The Congress Working Committee (CWC) accused the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi of playing politics of polarisation and crushing debate and dissent in the country.
The CWC, which is meeting at Sevagram at Wardha on the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary, said that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has “vilified and rejected Mahatma Gandhi during his lifetime, and which today has brazenly proclaimed itself to be his champion”.
“It is its ideology that was responsible for spreading the atmosphere of hate that led to the Mahatma’s tragic assassination,” the CWC said in a statement.
The CWC said that a “new freedom struggle is the urgent need of the hour” against the Modi government’s brand of politics.
Accusing the BJP of using the Mahatma for “electoral opportunities”, the CWC said that it “resolves to expose the hollowness and doublespeak of the ideologies and organisations who have never believed in, let alone followed, the Gandhian path of truth, tolerance, harmony and non-violence”.
“The CWC underlines that it is only the Indian National Congress that truly embodies the ethos of ‘Bharat’ that is fundamentally inclusive, liberal, secular and assimilation of India’s plurality and diversities,” the statement read.
On the occasion, the CWC also paid tribute to former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri on his birth anniversary.
The Congress Working Committee (CWC) is meeting today at Sevagram as we begin the 150th year celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi’s Birth Anniversary.
Sevagram was Bapu’s historic karmabhoomi for over a decade from the time he set up his ashram there in April 1936.