Sonia Gandhi at AICC session: Tackling corruption, safety of women should be the priorities

“I will continue to press for women reservation Bill; Delhi Gang-rape victim’s death will not go in vain”

Congress President Sonia Gandhi today addressed a meeting of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) in Jaipur on the last day of the Chintan Shivir that began on Friday. “I am delighted by the active participation of our young leaders at the Shivir. The Chintan Shivir allowed us to introspect on key national and international issues” said the Congress President.

Referring her concern over corruption which according to her is deep rooted in the entire system, Sonia Gandhi said “Let me reiterate corruption at all levels is a deep rooted malice and all sections of society are affected by it. As a party we must lead struggle to combat its effect. At the last AICC session, corruption was major issue. I laid out a five-point action plan then and the government has worked on it.”  “We have introduced the Lokpal bill in Parliament. We have introduced new path-breaking legislation for addressing public grievances and to protect whistleblowers” added the Congress President.

Touching upon the game changing policy of Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) Sonia Gandhi said “We also launched the historic 'Aap Ka Paisa Aap Ke Haath' scheme, which will stop corruption by middlemen”.

Sonia Gandhi also talked about the recent gang rape incident in Delhi that invited wide protests across the country. “The barbaric gang-rape of a young woman in Delhi has shaken the country. She embodied the spirit of an aspirational India. We will ensure her death will not go in vain” said the Congress President.

“Gender issues were discussed at the Chintan Shivir. The Congress has been at the forefront in the struggle to empower women, and it will continue to do so. Every woman has the fundamental right to feel safe and secure. Public figures made unacceptable remarks against women. We cannot tolerate mindsets that lead to crimes against women and children” she underlined.

Sonia Gandhi then declared “I assure you I will continue to press for a law for 30 per cent reservation for women in Parliament and assemblies”.

Exhorting the leaders to go to the people and explain the Congress’s achievements, the party leader continued “Today is also the time for the party to introspect and see how we are better than our opponents. We need to clearly explain to the people why we are a better political choice. We have the support of all sections of the society. The Congress is especially concerned about the welfare of the backward sections, women and farmers”.

She also sent out a warning; “We will fight forces that threaten the unity and integrity of the country”.

Listing out UCongress-led UPA Govt’s achievements, the chairperson of the claition said “Congress has worked to free the country from poverty. Our UPA government has worked very effectively under the leadership of Manmohan Singh”.

While defending the Centre’s economic reform measures, she added “Global recession is having an effect on India and has forced the government to take some hard decisions, which have hit the people” and told the Congress leaders, “We should explain to the people the reasons for these hard economic decisions”.

Admitting that the people have losing faith in politicians, Sonia Gandhi reminded “People are losing faith in politicians. We have to understand why this is happening”.

The Congress president also spoke about the need for electoral reforms and said that the Election Commission (EC) must introduce the necessary changes. Sonia Gandhi also asked the party members to work with unity and discipline saying that their victory was in the victory of the party.

“There are only 15 months left to the Lok Sabha elections. If we work well, there is no doubt we will be re-elected again. This is the time to work hard. As the country's main political party, the people's expectations from us is higher. We cannot let down the people who have put their faith in us” she said while concluding her address.

Rahul Gandhi at Jaipur AICC session: Congress is with DNA of entire Indians Part 03

