Cong will return, roars Kesri

“Out of 50 years of parliamentary government in this country, we had a single majority rule at the Centre for 45 years and six coalition governments in five years in three phases. It is too simplistic to come to such a conclusion from the results of one or two general elections. The voting pattern of the Indian electorate completely rejects the thesis that they have lost faith in single party majority rule.

“This propaganda is vigorously carried on by those parties who can never come to power at the Centre on their programme or their own strength," he said.

" This is an attempt to give legitimacy to their stay in power. There is a well laid out mechanism in our Constitution and through this elaborate arrangement various disputes have been settled amicably in the past and single Party majority rule did not stand in the way,” Kesri stressed.The Congress president saw great danger to India’s pluralist character and integrity if the idea of coalition politics is cultivated.

The speech lashed out at the Left Front, the Federal Front and even the BJP. “BJP is not just an ordinary political organisation but the latest manifestation of the communal programme spearheaded by the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS)," he said.

"The venom and hatred unleashed by this movement not only killed Mahatma Gandhi but was also largely responsible for communal riots in the sub-continent over the last five decades,” Kesri added.

Targeting the Left, Kesri held them guilty yet again of collaborating with the BJP against the Congress. “In this city, the Communist Party Marxist (CPM) accorded political respectability to the BJP by inviting them to join the Front against the Congress in 1988.

Blind anti-Congressism of the so-called secular parties helped BJP to strengthen itself,” he added. Kesri read out his address, which he had been perusing for three weeks, in Hindi but reserved the last portion for rendition in English.

An entire page of the oration was devoted to an emphatic rejoinder to Deve Gowda’s “old man in a hurry” jibe against him. “I am old but I look to the future. And I must confess I am in a terrible hurry. This old man is in a hurry to liberate the Indian youth from the bonds of desperation and despondency, to liberate the minorities from the bonds of fear, to free Dalits from the bonds of indignities and insults.”

“I am also in a hurry to tell the captains of our industry that liberalisation must be for all, must be seen for all – not just for the rich or the upper middle class. The culture of corruption that has blemished the face of this great organisation must be wiped out. And yes, this Old Man (Kesri’s capitals), is in a hurry to prepare the Congress, rejuvenate it, re-energise it to take over Delhi in a few years’ time,” the 83-year-old Congress president roared.

His last salvo was aimed at rivals in the Congress Working Committee (CWC). “I am warning CWC members not to divulge what happens in CWC meetings. Main nahin chodunga aise logon ko (I will not let them go unpunished),” he raged, referring to leakage of details of the political resolution.