Nav Satyagraha meeting, Belgaum

We have the power of ideas, the legacy of Gandhi-Nehru and the heritage of great heroes. We will return from Belgaum with a new message and new resolution: Shri Mallikarjun Kharge

100 years ago, Mahatma Gandhi became the Congress President at the Belagavi Session in 1924. Shri Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress President’s opening remarks at the Special Congress Working Committee held at Belagavi on December 26, 2024

Today is a golden day in the history of Congress. On the 100th year of Gandhiji becoming the Congress President, a historic ‘Nav Satyagraha’ meeting is being held at Mahatma Gandhi Nagar in Belgaum.

All the major Congress officials from across the country, CWC members, permanent and specially invited PCC Presidents, CLP and Council leaders, CEC and Congress Parliamentary Party officials, present Chief Ministers and former Chief Ministers are present in this extended CWC.

I welcome all the comrades present here.

100 years ago, on December 26, 1924, at 3 o’clock, Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi took over the responsibility of Congress President. Before this, Maulana Muhammad Ali was the Congress President.

On this occasion, I remember Dr. N.S. Hardikar, the founder of Seva Dal, and pay tribute to him. From here in the history of Congress, the tradition of hoisting the national flag ceremonially every morning and lowering it in the evening began. Gandhiji became the Congress President only once for a year. But after that, he made such a long mark that it is not possible for any politician to match it.

Gandhiji gave a new shape to the Constitution of Congress. He created a strong base for Congress in the hearts of the villages, poor, farmers and laborers. He connected the Congress organization with constructive works. He included the campaign against untouchability and discrimination in the main agenda of Congress. All of you should be proud that the Congress Party has the legacy of the ‘Father of the Nation’, Mahatma Gandhi. We are his successors.

Friends, he expressed concern over the communal riots taking place in cities like Kohat and Gulbarga in those days and said, “When quarrels become a part of life, it is called civil war and the parties should fight it out themselves.” Motilal Nehru ji had moved a resolution condemning the riots. In Gulbarga, where I come from, condolences were expressed to the people affected by the riots.

It is very sad that even after 100 years, the ruling party and its leaders openly give provocative slogans and their top leaders are spoiling the harmony in the society, spreading hatred among communities. They are working to make people fight.

Mahatma Gandhi had given the message of the importance of unity in the Congress Party despite the presence of people of different opinions from here, saying, “As long as there are different minds in the world, there will be different opinions too. But we want to embrace everyone from the heart.”

Another special thing about the Belgaum session was that for the first time, Mahatma Gandhi started a nationwide campaign against untouchability. He made it a part of the national program of the Congress. He said that untouchability is one of the biggest obstacles in the path of Swaraj. The sooner we do this work, the better it is for our benefit. In 1925, Gandhiji went to Kerala and met the Viacom Satyagrahis and supported their demand.

In the last 140 years, the Party has seen many ups and downs. But even today, Congress is dedicated to the principles of Gandhiji in the light of his thoughts and stands firm on his principles.

Karnataka is my home state. My long political journey started from here. Today, I feel very proud that as Congress President, I have got the opportunity to be a part of the memories of the great responsibility that Mahatma Gandhi had taken up 100 years ago.

Today, when we are reviving a 100-year-old historical moment, Karnataka is being governed by the ideas of Gandhiji. The government is moving forward on the ideas shown by great men like Mahatma Baseshwar, Mahatma Phule and Baba Saheb Dr. Ambedkar, taking the Constitution and democratic values forward.

We heard the Home Minister’s extremely insulting statement about Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar during the discussion on the Constitution in the Parliament session. We objected, protested and demonstrated. Now protests are being held all over the country.

But the Prime Minister and the government are not ready to accept their mistake. Far from demanding an apology and resignation from Amit Shah, they supported the objectionable statement. The Prime Minister issued a statement in defence of the Home Minister. A false case was filed against Rahul Gandhi. This is the attitude of today’s rulers towards the Constitution and its creator. But we are not going to be afraid of anyone nor are we going to bow down. We will fight till the last breath for the ideology of Nehru-Gandhi and the respect of Baba Saheb.

BJP people falsely accuse us of not respecting Baba Saheb. Everyone knows that the statue of Baba Saheb was installed in the Parliament by Congress in 1967. Accepting the demand of thousands of workers like me, during Indira Ji’s tenure, President Dr. Radhakrishnan ji got the first big statue of Baba Saheb installed at the main place in the Parliament. That is why I say that BJP-RSS people should stop lying.

When the Prime Minister was elected to Parliament for the first time, he bowed down on the steps of the old Parliament, after which the new Parliament was built. We are afraid that this time before taking oath in the new Parliament building, he bowed down before the Constitution!

