. What is the reason that we are not able to take advantage of the atmosphere?” he said.
“We will have to strengthen our organisation up to the booth level. We will have to be vigilant, alert and cautious day and night, from making the voter list to counting the votes,” he added.
“We need to immediately learn from the election results and correct all our weaknesses and shortcomings at the organisational level. These results are a message for us,” he said.
While the Maha Vikas Aghadi, of which the Congress is a part, was decimated in the polls in Maharashtra, the party’s alliance led by the JMM scored a victory in Jharkhand. In Haryana, the Congress had suffered a shock defeat at the hands of the BJP.
Some senior leaders also raked up the accessibility issue of the top brass during the CWC meeting. Veteran leader Mohan Prakash said the interaction of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi with congress workers should be restored so that party workers can meet them directly.