Congress vice-President Rahul Gandhi while delivering his first speech at Congress' chintan shivir at the Jaipur on the concluding day said that the people of this country are his life and he will fight for them. "The people of India are my life and I will fight for the people of India and for this party. I will fight with everything I have. I invite all of you to stand up and take on this fight" said Rahul Gandhi amidst loud applauds. Power is grossly centralized in our country. We only empower the people at the top of our system. We don't believe in empowering the people all the down all the way in the bottom. Every single day I meet people with tremendous understanding. Almost everywhere they are kept out of system.. No one can hear their voice.. No matter how much they try to speak.. no one listens.. I also meet people holding high positions.. they have tremendous voice but no understanding of the issues at hand.. Why this happens? It happens because we don't respect knowledge.. We respect positions.. It doesn't matter how much wisdom you have, if you do not have a position you mean nothing. This is the tragedy of India.. Why the youth are out on the streets? They are angry because they are alienated. They are excluded from the political class.. They watch from the sidelines.. Why are our women suffering? Because their voices have not been trampled upon the people with arbitrary powers on their lives. Why our poor are confined to poverty? Because decisions regarding their lives and the services they need are being taken by people far away answerable to them only in theory.. Unless we respect and empower people for their knowledge and understanding we cannot change anything in this country.. All our public system, administration, justice, education and political system are designed to keep people with knowledge out. They are all closed system. Their design creates mediocrity and mediocrity dominates. Mediocrity dominates discussions and the voices are crushed by the loudness of the people who posses neither the understanding nor compassion. Success in these systems does not come through building. It comes by excluding. It comes not by pushing people forward but by holding people back. Everyday initiative is killed to maintain the status quo. We do not praise our colleagues or look at their strengths. We only look at the ways to neutralize them. Every day we face with the hypocrisy of this system. We see it every day but we pretend that it is not there. People who are corrupt stand up and talk about eradicating corruption. People who disregard women in their entire life talk about women's rights. Until we start to respect and empower the people for their knowledge, for their understanding, we are never going to change this country.

Rahul Gandhi's address at AICC session jaipur 20th January 2013

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Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi while delivering his first speech at Congress’ chintan shivir at the Jaipur on the concluding day said that the people of this country are his life and he will fight for them. “The people of India are my life and I will fight for the people of India and for this party. I will fight with everything I have. I invite all of you to stand up and take on this fight” said Rahul Gandhi amidst loud applauds. This is a huge honour for me. Over the past 8 years and in the past 8 years the party has taught a lot to me. The party has reposed tremendous faith in me and I want to thank all of you from bottom of my heart for all the help and directions they have given me. There are people from south India who want me to speak in English. There are people of north India who want me to speak in Hindi. As a tradition I will first speak in English and then in Hindi. In 1947 India was liberated, not by arms, but by unleashing the voice of our people. Other countries fought violently; they fought with weapons; they fought with death; India fought with non-violence and with voice. Everybody told us that it can not be done. They told us if we want to get rid of British you have to use violence. But the Congress party said no and also said that we are not going to use violence. We will use non-violence and we defeated the biggest empire of that time and sent them home.

Rahul Gandhi at Jaipur AICC session: Congress is with DNA of entire Indians Part 02

Congress vice- President Rahul Gandhi while delivering his first speech at Congress' chintan shivir at the Jaipur on the concluding day said that the people of this country are his life and he will fight for them. "The people of India are my life and I will fight for the people of India and for this party. I will fight with everything I have. I invite all of you to stand up and take on this fight" said Rahul Gandhi amidst loud applauds.This was the energy behind our freedom movement. Voices.. millions and millions of voices.. Gandhiji's successors led by Jawar Lal Nehru freed voices of every Indian by ensuring the democracy and became the bedrock of our constitution. Relentlessly championing the voice of every Indian will always be the essence of the Congress party. Every single Indian, without seeing his caste or religion, will be supported by the Congress party... no matter who he is.. no matter where he is.. If he is an Indian we work for him. Let us look at the 60 years of India's successes. They have all come when we gave our people voice. The green revolution restored the voice of the farmers.. Bank nationalization restored the voice of the poor.. IT and telecom revolution literally gave the people voice for million and millions of people. If you have got the mobile phones in your phones in your pockets that was the result of that revolution. It is an honour that Manmohan Singh Ji is sitting here. Because he spearheaded another revolution.. In 1991 he unleashed the voice of thousands in the field of entrepreneurship and changed the country for ever.. The UPA Government has followed Gandhi Ji's model. It has created platforms for those denied their voice in the political system. For the first time in our history our people have been guaranteed their basic rights; social and economic rights.. The food Bill will ensure that no mother sees her child goes hungry at night.. RTI gives every single Indian the right to personally take on the battle against corruption.. MNREGA has given millions of Indians pride in their work; The right to education enables every child to aspire to greatness. All of these radical innovations were possible only because of the growth provided by the Congress party and the UPA..

