Rahul Gandhi, who was today appointed as the Congress’ vice-president, vowed “to change the scheme of things in India”.
“I have acquired great experience over the past eight years while working for the party organisation. I have seen that the Congress is a great organisation and, together, we will transform the country,” an assertive Rahul said in his acceptance speech to 1,200 delegates at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) session here, after becoming the official number 2 in the party.
Rahul had the entire senior Congress leadership, its cabinet ministers and chief ministers squirming as he lashed at “people in high places who have no understanding (of issues) and no compassion” and vowed to “entirely transform the system.”
Conscious of the country’s demographic profile, with more than three-fourths of the population under the age of 35, he voiced the angst of the “young and impatient India” which demanded to be included in the political process and demanded doing away with corruption. “Youth feel alienated from the political class,” he warned and reminded the party that all systems were designed to keep out the aam admi.
“We recognise position and not knowledge,” he said, lambasting the “hypocrisy of our governance and administration” and promised to be the medium for highlighting the voices of the aam admi.
Rahul, while highlighting the achievements of the UPA government through initiatives, like the Direct Cash Transfer scheme, the Aadhaar card and the information technology revolution (leading to the social media revolution) that had connected India like never before, also called for enhancing job opportunities, decentralising power to panchayati raj institutions and removing red tape that shackled the youth.
Rahul, who will now head the party’s Election Coordination Committee for 2014, called for unity and discipline among party workers. At the same time, he urged strict action against rebels while giving the grass roots party worker his/her due during ticket distribution.
Pointing the way forward for the party, Gandhi said its objective would be to groom new young leadership from the block level, an experiment he had already implemented in the Youth Congress with much success.
On a personal note, an emotional Rahul described how his mother, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, came to his room last night and broke down “because she understands that the power so many people seek is actually a poison.”
“For me now, the Congress party is my life and India is my life,” he added.
Rahul also revealed how shattered he was at the assassination of his grandmother, Indira Gandhi, in 1984 and the betrayal by her bodyguards.
The 42-year-old, who was optimistic about the country’s future under the Congress, got vociferous support through the day from the youth brigade of the party.
“It is the Congress party’s ‘Obama moment’,” a senior cabinet minister said hours before Gandhi’s annointment. Just as a young Barack Obama’s entry in 2008 had energised America’s Democrats, the infusion of Rahul Gandhi as the party’s vice-president and the “youth face” of the party had mobilised the organisation’s rank and file, he said.
He added after two terms in power, ennui had set in and the Congress-led UPA, in the run up to 2014, desperately needed to be revitalised. “Rahul Gandhi was the antidote they needed,” he said.
