Kesri begs Sonia to lead Cong

Kesri’s address was part of an action-packed hour which electrified the gathering at Netaji Indoor Stadium here. The arrival of the VIP’ primary member, Sonia, at 10.20 am brought the gathering on its feet halting the tepid proceedings and Kesri, who was about to begin his address, was forced to give in and allow Sonia to take her seat. Every gesture of Sonia was met with roaring approval from the delegates who came in almost full strength for the first time after the current plenary session began. In the tumult, the Congress president took the backseat.

Sensing that Sonia was the star of the day, Kesri, who had for weeks prepared the speech for his big moment, shrewdly peppered his address with references to Sonia. He elevated himself to an institution saying it was this institution which was requesting Sonia to get active.

“This is not Sitaram Kesri the individual. This is Kesri an institution, who was elected by the biggest majority in Congress history and this institution requests Sonia to lead the party. I am old and don’t have time on my side. I don’t know how long I will live. If the Congress breaks up, the country will break up. That will not be my responsibility, it will be yours,” Kesri told Sonia.

Clearly, Kesri was using Sonia Gandhi’s presence to give himself the kind of acceptability which his predecessor P V Narasimha Rao didn’t have. Kesri definitely feels that Sonia will be a significant edge in his bitter battles with rivals in the Congress.

He asked the delegates to pledge to give a new meaning and thrust to the Congress under Sonia Gandhi’s direction. “Let us go to Delhi in power,” Kesri added. The Congress president made several references to the sacrifices made by the Nehru family and said it was time for Sonia to tread the same path.

“Soniaji, you have taken sanyas for five years. That is enough, your sanyas will be incomplete if you don’t take up the task of strengthening the Congress. This old man cannot provide leadership on his own, he needs guidance,” Kesri said. In the same vein, he offered Sonia a seat in the Congress Working Committee (CWC).

In response, Sonia waited for the crowd roar to swell and then rose to speak. She began in Hindi saying she was happy to be here on this historic occasion and quickly shifted to her late husband Rajiv Gandhi’s speech in the Congress centenary session in 1985.

Quoting extensively from Rajiv’s speech, a copy of which Sonia read from, she repeated the portions she chose for the occasion. “What has become of our great organisation. Instead of being a party fired by imagination, we are losing touch with the toiling masses across the length and breadth of the country,” Sonia quoted Rajiv as having said.

“Winning or losing elections is part of any party’s existence. What does matter is whether we are in touch with the people. In this we have weakened ourselves and distanced the organisation from the masses. Instead of real issues, phoney issues are occupying centre-stage. Our ideology of secularism, democracy and socialism is the only relevant ideology and we must take our ideas to the masses,” she added.

“Mahatma Gandhi visualised Congress as a fighting organisation. We have to fight for the poor and the oppressed, We must once again generate a mass movement. Today, on this auspicious occasion, let us all Congressmen and women rededicate ourselves to this task. Jai Hind, Jai Bharat,” Sonia Gandhi ended. She repeated the words uttered by Rajiv Gandhi’s 12 years ago in English.