Congress poll debacle in Delhi an "unmitigated disaster like coronavirus":Jairam Ramesh

Likening the Congress' poll debacle in Delhi to an "unmitigated disaster like coronavirus", senior party leader Jairam Ramesh has said it must "ruthlessly" reinvent itself or face the prospect of becoming irrelevant.

The note of caution for the Congress by Ramesh, a former union minister known for his outspoken views, came close on the heels of a call by fellow party leader M Veerappa Moily for a "surgical" action to revive the party.

"Congress leaders have to reinvent themselves. Congress party has to reinvent itself if it has to be relevant," Ramesh, 65, told PTI in an interview here on Wednesday.

"Otherwise, we are staring at irrelevance. Our arrogance has to go, even after six years out of power sometimes, some of us behave as if we are still ministers."
The PFI or Jamaat-e-Islami type of communalism was as dangerous to India as "RSS type of communalism," he said, while echoing the views of senior party leader and former Defence Minister A K Antony who earlier said "we cannot be seen to be insensitive to the sentiments of the majority community."
Speaking on minority communalism, he said: "We(Congress) have to be very clear. We should not be pandering to any religious sentiment of anybody and that is real secularism."
"Real secularism is fighting communalism of all types with aggression."
"Unfortunately in the public, the propaganda is that the Congress is soft on minority communalism. It is a reality. We have to address this issue. We cannot live in a make-believe world. We should wake up."
Reiterating that the Congress has to fight "RSS-type of communalism, BJP-type of communalism as also PFI and Jamaat-e-Islami-type of communalism," Ramesh said, "we cannot be selective, we have to be upfront, bold and say minority communalism is as dangerous to India as (much as) majority communalism is."
"This is what Jawaharlal Nehru did. He took an uncompromising stand against all forms of communalism."