Wary of Prime Minister Narendra Modi hijacking Nehruvian agenda on Nehru’s 125th birth anniversary, Congress has decided to prepone the celebration by a day at Talkatora Stadium. The Congress had earlier decided to celebrate the 125th birth anniversary of the first Prime Minister at Talkatora Stadium on November 14. Faced with criticism, Congress now says that Sonia Gandhi is too tied up on November 14 hence, she cannot attend the Talkatora function being organised to mark the birth centenary of Pt Jawaharlal Nehru while some Congress leaders say that buses are not available to ferry people to the venue.
Congress is trying hard to convey a message that the BJP has no legacy of its own that is why it is trying to take support of the historical Congress leaders. Congress will also use the function to kickstart its poll campaign for Delhi elections. Interestingly, the party has put out the eulogising remarks about Nehru made by BJP’s first Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on the website especially launched for the event on Tuesday.
When asked about the reasons of re-schedule of mega celebration, Delhi Congress president Arvinder Singh lovely said that the Congress has decided to reschedule the date of mega celebration by a day at Talkatora Stadium as party president too tied up on November 14. “That was the reason; the party has decided to reschedule the celebration. The Congress president Sonia Gandhi will address the gathering at Talkatora Stadium,” said lovely, adding there would be too many programmes on November 14. The party has accused Modi of trying to appropriate leaders of the freedom movement like Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Nehru by launching special schemes and deflecting attention from their legacy. lovely said that the preparation for the celebration has been started during UPA regime.
Delhi Congress leaders also propagating that the saffron party has booked all buses in the national Capital to make success of Modi’s Bal Swachchh Abhiyan on November 14. Insiders say that party is worried a lot as they feel that Modi’s strategy is hijack the legacy of Pt Nehru. This apprehension has forced the Congress leadership to prepone the celebration by a day at Talkatora Stadium.
The party has now given the responsibility of getting maximum students and youngsters to the youth Congress. The party will be booking hundreds of buses to ensure that the stands are full to the capacity as vice-president Rahul Gandhi may participate. The State leadership is trying to put up an impressive show by bringing people to the stadium as that would be a show of strength before the Delhi elections are formally announced. The party is also going to put up huge hoardings of the 125th anniversary celebration of Nehru throughout the city. The hoarding will be mentioning the historical works done by the first Prime Minister of India and the Congress in various fields like education, international relations, economic growth, defence and many others.