Congress to launch campaign to corner Govt on price rise, paper leaks

The Congress on Thursday announced that it will launch a nationwide campaign to corner the government on rising prices, unemployment, examination paper leaks and “electoral manipulation”.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the party general secretaries, state in-charges and Pradesh Congress Committee presidents held at the party headquarters under the chairmanship of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.

Besides Kharge, former party chief Rahul Gandhi, Congress general secretaries Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, K C Venugopal and Jairam Ramesh, Bhupesh Baghel, in-charges, PCC chiefs, among others, participated in the meeting.

Speaking to reporters, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said the nationwide campaign will be launched by the end of June.

“We have learned that a trade deal agreement will be reached on June 22. Farmers in Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, and Himachal Pradesh will be significantly affected. So, the first issue concerns farmers. The second issue is related to NEET and CBSE,” he said.

A law against paper leaks was enacted two years ago, but it has had no impact, Ramesh said.

He said Gandhi made the point during the meeting that all these irregularities stem from centralisation.

“The third issue is related to democracy. There is a ‘double engine’ at work to dismantle democracy -- one engine is vote chori, and the other is seat chori,” Ramesh said, adding that this “double engine” is endangering democracy and the Constitution.

Democracy is at risk because constitutional provisions are under threat, he alleged.

After the meeting, Kharge said the country was faced with serious challenges such as inflation, unemployment, exam scams and social inequality.

“Paper leaks in NEET and various recruitment exams, along with controversies related to the education system, have shaken the trust of millions of youth and their families,” he said, adding that Gandhi has personally met with affected students and the youth and firmly presented their voice before the nation.

“Unfortunately, we see that those institutions and systems, which took decades to build, are now being deliberately weakened,” he said.

“Therefore, our responsibility is not only towards political struggle but also towards protecting India’s Constitution, democracy and social justice,” Kharge said.

Later, briefing reporters, Congress general secretary organisation K C Venugopal and Ramesh said the campaign against the “failures” of the Modi government will begin soon and continue for the next two-three months.

The nationwide campaign, Venugopal said, was aimed at holding Prime Minister Narendra Modi accountable and making him answerable to the people of this country.

On the rejection of Congress candidate Meenakshi Natarajan’s nomination for the Rajya Sabha polls in Madhya Pradesh, Venugopal said the party will fight it both politically and legally.

He noted that what happened in Madhya Pradesh, in contrast to Jharkhand, is a cause of “great worry for democracy”.

Venugopal said there was no criminal case, FIR, or chargesheet against Natarajan and still her nomination was rejected.

On the other hand, he said, the nomination of a BJP-sponsored corporate candidate, who did not even mention his name properly in the column, was accepted by the returning officer in Jharkhand.

“This shows the pathetic condition of democracy,” Venugopal said, adding, “This is seat chori after vote chori.”

Ramesh alleged that ministers of the Madhya Pradesh government had influenced the process that led to the rejection of Natarajan’s nomination.

He claimed that state ministers were present in the returning officer’s room while the order was being drafted and that the decision appeared to be that of the state government rather than an independent election authority.

In a post on X, Venugopal said, “At today’s meeting led by INC President Sh. Mallikarjun @kharge ji and LOP Sh. @RahulGandhi ji, we discussed the all-round suffering being faced by the people of India and our plan to stand with them in this difficult situation.”

“We unequivocally condemned the BJP’s latest Seat Chori attempt in MP -- where our candidate’s nomination was rejected on totally false accounts. All this, while a BJP-sponsored corporate candidate who couldn’t even fill his name properly was allowed to file his nomination smoothly. We will continue our fight to save democracy - both legally and politically,” he said.

Recurring paper leaks, unemployment and job insecurities are destroying the hopes of the country’s Gen Z and the youth, he said.

“Families are facing severe strain as the economy goes into a tailspin, destroying household budgets. SC, ST and OBC communities are at the receiving end of atrocities and orchestrated marginalisation,” Venugopal said.

To take the message of the Modi regime’s misrule to the people, the Congress will launch the nationwide campaign, he said.