CWC Prepares Special Resolution on Sardar Patel

New Delhi, Ahmedabad: The extended Congress Working Committee (CWC) met in Ahmedabad on Tuesday ahead of the AICC session on Wednesday. The party passed a resolution on Sardar Patel, which said the BJP-led Centre was diluting his legacy. It will be ratified at the AICC session. Another resolution was on the situation prevailing in the country.

Speaking to the media, party communications chief Jairam Ramesh said, “Today, a special resolution regarding Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was discussed and passed. Apart from this, the two other resolutions that will be discussed are — first on national issues and the political situation in Gujarat, a discussion will take place on that resolution. Tomorrow (Wednesday), it will be discussed in detail at the AICC. Tomorrow’s resolution will cover the Congress’ agenda on social justice, political justice and economic justice; it will be discussed in detail tomorrow… and people will share their opinions on it.”

The resolution touched different aspects of Sardar Patel’s life and ideology and showed how the BJP was undermining his legacy, whether muzzling the voice of farmers or creating a divide on regional, lingual and communal lines.

The resolution said: “Sardar Patel launched the ‘Bardoli Satyagraha’ in the year 1928 against the cruel and illegitimate levy on farmers by the British. His energetic and charismatic leadership during the ‘Bardoli Andolan’ gave him a new recognition of ‘Sardar’.”

Addressing the CWC, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge asserted that Sardar Patel’s ideology was contrary to the RSS’ ideas and said it was laughable that today that organisation which “has no contribution” in the freedom struggle claims his legacy. He also said today attention is being diverted from the basic issues of the country by indulging in communal divisions.

“They have nothing to show as their contribution in the freedom struggle”, he said, attacking the BJP-RSS. “They conspired to show that the relationship between Sardar Patel and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was such that the two heroes were against each other. While the truth is that they were two sides of the same coin. Many incidents and documents are witness to their cordial relationship,” he asserted. Kharge said the real strength of the Congress lay in its ideology of belief in the unity and integrity of the country and social justice. He said it was important at the same time to strengthen the organisation.

Taking a dig at the BJP’s attempt to hijack Patel’s legacy, he said he (Patel) was completely against the ideology of the RSS and had also banned it. He said both Mahatma Gandhi and Patel had a huge contribution in nominating Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar as the chairman of the drafting committee of the Constitution of India.

He noted that when the Constitution was drafted, the RSS had opposed it and its supporters burnt the effigies of all those leaders who were involved with the drafting of the Constitution as they (RSS supporters) were agitated that the Constitution did not take inspiration from the Manu Smriti.

The CWC also discussed the role of the district congress chiefs in the party hierarchy. AICC general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal said a road map was almost ready for the wide-scale rejig in the organisation.

The extended CWC meeting was attended by its members, permanent and special invitees, PCC presidents, Congress parliamentary party leaders, council leaders, central election committee members, office-bearers of the CPP, former chief ministers and deputy chief ministers. AICC General Secretary and Lok Sabha MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was missing from the CWC’s deliberations. When asked, Venugopal said that she was abroad on some engagement with the permission of the Congress president.