Congress has seen many ups and downs in 140 years, but never lost patience. Our leaders have taught us that we should neither be haughty if we win with a huge margin, and nor should be disheartened if we lose. So, we have to find solutions by maintaining constant contact with the people and participating in their struggle with unity and discipline: Shri Mallikarjun Kharge

Highlights of the Congress President & LoP (RS) Shri Mallikarjun Kharge’s speech at the inauguration function of the ‘Indira Bhawan’, the new AICC Headquarters in New Delhi on January 2025.

Today’s inauguration of the headquarters is a milestone in the history of our Party. It is a matter of great pride for all of us that Congress has a permanent office named ‘Indira Gandhi Bhawan’. Also, it is a matter of great happiness that this building has been built in the same area where our great leaders had envisioned it to be. This was discussed in the CWC meeting chaired by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on December 31, 1952, and I quote from its proceedings what he said-The Committee considered the question of the purchase of site for the AICC office building. It was decided that a site for the AICC office be purchased in the Indraprastha estate on the terms offered.

That is, the voice of that day was that the Congress office should be built in this area and this decision was taken when the CWC meeting was held at Jawaharlal Nehru’s house. This was his intention in that meeting. So, I am happy that today Smt. Sonia Gandhi has fulfilled Nehru’s wish.

The foundation stone of this headquarters was laid on December 28, 2009, on the 125th foundation day of the Congress under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi and the construction work progressed under her supervision. That is why, we requested Sonia ji to inaugurate it and come here. For this, I thank you very much and I am grateful to you.

Friends, during the most difficult time of the freedom struggle, from the 1920s to 1947, the Congress headquarters was Swaraj Bhawan in Allahabad, where Indira Gandhi was born and that is why today we have named it Indira Gandhi Bhawan. After independence, the headquarters came from Allahabad to Delhi and in 1969, it moved from Jantar-Mantar Road to Rajendra Prasad Road and since 1978 till now, our office is at 24 Akbar Road. The Congress headquarters has never been just a building of bricks and stones. It has been the centre of our progressive ideology and thoughts since the time of the freedom movement, that is why I believe that the Congress headquarters is a school of democracy for our country and we all respect it.

Pandit Nehru ji had said-‘The Democracy is not only political, not only economic, but something of the mind as everything is ultimately sung something of the mind’. These are the words Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Ji said for democracy. First, the country’s freedom struggle was fought from the Congress headquarters, then the work of nation building was done, for which many Congressmen including Gandhiji, Indiraji, Rajivji had to sacrifice their lives. Many divisive forces, who had no contribution in the freedom struggle, later opposed the Constitution, the tricolor, the Ashoka Chakra and even the laws being made for the progress of society.

As Rahul Gandhi just said that you know what people who had nothing to do with independence or did not fight for it are talking about. Today itself I read in the paper that Bhagwat, who is the head of RSS, opened his mouth and said that real independence was achieved when Ram Mandir was built and inaugurated. So, it is true that Modi ji and he inaugurated it together, that is why Modi ji got independence, they think that it was in 2014 because he became the Prime Minister in 2014 and the people of RSS think that when Ram Mandir was built, that was the day of independence. It is a matter of shame that we got independence, you know, everyone knows in 1947 and I got independence in 1948 in Hyderabad, so even after getting independence, they are still not accepting it. So, it means that because they have no pain, they never fought, never went to jail, that is why they do not remember it. We remember because our people died for freedom, they struggled for freedom, they left their homes, that is why we remember, they do not remember. That is why I have to say that I condemn his statement and if he keeps giving such statements then it will become very difficult for him to roam around in India.

Now this Congress headquarters of ours will become a centre to fight against those forces which are working against the Constitution and Democracy and who are spreading such ideas. So, we will use this centre to break it and I hope all of you are ready for this. So I will put forward one more thing before you that we should remember all the Presidents and leaders from the first session held in Mumbai on December 28, 1885, under the chairmanship of WC Banerjee till now, because they took care of everything and that is why we are seeing this day today and one after the other, they sacrificed, made sacrifices, so that is why I salute them and remember them.

Friends, the year 2024 is the 75th year of adoption of the Constitution and also the centenary year of the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi becoming the Congress President. During his tenure as Congress President, Gandhiji connected every section of the country, from common man, women, farmers, labourers, to Congress. Social problems like untouchability were also included in the political agenda and because of them, today many poor people are joining Congress. History is a witness to the fact that movements were led by Congress at many important stages of the freedom movement, but today the RSS and its allies are trying to tamper with this history.

I want to say one thing on this occasion, Dr. Ambedkar ji had said one thing, I want to remind you, he had said- ‘Those who forget history cannot make history’, so we should remember this thing, those who forget history, if we forget the work done by Congress, if we forget the people who gave us freedom, then you are not going to make any new history. So, we are saying this because the parties of today are only spending their time in abusing Congress, they have not done anything for the country, their only work is propaganda, that is why we want to say this to them also. I want to tell my Congress colleagues that we have to remember history and keep reminding people as well.

Friends, Congress is based on the power of ideas. All the prominent national heroes including Dadabhai Naoroji, Mahatma Gandhi, Sarojini Naidu, Sardar Patel, Nehru Ji, Maulana Azad, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Rajendra Babu are our heritage. During the rule of Congress, many historic works have been done that changed the face of the country. India became the world’s largest democracy due to the efforts made under the leadership of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and the world’s best Constitution was made under the leadership of Ambedkar. Under the leadership of Shastri Ji, the slogan of ‘Jai Jawan - Jai Kisan’ was given and he did a lot of work for the soldiers and farmers. This building built in the name of the first woman Prime Minister Indira Ji is a symbol of ‘matrishakti’ and it will always remain a centre of inspiration for all of us.

