‘Generational shift underway in Congress’: Sachin Pilot ahead of AICC Session in Gujarat

In an interview with news agency PTI, Pilot also said that accountability and strengthening the party’s ideology would define the way forward. He added that while the Congress may have lost a few state elections after the Lok Sabha polls, the vigour to fight on remains intact.

“The party has committed itself to strengthening the backwards, young people, women, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, minorities. These are the sections that form the largest chunks of our population and adequate representation of those sections is crucial,” he said.

Stressing the importance of responsibility and accountability among party members, Pilot said a constant performance review will be carried out, and those underperforming will need to let go and make way for others.

“There will be a constant review of who’s performing and not performing. For example, in Rajasthan we have taken a decision that any office bearer of the party who does not attend three party meetings consecutively without proper reason, that person has to let go and give space to someone else,” the Congress general secretary said.

‘Focus on reform, filling vacant positions’

Reiterating the party’s stance at the Belagavi Conclave that 2025 will be the year of organisational empowerment, Pilot said the focus is on reform, filling vacant positions, and upholding the Udaipur Declaration by giving young people more political power.

“At the party forum, we adopted the Udaipur declaration and are adhering to that. In all party appointments we are keeping that declaration in mind. The (generational) shift is happening automatically, there are many people who are now taking on leadership roles whether it is within Parliament or outside Parliament, whether in states or new people appointed in AICC, young people are now taking on leadership roles and are living up to the task,” he said over the phone from Jaipur.

Pilot added that meetings at the Indira Gandhi Bhawan have led to the decision to give District Congress Committee (DCC) chiefs a more prominent role, including greater involvement in elections, financial management, and candidate selection.

“Mr Rahul Gandhi, Mr.Mallikarjun Kharge and Priyanka (Gandhi Vadra) ji are taking active interest in the functioning of the party, departments and frontal organisations like the IYC, NSUI, Sewa Dal, Mahila Congress and so on,” he said.

On party defections during polls

On Congress leaders switching sides around the Lok Sabha elections, Pilot said organisations are bigger than individuals. He said people come and go according to their likes and dislikes, and political compulsions but the Congress is one of the oldest political organisations in the world and its commitment to serve the people whether in power or in the opposition remains intact.

“How to sharpen it, how to strengthen it, how to get more young people join the Congress fold is obviously a constant effort from the top leadership…The BJP has used central agencies to subjugate, defame, threaten, lure and character assassinate leaders from the opposition, especially from the Congress,” he said.

“The Congress persons who are committed will forge on. Our top leadership has been attacked politically by the agencies but we have fought back, we will fight them legally and we will fight them on the streets,” he said.

Pilot added that conviction is key in politics, especially during challenging times.

“We were in government for 10 years, we are out of power for 10 years. But we need to have strength of convictions to fight the battle ahead. Times are hard because the BJP is leaving no stone unturned to subjugate the voice of the opposition, to suppress, entice and to undermine,” Pilot said. Speaking about the significance of the AICC session being held in Gujarat, Pilot said it’s notable that such an event is returning to the state after a long time.

On Congress’ Gujarat focus

“I think Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi has made it very clear that we will focus very strongly on Gujarat as it has always been a Congress bastion. Politically, we have been strong in Gujarat and this AICC session will give a boost to all our workers in the country but most specifically to our leaders and workers in Gujarat,” Pilot said.

Gujarat is an important state for us and we are ready to take up any challenge from the BJP, he added.

The AICC session in Ahmedabad will be themed ‘Nyaypath: Sankalp, Samarpan, and Sangharsh’, with over 1,700 AICC members attending the main conclave on April 9.