Rahul Gandhi at Jaipur AICC session: Congress is with DNA of entire Indians Part 01

Congress vice-President Rahul Gandhi while delivering his first speech at Congress' chintan shivir at the Jaipur on the concluding day said that the people of this country are his life and he will fight for them. "The people of India are my life and I will fight for the people of India and for this party. I will fight with everything I have. I invite all of you to stand up and take on this fight" said Rahul Gandhi amidst loud applauds. This is a huge honour for me. Over the past 8 years and in the past 8 years the party has taught a lot to me. The party has reposed tremendous faith in me and I want to thank all of you from bottom of my heart for all the help and directions they have given me. There are people from south India who want me to speak in English. There are people of north India who want me to speak in Hindi. As a tradition I will first speak in English and then in Hindi. In 1947 India was liberated, not by arms, but by unleashing the voice of our people. Other countries fought violently; they fought with weapons; they fought with death; India fought with non-violence and with voice. Everybody told us that it can not be done. They told us if we want to get rid of British you have to use violence. But the Congress party said no and also said that we are not going to use violence. We will use non-violence and we defeated the biggest empire of that time and sent them home.

Rahul Gandhi: Congress not just a party but a big family with ‘Hindustani’ DNA

 Newly-appointed Vice-President of the Congress Party, Rahul Gandhi, in his first inaugural address at the Chintan Shivir  (brainstorming session) after donning the Number -2 position in the organization, urged the entire rank and file of his party to prepare for a change, to enable the country to grow from strength to strength, at all levels of governance.

“I am optimistic and we have already put the building-blocks in place. We need to transform the system of governance for a better India, where all people get empowered with their voices heard and their say being accounted for,”stated Rahul Gandhi. He said that power should not be used for the attributes of power but for empowering the people.

Dedicating his life to the Congress Party and the nation, he said that Congress is not just a political out-fit but is a big family – biggest in the globe- and its DNA is Hindustani (Indian).

In a very straight-forward deliberation, the new Vice-President of Congress Rahul Gandhi, forwarded that the party needs some set of rules of internal governance and this could be possible only by way of changing the old system.

“We need to develop leadership at all levels. We must have 40 to 50 such leaders who can be fit enough to run the country. Likewise, in every state there should be at least 10 to 20 leaders who can take the responsibility to run the concerned state,” Rahul Gandhi said. The same should be the case at district and local levels, he added. 

About ticket distribution system for contesting elections, he said that decision from top is taken but it should not be like that. Party workers should be respected and be given due space in this regard, he categorically said. About leaders, he said those who perform should be honoured  and those who don’t should be ousted, he remarked. He also warned that actions must be taken against the rebels in the party.

At the outset, he thanked all party workers of the Congress for their toil, in strengthening the organization. “It is a honour for me that I have been given a responsibility,” he very humbly forwarded. He also thanked all for the learnings he got in the past eight years that he has been in active politics.

“In 1947, India got liberated. We fought with British Empire with non-violence and we defeated them and sent them back home. Mahatma Gandhi’s successor Pt Nehru, Maluana Azad and many other visionaries gave voice to millions of Indians. During last six decades of Independence, India has seen Green Revolution, Banks’ Nationalisation, IT Revolution and all these have empowered the people of our country in many ways,” said Rahul Gandhi.

Congress-led UPA  to  have followed the great ideals of our nation-builders like Mahatma Gandhi., he said. He talked about RTI, MNREGA, Right to Education and Food Security Bill and said as how these have been aiming to empower the ‘Aam Aadmi’ of this country.

Rahul Gandhi addresses AICC session

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Rahul Gandhi tells partymen at Chintan shivir: I will treat all of you equally. We should transform the system by working as a unit. We should listen to people's voices. Congress is the biggest family of the world. We need to generate more jobs, best training centres should be formed.