Targeting the Narendra Modi government, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday said the "basic spirit" of India is being continuously attacked, and "ditches of hatred are being dug" across the length and breadth of the country.
Addressing party leaders and workers on Congress' 138th Foundation Day at the party headquarters here, Kharge said independent India moved forward because Congress showed the courage to break the chains of poor, deprived, downtrodden communities and took a firm resolve to take the freedom to every citizen.
Recalling that several countries which attained freedom during the same period as India slipped into dictatorship, he said India not only became a successful and strong democracy, but in a few decades it became a superpower in the field of economic, nuclear, missile and strategic sectors.
"India has joined the top countries of the world in agriculture, education, medical, IT, and service sectors. All this did not happen by itself. This happened because of the Congress's faith in democracy, because of our ideology of taking everyone along and our belief in knowledge and science. It happened because of our full faith in the Constitution, which guarantees equal rights and equal opportunities to all," he said.
However, Kharge said, the initiatives like RTI, RTE, Food Security Act, MGNREGA, Forest Rights or Land Acquisition Act during the UPA government have left the impression of Congress ideology on the people and the country.
This "basic spirit" of India is being continuously attacked, he said adding, "the ditch of hatred is being dug across the country. People are suffering from inflation, and unemployment, but the government is not concerned about it," he said.
Referring to the AICC Karachi resolution which decided what would be the spirit of the Constitution and prepared a blueprint for development in independent India by forming a planning committee, Kharge said India did not disintegrate when it became independent but kept on moving forward with strength. "To keep Indian democracy strong, Nehru made five out of 14 ministers from non-Congress parties in his first cabinet. This shows a principle of taking everyone along," he said.
He said the journey of 75 years of Congress after independence tells the story of modern India and in these years, every successful milestone the country achieved has the party's signature on it.
Reminding that Mahatma Gandhi did not see politics as an orbit of power, Kharge said the Father of the Nation linked it to social reform, opposition to untouchability, economic self-reliance, equal rights, opposition to communalism and opposition to male dominance with everyday politics.
"Leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Maulana Azad, Subhash Chandra Bose, and Kamaraj came forward under the leadership of Gandhiji. The names of women leaders like Sarojini Naidu, Aruna Asaf Ali, Rajkumar Amrit Kaur have become household names," he said.
Talking about the present, he said, to make the party inclusive, they will have to involve youth and women, marginalised sections, intellectuals and take them along with us to fight against inflation, unemployment and hatred.