As part of its new outreach programme, the Congress is working towards tapping on the migrant workforce, particularly in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh, to revive its fortunes in the Hindi heartland.
AICC sources said the top leadership of the party last week conducted a video conference meeting of the State unit leaders to work in this direction and engage the party workers and volunteers to extend all possible help to the migrants and labourers and turn the economic miseries faced by the poor amidst the two-month lockdown as an opportunity for the grand old party to restore faith and confidence in them. As per the Home Ministry records, there are a total of about four crore migrant workers across the country.
The meeting chaired by AICC General Secretary KC Venugopal with PCC chiefs of about 18 States that has large number migrant workers resolved for an towards an action-plan to extend assistance to the migrants who were on move on roads to reach their destination. Venugopal alongwith Rajeev Sarav, in-charge for coordinating Covid-19 lockdown relief works and Praveen Chakravarti, AICC technology and data cell chairman and Rohan Gupta, AICC social media cell chairman have been tasked by the leaders to devising a strategy to tap on the migrants class.
In this effort, the party has also launched a Congress helpline services and chatbot named 'Congress Mitr' in each States where migrant workers are being encouraged to reach out to the party for any kind of assistance.
To accomodate within their database, the grand old party is seeking all details like name and contact details of the migrants, their place of domicile, members in family etc .
In UP this was launched as UP Mitra by party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi.
The party is also making full use of social media which it claims now that the Gandhi scion is now in the list of top 10 Indian leaders with more than 14 million followers on Twitter and this was increased between the period of last general elections till date.
A dedicated workforce of Rahul Priyanka Gandhi Sena (RPGS) has been active during the lockdown period and reaching out to people like migrants, poor, jobless and meeting their requirements.
"In coordination with the Delhi Congress unit, our volunteers have been extending all possible help to the affected people during the lockdown period. While we gave the migrants tickets, transport and medical facility, our workers also shared cash amounts to the needy who may need it during the travel period. All this is on humanitarian ground and nothing political should be read in it. Am proud the Congress is working on its legacy of welfare to all sections of society," said Arjun Puri, Spokesman, Rahul Priyanka Gandhi Sena.
AICC sources said while all other Congress frontline wings like, Sewa Dal, Mahila Congress etc got defunct over the period due to decimating party cadre, offlate the new wing of dedicated and smart young workers in RPGS have taken the responsibility of boosting the fortune of the party.
In few months of its formation with an aim to resurrect the party cadre at grass root level, Puri claimed that over one crore members have registered and the figures of volunteers joining is increasing day by day.
"During the lockdown period the organisation saw a huge jump in membership," claimed Puri. He thanked that the new outfit has been getting all support from party's other frontline organisation like NSUI and Indian Youth Congress.