During her tenure, she brought nationalization of banks and insurance companies, land reforms, abolition of privy purses, Green Revolution, White Revolution under the 10-point plan and did bold work for the poor and weaker sections under the 20-point program. Indira ji liberated Bangladesh by defeating Pakistan and I am proud that in 1969, during Indira Ji’s time, I became the President of the Block Congress Committee and in 2022 you elected me as your National President.

So, since 1969, I have had the opportunity to serve the Congress Party continuously and I am extremely grateful to you for electing me as its President in 2022. And I will fall short of words to speak about it. But you all have bestowed such a huge blessing on us that is why today we stand firm on our ideology and will continue to do so no matter who it is, be it the Prime Minister, the head of the RSS or the Home Minister.

Today, those who are harassing the Congress workers are putting their point across and even those who used to sit next to him, Shah talks about them in many places. On one hand, he praises them and on the other hand, he also interrupts them. So today, those people are also worried that they embraced them and on the other hand, they kept us away. But today is such a time that it is important to remind people of what we have done and during Rajiv Ji’s time, historic works like communication and information revolution, automobile revolution, Panchayati Raj for grass root level democracy and voting rights at the age of 18 were done. We need to tell all these works to our youth.

Today, there is so much competition among engineers and for computer engineers and all computer related courses- all a contribution of Rajiv Gandhi. We should remember this. During the tenure of PV Narasimha Rao, the country got a new direction through liberalization and economic reform. In the government of Dr. Manmohan Singh, RTI, RTE, Food Security, MNREGA, Forest Rights and Land Acquisition Act were made and many works were done for social security, which increased the power of the people.

I pay tribute to Dr. Manmohan Singh by remembering his historic contribution and announce that the library in this new headquarters will be named Dr. Manmohan Singh Library. We have built a huge library which is to be named after Manmohan Singh ji. Everyone has agreed to this. I will do this.

So, this information was also given to me by our leader Smt. Sonia Gandhi that it would be right to do this. So, because we have always respected all those who are associated with us and will do so even today. After the demise of Dr. Manmohan Singh, everyone is understanding his importance. He had once said that history would be kinder to him. I would like to assure Dr. Saheb that history is indeed very kind to you.Today, people in India and abroad are praising him more than what he had said. That is why, I especially thank Smt. Sonia Gandhi that whenever you touch something, it becomes gold and it is beneficial for the country as well.

I am not saying this to make you happy, that is not the case, so I am saying this because the steps you took at that time, after great deliberation, have benefited the entire country and today when the world is discussing him, when his name is taken in the world, then all the credit goes to us, it goes to you or to you. I am not saying that it is a matter of pride for us that you chose such a person who spread his name in the entire country and abroad.

Congress has seen many ups and downs in 140 years, but never lost patience. Our leaders have taught us that we should neither be haughty if we win with a huge margin, and nor should be disheartened if we lose. So, we have to find solutions by maintaining constant contact with the people and participating in their struggle with unity and discipline.

Everyone has seen the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ and ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ led by Rahul ji. It achieved unprecedented success due to his hard work and sacrifice. It created new energy and awakened the people on all basic issues ranging from the protection of the Constitution, caste census, inflation, unemployment and corruption. The result of this was that after the Lok Sabha elections, even the anti-constitutional forces have started talking about the Constitution. We are confident that the new headquarters of the Party will give a new energy to the Congress. We will achieve success while fighting for the rights of the people.

In the end, I would like to remember all those colleagues, especially late Moti Lal Vora ji, Ahmed Patel ji, who played a special role in the construction of this building. Special thanks to Priyanka ji, she contributed significantly in giving the final shape to this building and this is the result of all their efforts and I have come to this office for the first time. I did not see it, but Priyanka ji always used to say, you should come and see it once, I said that I will come inside only after it is completed, till then, she decided where to place everything, how to place it, whatever sayings of our history or our written pictures, she placed them all and she did everything with great attention to detail.

I would also like to thank the people who worked with him and listened to his instructions and implemented the instructions. I thank Manish Chatrath and his colleagues who helped in making this. I would also like to thank L&T Construction because I still have to give a little more. So, I thank the Electrical Construction, the architects and all the labourers involved in the construction. I do thank the company but the CEO of the company said that one should work for 90 hours. I don’t believe in this.

There are people who work for 9 hours. If a worker works for 8 hours, he gets tired. That is why Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Dr. Ambedkar made the Factory Act and said that no more than 8 hours should be set aside for work and after that someone started to talk about 9 hours. But these people are talking about 12 hours, 14 hours. They should be fired one by one but I thank the company because they have done a very good job and I also praise those workers because they have worked day and night in the dust and heat and even if there is no one to protect them, no matter who it is, I thank them all.

The leadership of the entire country, especially the PCC President and CLP leaders, are present here. On this occasion, I would also like to appeal that our national headquarters has become so grand, but we should have the Congress Party’s own building in every state, I am appealing to you that our national headquarters has become so grand, but we should have the Congress Party’s own building in every state, every district and every block. This will give a lot of strength to the organization. This is my appeal to you.

If you people want to strengthen the organization, then we should have buildings and offices from block level to PCC, because many buildings are still not built and I want to remind you of one thing - there is a judgment of the Supreme Court. The property that Congress had before 1969, when Indira Gandhi became the President, the Supreme Court had given the decision that all that property should be given to Congress, handed over. On this basis, the building that Deve Gowda and JDS had in Karnataka, we took it back, all our leaders there tried and after that today we have property worth lakhs.

So, that is why, I appeal to you that wherever the property was in the name of Congress before 1969, you should take it with you by taking legal action, that is one and the other where it is not, you please give a happy ending to the Congress Party by building a building.

Having said this, I thank you once again and thank you very much and Jai Hind, Jai Congress!