Young, old to carry Congress forward, assures Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi: At the Congress’ 84th Plenary Session, which kicked off in Delhi on Saturday, party president Rahul Gandhi tried to thwart speculation that the Congress’ “new look” under him meant a younger party, with seniors put out to pasture.

Hitting out at the BJP for marginalising its patriarchs by putting them in cold storage and calling it Margdarshak Mandal, Mr Gandhi reached out to veterans in the party and tried to assuage the fear that he would be getting rid of the “old guard”.

The Congress under him, he said, would take seniors and the youth together as the tradition of the party was to embrace change without forgetting its past and its legacy. Party veterans, he said, “will be assigned important roles in the organisation”.

“If the youth have to take the Congress forward, it cannot be done without the experience of the party veterans. My task is to be take them together,” he said.

In his brief inaugural address, Mr Gandhi acknowledged the role seniors have played in building and guiding the party, and spoke of the challenge before them to rebuild the party.

At a time when investigating agencies are breathing down the necks of former finance minister P. Chidambaram and his family, the Congress chief specifically mentioned Mr Chidambaram and spoke of how he has been guiding the party.

Meira Kumar, former Lok Sabha Speaker, senior dalit leader and daughter of late dalit icon Babu Jagjivan Ram, was the first to speak after Mr Gandhi. She emphasised the importance of elders in the “new look” Congress.

The Congress president kept his inaugural address short, but assured the gathering that his concluding speech on Sunday will be more exhaustive.

Launching a scathing attack on the BJP government for spreading hatred and anger, and failing to create jobs and address farm distress, Mr Gandhi said that crores of youths in the country looking up to Modi are not finding anything as there are no jobs. “The country is tired of what is happening under the current government. Only the Congress Party can show the way and heal divisions in the nation,” he said.

Attacking the government for playing “divisive politics”, Mr Modi pledged the Congress’ commitment to unity and said, “Come what may, this country belongs to everyone, every religion, every caste and every person and the Congress Party is for everyone and we will not leave anyone behind”.