Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Lok Sabha LoP and party MP Rahul Gandhi and party Parliamentary Chairperson Sonia Gandhi during the extended Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting, in Ahmedabad on April 8, 2025
| Photo Credit: ANI
A meeting of the Extended Congress Working Committee (CWC) on Tuesday (April 8, 2025) adopted a resolution committing itself to take the path shown by Sardar Vallabhai Patel while attacking the BJP’s attempt to hijack his legacy.
“Today, the ideology of violence and communalism is pushing the country into an abyss of hatred, based on the divisions of religious polarization. Therefore, once again, Congress Party is determined to emulate the resoluteness of ‘Iron man’ Sardar Patel by fighting the frenzy of religious polarization,” the CWC resolution read.
The resolution — titled ‘Flag-bearer of freedom movement- Our Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’ — was a clear attempt to counter the BJP’s charge that the Congress had historically neglected Patel.
In his opening remarks to the CWC, party president Mallikarjun Kharge accused the BJP-RSS combine of trying to “usurp” the legacy of Sardar Patel and other national heroes through a “well-planned conspiracy” and claimed that the Sangh Parivar had made no contribution to the freedom movement.
Mr. Kharge also highlighted that it was Patel who, as Home Minister, had banned the RSS after Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination.
The CWC resolution on Patel added that forces of animosity and division seek to undermine the spirit of camaraderie and bonhomie. “Therefore, once again, the Congress is determined to follow the life principles of Sardar Patel to defeat the forces of animosity and division as also exposing the fake news factory of these elements,” it said.
The document asserted that “the ideology of make-believe confrontation and mischievously professed division had led to spreading of a deliberate web of lies of conflict between Sardar Patel and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru”.
“The cobweb of deceit and deception couldn’t sustain, for Sardar Patel himself wrote to Pandit Nehru on August 3, 1947, and unequivocally stated, ‘Our attachment and affection for each other and our comradeship for an unbroken period of nearly 30 years admit of no formalities… Our combination is unbreakable and therein lies our strength’,” the CWC resolution said.
Highlighting how Sardar Patel had fought against the exploitative British policies, the resolution went on to draw parallels between the colonial rulers and the present-day BJP regime.
“The BJP government of today emulates the cruel British Policies against the farmers — be it bringing an ordinance to whittle down “the Right to Fair Compensation Law” for acquisition of land, the three Anti-Agriculture ‘Black Laws’ to enslave the farmers, blocking the path of farmers by digging up roads and putting up spikes & wedges, betrayal of the farmers by reneging on the solemn promise of an MSP guarantee law or crushing the farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri under the Jeeps of BJP leaders as a revenge for demanding justice,” the resolution read.
Setting the stage for an intense debate for over three hours, Mr. Kharge claimed that attention was being diverted from the basic issues of the country by indulging in communal division. “At the same time, oligarchic monopoly is on the path of controlling the government by capturing the resources of the country,” he alleged.
Published – April 08, 2025 09:14 pm IST
