'Mahaul' in Congress' favour, don't be complacent, over confident: Sonia Gandhi's advice to party leaders on upcoming polls

Gandhi also accused the Modi government of not drawing the right lessons from 'their significant decline' in the Lok Sabha elections and persisting with their policy of 'dividing communities and spreading an atmosphere of fear and animosity'.

New Delhi: With Assembly polls in four states coming up in the next few months, Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday said the ‘mahaul’ (mood) is in her party's favour but warned leaders against being “complacent and over-confident”.

Insisting that they must sustain the “momentum and goodwill” that had been generated for them in the Lok Sabha elections, she said the national politics will “undergo a transformation” if the Congress performs well in the Assembly elections.

Her comments at the CPP General Body at the Central Hall in Samvidhan Sadan, came as Congress and its allies believe that I.N.D.I.A bloc stands a chance to oust BJP and return to power in Maharashtra and Haryana and retain power in Jharkhand.

“We must sustain the momentum and goodwill that had been generated for us in the Lok Sabha elections. We must not become complacent and over-confident. The ‘mahaul’ does favour us, but we have to work unitedly with a sense of purpose,” she said.

“I dare say that if we perform well, reflecting the trend that we witnessed in the Lok Sabha elections, national politics will undergo a transformation,”  she said, as polls are scheduled in Haryana, Maharashtra and Jharkhand later this year. Jammu and Kashmir is also expected to hold polls this year.

She told Congress MPs that the expectation was that the Modi government would “draw the right lessons from their significant decline” in the Lok Sabha elections but they are persisting with their policy of “dividing communities and spreading an atmosphere of fear and animosity”.

In an apparent reference to the controversial decision of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand governments asking eateries on Kanwar Yatra route to display owners’ names, she said the Supreme Court fortunately intervened at the right time. 

She also referred to the lifting of the ban on bureaucrats to participate in RSS activities and said, “look at how the rules have been suddenly changed to permit the bureaucracy to participate in the activities of the RSS.  It calls itself a cultural organisation but the whole world knows that it is the BJP’s political and ideological base.”

Expressing concerns over “deeply disturbing news” of continuing terror strikes in Jammu and Kashmir, she said there have been at least 11 terror attacks in the Jammu region alone besides similar attacks in the Kashmir valley in which a number of security personnel and civilians have lost their lives. It has made “a mockery of the claims” being made by the Modi government that all is well in Jammu and Kashmir, she said 

She also referred to the Manipur situation, which “shows no sign of any improvement” and said, “the Prime Minister travels the world over, but steadfastly refuses to go to the state and take the initiative to bring about normalcy.”

Claiming that the government has “no intention whatsoever” to conduct the Census that was due in 2021, she said absence of census figures will prevent the country from having an up-to-date estimate of the population, especially of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. It also means that at least 12 crore of our citizens are denied the benefit of the National Food Security Act of 2013 – now repackaged as PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, she said.

Attacking the budget, she said the pressing demands of farmers and youth in particular, have been totally ignored. 

"Allocations in a number of vital sectors have not done justice to the tasks required to be fulfilled.  There has been widespread disappointment, in spite of the Prime Minister, the Finance Minister and others  talking up the Budget and its so-called accomplishments.   The Union Government, especially its top leadership, continues to be self-delusional as crores of families across the country are devastated by mounting unemployment and price rise,” she said.

She also asked MPs to present in Parliament “regularly, remain vigilant at all times and take committee assignments seriously”.