We know, this is his old project. He has criticized the Constitution, the tricolor, Gandhi, Nehru, Ambedkar, he has opposed everyone. He has burnt effigies of everyone.

The Preamble of the Constitution is constantly insulted by the people of the ruling party. Constitutional provisions and values are not respected. Constitutional institutions are being controlled, for example, if we look at the Election Commission of India, it seems that they have no respect for constitutional institutions, they want to capture everything. Therefore, we will have to fight this battle continuously.

The worrying thing is that people’s faith in the electoral process is slowly waning as questions are being raised on the impartiality of the Commission. A few days ago, they changed their election conduct rules so that the information that the court had ordered to be shared can be stopped.

What is it that is being tried to hide? What is the problem in publishing the information which has already been there in the public domain till now?

Sometimes the names of voters are deleted from the list. Sometimes they are prevented from voting. Sometimes the number in the voter list suddenly increases. Sometimes the vote percentage increases unexpectedly at the last moment of voting. These are some questions that keep coming up for which no satisfactory answer is found.

Amidst all this, due to the central government’s breach of promise, farmers across the country are agitating for MSP guarantee and other demands. Even hunger strikes are going on. But in this government, there is no one to understand the pain of the farmers.

It is such an irony that during the Congress rule when Rajiv Gandhi was the Prime Minister, farmers were free to come to the Boat Club and express their views. Now they cannot even come to Delhi. During Dr. Manmohan Singh’s government, we waived off farmers’ loans worth Rs. 72 thousand crores. We gave them the maximum MSP for their crops. We made a land acquisition law in their favour. Many things were done.

In the ten years of UPA, our government gave rights-based laws to the people. Works like MNREGA, RTI, Right to Food, Right to Education were possible due to the excellent efficiency and coordination of the then Congress President, Smt. Sonia Gandhi and the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh.

We regret that today there is no one to look after the people. Therefore, we have to come forward to help them, become their support. We have to continue our struggle and efforts to raise their issues.

‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ and ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’ gave a lot of strength to change the political environment of the country. Due to this, the intentions of those who had the plan of crossing 400 were thwarted. The people failed the plan of BJP-RSS to tamper with the Constitution.

We have to increase our organizational strength. Our supporters want to know what we are going to do to make ourselves strong? Those people who are not our supporters, but have lost hope from the central government, also want to know how we will make ourselves strong.

Therefore, I remind you of the discussion on strengthening the organization in the last working committee meeting of 29 November. We had decided to actively fight the atmosphere of disappointment created by the election results of Haryana and Maharashtra.

In the last Parliament session, with strong determination, creativity and solid intentions, we have succeeded in pushing the government on the back foot and in creating new energy in the opposition. We have also deliberated on the necessary decisions and processes in the organization.

I want to say that the year 2025 will be the year of our organisation’s empowerment. We will fill all the vacant posts in the organisation. We will fully implement the Udaipur Manifesto. We will equip our organisation with the necessary skills to win elections, from the AICC to the mandal and booth. We will have to find such people who are ideologically committed, who are ready to fight to protect the Constitution, who believe in the Congress Party’s idea of India. Such people will have to be connected to the Party. They will have to be brought into the mainstream. They will have to be included and connected to the organisation’s work.

Hard work alone is not enough, a time bound solid strategy and direction is necessary. There is a need to give chance to new power. There is also a need to bring forth local and new leadership.

We have the power of ideas, the legacy of Gandhi-Nehru and the heritage of great heroes. We will return from Belgaum with a new message and new resolution.

That is why we named this meeting ‘Nav Satyagraha’, because today even His Excellency holding a constitutional post is questioning Mahatma Gandhi’s Satyagraha.

Those who have taken oath on the Constitution are the ones who are spreading lies. Those who are in power accuse us by resorting to falsehood. We have to expose and defeat such people.

Friends, I remind you of what Gandhiji had said. He used to say that “Truth survives even when it does not have public support.” We have the truth behind us and crores of people behind us.

Therefore, this is not the time for despair. We have to destroy the lies of our opponents with unity. We have to move forward with confidence and face the challenges boldly. We will definitely succeed.

On this occasion, I would like to present to you some sentiments of a famous Hindi poet Bhavani Prasad Mishra-

Saamaanyataya maun achha hai, Magar chintan ke liye! Kintu jab charon or shor ho Sach ki hatya ke liye! Tab tumhe apni baat zordar shabdon mein kahni chahiye, Sir kataana padey ya na kataana padey Tayaari to uski rahni chahiye!

Jai Bapu! Jai Bhim! Jai Samvidhaan! Jai Hind!