Congress plans year-long programme for 75th Independence Day, hits out at BJP

Congress on Monday highlighted the role played by it in the freedom struggle as it announced a plan to organise a year-long celebration to commemorate 75 years of India's independence.

The party announced its year-long plan programme, starting August 14 this year that will run till August 2022, a year when seven states (six of them ruled by BJP) will go to polls. The announcement came at a time when the ruling party raised its nationalistic pitch, making it a key electoral strategy, which the Congress has often found difficult to counter.

The Congress' announcement coincided with its "Gaddi Chhodo" (quit the chair of power) campaign on the anniversary of Quit India Movement, in all 403 assembly seats in the BJP-ruled UP, which sends 80 Parliamentarians to Lok Sabha, crucial for any party to form a government in 2024.

The statement issued by AICC general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal said, "On the occasion of the nation entering the 75th year of Independence, Congress has decided to form committees in all states to organise a year-long celebrations."

A meeting of AICC general secretaries/In charge of states, departments and cells was held in this regard on Sunday, where it was decided to constitute a committee comprising senior leaders and party functionaries at every PCCs and DCCs to hold the event.

The party has decided to hold special programmes on August 14 and August 15 including Swatantra Senani and Shaheed Samman Divas in all the districts of India.

The party will organise a public event to honour and facilitate the freedom fighters, their families and martyrs' families on the evening of August 14. The event will be held at a place significant to or associated with the freedom struggle or freedom fighters.

A Swatantrata March (Freedom March) will also be organised on August 15 in the morning. Congress committees will be taking out ‘Swatantarta March’ in their respective blocks and district headquarters, followed by unfurling and saluting of the national flag, observing appropriate Covid protocols.

The party has also lined up a media campaign highlighting events of the freedom movement.

All Pradesh Congress Committees will prepare a two-minute video for a social media campaign highlighting the events of the freedom movement. The videos then will be circulated through various social media platforms.

The Congress' statement sought to highlight how the party, led by Mahatma Gandhi and other leaders and workers, played a "stellar role" during the freedom struggle and how from ‘Satyagrah’ to ‘Salt March', from ‘Non-Cooperation Movement’ to ‘Quit India Movement’, it led the world’s biggest and longest ‘Non-Violence Movement’.

"Freedom did not come easy. Along the journey, Congress party not only fought the British and its tyranny but also the inequities, inequalities and societal injustices," it said and sought to highlight "individuals and organisations, majority of whom then had sided with the British and opposed the freedom movement, continue to challenge the very foundation of our polity and democracy."

Congress has often raised questions about the contribution of the BJP and the Janasangh in the freedom movement and has attacked them on the issue.

"Undermining individual freedoms, perpetuating social injustice, subverting institutional autonomy, creating caste and religious divides and compromising the very fundamental of our Constitution and nationhood are their overt and covert agenda. Today, the onus lies upon each one of us to preserve and protect this freedom," the statement said as it took strong note of the "temporary suspension" of former Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s Twitter account after he had put out a photo of family members of a dalit girl, who was allegedly raped and murdered in Delhi.

"The atrocious stance is nothing but another instance of anti-SC and anti-women mindset and inherent prejudice of Modi government as also violation of freedom of expression by the Twitter India under the diktat of Modi government," the statement.

Meanwhile, BJP has hit back at the Congress over the issue accusing Rahul Gandhi of "selectivism" by "not speaking" on similar incidents in Congress-ruled Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, while Twitter has denied having suspended Gandhi's account.