Women empowerment to be one of the main agenda during Congress’ Jaipur session

Congress President and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi always stressed for the need of ensuring adequate empowerment for women. And, this is going to be one of the important topics to be taken up in the Jaipur Chinta Shivir of the party.

The summit is likely to discuss revive efforts to pass a law that reserves seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies. The legislation was passed by the Rajya Sabha in March 2010, but is yet to be passed by the Lok Sabha. The Congress knows that the focus on women issues, the Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) scheme, and the Food Security Bill could revive the morale of party workers and also the party’s electoral fortunes. Congress may alsol adopt a slogan to indicate this approach: “Pehle hoga naari samman, baad mein hoga Bharat nirman (Respect for women first, nation building will follow)”.

The slogan of the Congress party in 2004—“Congress ka haath, aam aadmi ke saath.” (The hand of the Congress is with the common man; the hand happens to be the party’s symbol)  was very catchy. The slogan was used to hard-sell inclusiveness, the platform for its surprise return to power in 2004 and more recently with “Aapka paisa, aapke haath (Your money in your hand)” to propagate the direct cash transfer scheme.

Reportedly, the discussion in Jaipur will have a special session on empowering women, apart from the usual themes of political challenges, socio-economic policies, international affairs and organizational matters.

The policies benefiting the aam aadmi has given Congress an upper hand. The schemes like Mahatma Gandhi NREGA, and the loan waiver scheme for the farmers helped the party to retain power in 2009.

Sonia Gandhi has been pushing for the Women Reservation Bill to be passed. The Congress-led UPA’s policy of DBT to transfer subsidies and other benefits under government-run welfare schemes directly to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries is a good step forward. The scheme, which has been initiated in 20 districts, will be extended to 18 states from April and in other parts of the country by 2014.

Women alone may not be the focus of the Congress. Because of the efforts of Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi, the Jaipur session will witness for the first time a large number of younger members participating in discussions and putting forward suggestions for improving the organization and the party’s electoral prospects. In recognition of the youth demographic and their increasing interest in policy making, as evidenced by the recent public protests over corruption and women’s safety, the three-day meet will end with a one-day session that will have 118 participants from the Youth Congress and the party’s student wing.

The Chintan Shivir will be attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, members of the council of ministers, Congress working committee members, Congress legislative party chiefs and state unit presidents among the 345 invitees.

Congress leaders are also hoping the government will be able to pass the legislation on food security before the 2014 election. The Food Security Bill, which promises to provide subsidized food to the poor, and a pet project of Sonia Gandhi, is also likely to be discussed. The Congress president Sonia Gandhi was very upset that it is still pending. 

Sonia Gandhi never believes in false claims and promises

Congress President and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi had recently addressed various campaign rallies in Gujarat. In all her addresses, her main focus was development and welfare. She never indulged in any personal attacks.

Sonia Gandhi had said “I am happy to see such greenery here. Indira Gandhi had also come here and met you people. This land has given great leaders like Jhinabhai Darji and Jugatram Dave, who devoted their lives working for tribals. This land also had given Gujarat its first tribal chief minister Amarsinh Chaudhary.

Sonia Gandhi also had dismissed the Modi government’s development claims and said they were hollow and false.  “This is a land of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel who used to preach what they practised. Now there are people who give big advice but not follow them,” she said taking on Modi without naming him.

Sonia Gandhi once again raised the issue of suicides by farmers, unavailability of Narmada water, pending electricity connections, unaffordable housing, health and education. “Now they talk of filling all dams in Saurashtra with Narmada water. What did they do in the past 10 years. Manmohan Singh-led government has done everything to make sure project got implemented, but the present state government failed to bring Narmada waters to Saurashtra, which is shameful,” said Sonia Gandhi.

Sonia Gandhi terms BJP Government in Uttarakhand as corrupt

Congress President and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Government in Uttarakhand for not utilising the funds sent by central government, during her campaign in poll bound Uttarakhand's Roorkee city. The state goes to polls on January 30.

"The state government has betrayed people of Uttarakhand for the past couple of years," Sonia Gandhi said. Sonia Gandhi alleged that the Uttarakhand BJP government did not properly utilized the welfare funds sent by the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre.

Sonia Gandhi urged the people of Uttarakhand to play a part in the development of the state by supporting and electing a Congress Government.

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BJP never fulfilled its promises, says Sonia Gandhi in Uttarakhand

Congress President Sonia Gandhi while attending a public rally as part of her Congress campaign in
Uttarakhand for the forthcoming assembly polls said that thought the BJP Government had promised electricity in all the villages in Uttarakhand, it did never fulfill the promise.

"BJP had promised electricity in all the villages. Did it really happen? It certainly did not happen. Further it created a wedge between the hilly areas and the plains. Only 13 per cent of the total electricity is being made available to the hilly districts," said Sonia Gandhi.

"Does the BJP government believe that people living in the hilly areas can manage only with the sun and the moon?" Sonia Gandhi asked sarcastically.

Sonia Gandhi also accused the state government of stalling the industrialisation process. "New industrial units were not set up. And those which were already set up are being destroyed," she said.

 

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Sonia Gandhi in Punjab asks people to throw out the opportunist BJP-SAD Govt.

UPA chairperson and All India Congress Committee (AICC) President Sonia Gandhi while addressing her first election rally in the poll bound Punjab lashed out at the present SAD-BJP government for pushing Punjab backward during its five years tenure. The Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday exhorted the people to oust ‘opportunist’ and ‘inefficient’ alliance from the power.

Sonia Gandhi alleged that though Punjab was allocated Rs 5000 crores under Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS), but the state government had utilized Rs 526 crores only. “It’s a shameful act,” She said.

 “It was unfortunate that centrally sponsored welfare schemes were not implemented by the state government, thus, depriving the poor people of benefits” she added. Blaming the state government for failing to implement labourers’ welfare schemes, Sonia Gandhi sought explanation from the Badal government on how poverty and below poverty line beneficiaries increased manifold during past five years.

 Sonia Gandhi also questioned the claims of development of the SAD-BJP government and asked, if it were so how come that seven lakh more families in Punjab became poor during these five years. “Is this the development you are talking about?” she asked, while adding this government had destroyed and devastated Punjab and it will take long time to retrieve it.

 Taking a dig on SAD-BJP government for taking credit for Atta-Dal scheme, Sonia Gandhi said that it was 100% financed by the centre. “The school education system is in shambles while government hospitals are suffering from illness since the combine had neither any intent nor any resources to improve these institutions which are meant for poor people,” She quipped.

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