The Congress is all set to kickstart its campaign for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections with its mega rally ‘Hain Tayyar Hum’ to be held in Maharashtra’s Nagpur city on Thursday, the party’s 139th foundation day.
Congress’s rally in Nagpur holds significance as it is the city with which the grand-old party has historical links. It also assumes importance as this is the city where Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is headquartered and Ambedkar’s Deekshabhoomi is located.
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‘Hain Tayyar Hum’ tagline
The Congress has named its Nagpur mega rally – ‘Hain Tayyar Hum (We are ready)’ and said the theme is meant to reaffirm its commitment to fight for the protection of democracy in the country.
The rally, on 139th foundation day, will see a gathering of Congress leaders and activists, including All India Congress Committee (AICC) chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, other Congress Working Committee (CWC) members, AICC and Maharashtra party unit office-bearers and the party’s CMs.
“The rally will send a good message throughout the country. The Congress will sound the bugle for the Lok Sabha polls due next year,” party MLA from Nagpur Nitin Raut told PTI.
The venue of the rally is located in the Dighori Naka area, which the Congress has dubbed “Bharat Jodo Ground” referring to Rahul’s Bharat Jodo Yatra.
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Historical links with Nagpur
The party’s association with Nagpur goes way back, even before India gained independence.
It was at the Congress’s Session here in December 1920 that the party under Mahatma Gandhi’s leadership gave a call for the launch of the non-cooperation movement against the British.
This conclave also saw the party undertaking significant organisational reforms, deciding to strengthen the AICC with 350 members and constituting a 15-member Congress Working Committee (CWC) as its highest decision-making body.
Later in 1959, in another Nagpur Session, Indira Gandhi was elected as the AICC president. Nagpur had always been the Congress’s stronghold. Even during the ‘Indira Hatao, Desh Bachao’ agitation led by Jaiprakash Narayan during the Emergency, the Congress retained its turf in Nagpur.
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RSS headquarters
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological fountainhead of the BJP, has its headquarters in Nagpur and was founded by city-based doctor Keshav Baliram Hedgewar.
The Congress has maintained that it has been engaged in an ideological battle with the BJP-RSS to claim the “idea of India” as envisioned by the Constitution framed by the leading lights of the freedom movement led by Mahatma Gandhi.
Congress MLA Nitin Raut said the party has chosen Nagpur for the rally due to its ideology and thinking. “On one hand, there is the RSS ideology, and on the other hand is the ideology of Constitution’s architect Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar which is aligned with the ideology of the Congress,” he added as quoted by PTI.
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Ambedkar’s Deekshabhoomi
It was in Nagpur that the father of Constitution BR Ambedkar had embraced Buddhism along with lakhs of his followers on Dusshera on October 14, 1956. The historical site also has a memorial called Deekshabhoomi.
The leaders of the Congress party have asserted that Nagpur was selected as the venue for Thursday’s rally for ideological reasons, citing that “the city resonates with the ideologies of both the RSS and the key architect of the Constitution.” Asserting their connection to Ambedkar’s legacy, they have reiterated their accusations that the BJP, led by Narendra Modi, is intent on “changing the Constitution.”
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Poll bugle for 2024
Congress leaders have maintained that the party along with other Opposition parties, part of the INDIA alliance, would give the BJP a “tough fight” in the 2024 Lok Sabha.
And so, while reckoning the political challenges ahead, the Congress is optimistic about initiating the process of change from Nagpur.
State Congress president Nana Patole said, “We want to send the message that we are are ready for the big fight against the BJP, its corruption and anti-Constitution politics.”
“When there is a crisis in the country, it is from the land of Nagpur that the Congress calls Elgar (struggle). Today when the country’s democratic system, Constitution and all the four pillars of democracy are under threat, it is the responsibility of the Congress to keep this system intact,” Patole said.
The Nagpur rally would also project Rahul Gandhi’s upcoming Bharat Jodo Yatra 2.0 called ‘Bharat Nyay Yatra’ – from Manipur in the East to Mumbai in the West – which he will launch on January 14.