Friends, as we have distanced ourselves from
the masses, the basic issues of national unity and integrity, social change and
economic development recede into the background. Our workers, who faced the
bullets of British imperialism, run for shelter at the slightest manifestation
of caste and communal tension. Is this the path that Mahatma Gandhi
showed to a secular, democratic India? We talk of the high principles and lofty
ideals needed to build a strong and prosperous India. But we obey no
discipline, no rule, follow no principle of public morality, display no sense
of social awareness, show no concern for the public weal. Corruption is not
only tolerated but even regarded as the hallmark of leadership. Flagrant contradiction
between what we say120 and what we do
has become our way of life. At every step, our aims and actions
conflict. At every stage, 140
our private self crushes our social commitment. As action has diverged from
precept, the ideology of the Congress has acquired160
the status of an heirloom, to be polished and brought out on special
occasions. It must be a living force to animate the Congress workers in
their day-to-day activity. Our ideology of nationalism, secularism,
democracy and socialism is the only relevant ideology for our great country. But
We are forgetting that we must take it to the masses, interpret its content
in changing circumstances and defend it against the attacks of our opponents.
The revitalization of our organization240 is a historical necessity. At this critical
juncture, there is no other political party capable of defending the unity
and integrity of the country. There is no other party capable of
taking the country forward to progress and prosperity. All280 other parties are shot through and
through with internal contradictions. The sorry, unpleasant
spectacle of their total incapacity, corruption, nepotism, and hypocrisy
has disfigured our political landscape. They have shown a cynical
disregard for sensitive issues of national security. Some have320 not hesitated even to collude with anti-national
elements. Their ideological roots are shallow, their political outlook
circumscribed by region, caste and religion. Wherever they have come to
power, they have retarded social and economic progress. They have no
sense of360 history. Those who
campaign for a weak Centre, campaign against the unity and integrity of
India. Their slogans are spurious because true welfare comes from
growth, which they have been busy destroying. It is the
responsibility of the Congress to ensure that India is not left to the
mercy of such forces. We must once more generate a mass movement420 based on Congress ideology to fulfil this momentous
task. Only with such a movement can we cleanse the party and the
nation. The inner strength of our people, their unbounded
patriotism, their unshakable commitment to social justice and their
aspiration for a strong and prosperous India will destroy the ugliness and
enrich the creative ground of India’s greatness. How will480 this mass movement of epic proportions
arise?
The country needs a politics of service to the
poor. The country needs a politics based on ideology and programmes. To bring
this about, we must break the nexus between political parties and vested
interests. We will change the electoral laws to ensure cleaner elections. We
will make political parties accountable for the funds they receive. We will
wage an ideological war against those who exploit the poor in the name of caste
and religion. The Congress, the custodian of the national will and
the sentinel of India’s freedom and unity, will be reorganized and revitalized.
It will gather in its fold patriots of all sections and all communities.
It will be the600 shield
of the oppressed and the sword of the poor. The war on corruption will go on
without let or hindrance. The country needs a clean social and political
environment, and the Congress is determined to give it. Any denial of
justice to the poor and the weak is in itself a crime. Our judicial
institutions and legal systems have to be streamlined and
strengthened. We shall put our best brains to work on this problem.
Our administrative machinery is cumbersome, archaic
and alien to the needs and aspirations of the people. It has successfully
resisted the imperative of change. 700
It must learn to serve the people. It must become
accountable for results. We need structural changes at all levels. 720 We shall have them. The India of the
future is growing in her schools and universities. But our schools and
universities do not relate to the vision of the future. They continue to
function in the old grooves. A new blueprint for education is being designed. It
will not come out of musty corridors of the educational establishments.
It will only come from a movement involving teachers, students, parents,
thinkers and philosophers. It is not a movement to capture
more800 privileges, but a movement
that sees the future in relation to the present and the past, a movement
that uses that vast untapped energy of millions to create a design suited to
our needs.
As we look back on what840 we have achieved, one thought keeps coming back to mind.
How much faster we would have developed had we succeeded in restricting
the growth of our population. Progress would have been greater
not in material terms alone, but in the quality of human life. That makes the family
planning programme so crucial to our future development. We need a better
strategy to achieve the national goal of a stable population, healthier and
better educated. The time has come to infuse new life into the struggle against
poverty. Our anti-poverty programmes have to come out of the grip of
bureaucratic sloth and inefficiency. They have to become people’s programmes.
All the elements including education, health and nutrition, family planning, land
reforms960 and co-operatives,
communications, agriculture, animal husbandry, and industrial and rural
crafts, have to come together in an integrated programme to980 wipe out the age-old curse of poverty. The
power to shape their own lives must lie with the people, not with bureaucrats
and experts. Experts must help the people. Vibrant village panchayats must
discuss, deliberate and decide the choices to be made. This is a challenge to
the Congress cadres. It is up to us, the workers of this great organization,
to spread in every village and every hamlet of India, to mobilize the
people, to guide them, to stand by their side when they are denied their
due, to fight for them and to see that resources are properly utilized. 1080 This will keep our organization in touch
with the masses and will help us to become the true vehicle of change in rural
India.
We are building an independent, self-reliant
economy. We have already achieved much. But more1120 hard work is required from
everyone—from scientists and technologists, from the public sector, from
the private sector, from industrial workers, from farmers, from public
servants, from traders, from housewives and from each one of us. We
have to work hard to accelerate our agricultural and industrial development on
the basis of our own resources. We have to produce more than we are doing
today to invest more in future progress and to support anti-poverty programmes.
We must remember that self-reliance1200
and eradication of poverty demand the present generation to bear hardship and
make sacrifices. Those who are employed have a duty to the future of
India. They have to be more productive and consume less so that
resources can be made available for investment and for programmes to
help the poor. This is a national duty. Our lifestyles must1260 change. Vulgar, conspicuous consumption
must go. Simplicity, efficiency and commitment to national goals hold the key
to self-reliance. The1280 Congress
Ministers, Members of Parliament, Members of State Assemblies,
party functionaries and leaders at all levels must set the example. Millions of
people will follow them. Austerity and swadeshi will galvanize the
masses to grow more, to produce more and to serve more.
Above all, we need to create a mass movement for
strengthening India’s unity and integrity, for deepening our Indianness.
The Congress which won freedom for India, the Congress which has brought India
to the threshold of greatness, is pre-eminently the party of India’s
resurgent nationalism. Our nationalism is based on our rich diversity of
cultures, languages and religions. The Congress represents the multi-faceted
splendour of India. Today, communal, casteist and regional forces,
sustained by external elements, are undermining1400
our unity. We have to be on our guard. We have to carry the
message of nationalism and unity to all. We have to overcome divisive forces. Let
the saga of our freedom struggle be our inspiration. Let thousands and
thousands1440 of Congress workers
fan out into every village, every urban centre to revive the traditions
of our glorious struggle for freedom in which all differences were transcended.
We shall persuade; we shall educate; we shall bind people together. But let the
divisive forces understand quite clearly that the Congress, with the strength
of the masses behind it, will crush with all its might the designs of
anti-national elements. 1508
