Kharge slams BJP’s ‘new India’ in inaugural address as Cong president
Mallikarjun Kharge – who took formal charge as Congress president Wednesday morning – launched an attack on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and said ‘democratic values’ established by his party were being upturned.
Kharge, who spoke after outgoing Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, said, “… nobody thought we’d see a time when lies will take precedence and people in power will work to weaken democracy.”
“Congress will break away from this rule of lies, fraud and hatred…,” he said, drawing a parallel between the party’s ideology and constitutional ideology and seeking public support.
“Despite our 137 year history and sacrifices of our leaders, voters are upset with the party…” he acknowledged and thanked Rahul Gandhi for leading the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ – the Congress’ attempt to reconnect with the public at the grassroots level.
He attacked BJP’s ‘new India’ model and said “BJP-RSS want an opposition free country.” He further questioned “what kind of new India is this where people are unemployed…violence against women is rising…criminals are respected,” and added that in this ‘new India’ the government has turned a blind eye while common people are suffering due to inflation. Kharge in his speech, highlighted the issues of falling rupee, increasing poverty and pollution, costlier education, while pointing out recent ED and Income Tax raids conducted on opposition parties.
Kharge also spoke about the three-day Chintan Shivir in Udaipur in Rajasthan and said the ‘onus of implementing the resilient blueprint’ drawn up at the May meeting ‘lies on all of us (Congress members and workers)’. He spoke about working for communal harmony, employment and said ‘Congress will work for India that was envisioned by our forefathers’.
Kharge took charge as Congress chief at the party HQ in Delhi in the presence of senior leaders like Rahul Gandhi. He won the presidential election race against MP Shashi Tharoor by a huge margin after results were declared on October 19.