Kochi, Jan 19 (PTI) Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday accused the RSS and the BJP of attempting to centralise power, while asserting that his party believes in decentralisation and strengthening grassroots democracy.
Speaking at a Mahapanchayat of newly elected Congress local body members here, Rahul also indirectly attacked the ruling CPI(M)-led LDF in Kerala, saying that there was a huge unemployment problem in the state and urged the Congress-led UDF to provide a vision for addressing the issue before the upcoming Assembly polls.
Slamming the BJP-led Centre, he said that Congress had brought in the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments to empower the three-tier Panchayati Raj system.
The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha also alleged that the NDA government was “attacking” the MGNREGA because it was implemented through local self-government institutions.
Gandhi stressed that protecting the Constitution also meant protecting decentralised governance at the grassroots level.
The basic principle of democracy was that votes are the voice of citizens and that this voice must be protected, he added.
Drawing a contrast, Gandhi said the BJP and the RSS stood for centralisation, while the Congress stood for decentralisation. “They want compliance from people for India, not the voice of the people of India,” he said.
Referring to his interaction with veteran Malayalam writer M Leelavathy at an award function, Gandhi said the 98-year-old author talked about “culture of silence”.
Accusing the BJP and the RSS, he alleged that their ideological attack was aimed at enforcing silence.
“They want India to be silent. They do not want India to express itself. They want to deliver the wealth of this country to a few business houses,” he said, adding that silencing people was necessary to concentrate the nation’s assets in the hands of a select few.
However, Rahul asserted with certainty that the people of Kerala could not be silenced and would speak out through elections.
He also congratulated Congress workers and the United Democratic Front (UDF) for what he described as a strong performance in the local body elections in Kerala, especially at the panchayat level, the third tier of democracy.
He said the Congress and UDF delivered a superb performance at all levels of local self-government and expressed happiness over the results in panchayats.
Rahul said that while there were differences of opinion among senior leaders during discussions in Delhi, he was confident that the Congress would win the local body and Assembly elections.
He added that the bigger question before the Congress and UDF leadership was what they would do once they win the Assembly polls.
“There is a huge unemployment problem in the state. The UDF and Congress party have to provide a vision for Kerala which addresses this unemployment problem,” he said, expressing confidence that the leadership had the ability to understand people’s needs and deliver.
“For any government to succeed, the Leadership needs to be accessible to the people. The leadership has to merge with the people,” the senior leader said.
He said that he was confident that the Congress and UDF leadership would remain humble and connected to the masses.
Calling the present phase an ideological and political battle, Gandhi said it was an honour for him to serve as a Member of Parliament from Kerala earlier.
He said he had learnt a great deal from the state, including its history, traditions, language and political depth, and above all, its ability to stand together despite diversity.
Gandhi said he felt pain at seeing thousands of Keralites go abroad due to unemployment, even as he felt pride at seeing professionals, including nurses, from the state working across the world.
“We need to free people so that what they do abroad can also be done here,” he said.
Praising Kerala’s natural beauty, cultural diversity, religious harmony and strong political culture, Gandhi said that Kerala has a superb political culture and that grassroots leaders truly emerge from democratic processes.
“I don’t think there is any panchayat president anywhere else like in Kerala,” he said.
He said this trust placed by the people was the most important thing and must be protected.
Answering questions from select participants at the event, Gandhi said the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) was designed by the UPA government to ensure a minimum wage for the poorest people in the country.
“It transformed the lives of millions of people, and that programme is now being destroyed. The central government does not want to pay a minimum wage to the labourers of India. That is why they are attacking MGNREGA,” he said.
According to him, another reason for targeting the scheme was that it functioned at the third tier of governance.
“They do not want to give financial power and decision-making authority to the third tier of governance. They want to run the government from bureaucratic offices and from Delhi,” he alleged.
He said MGNREGA was created both to protect the interests of India’s poorest people and to strengthen local self-governments by empowering grassroots institutions.
“This is why they are attacking MGNREGA. The Prime Minister himself ridiculed the scheme in the Lok Sabha. But when Covid happened, MGNREGA saved our people,” Rahul said. PTI TBA TGB ADB
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