Congress to go soft on NRC, target BJP on Rafale

New Delhi: The Congress on Saturday decided to drop its shrill opposition to the controversial National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, and to instead focus on opposing the government on issues like unemployment and corruption, with a targeted campaign on the billion-dollar Rafale deal.

At a meeting of the Congress Working Committee, the highest decision making body of the party, in Delhi on Saturday, leaders concurred that they should toe the middle path on NRC as the process was initiated by the party itself and 80 per cent of the exercise was completed by the then Congress government in the state.

Sources said that the Congress’ senior leadership felt that the Modi government was using the NRC issue to polarise voters and it was important not to fall into their trap of creating binaries.

“The CWC noted with grave concern the deliberate and diabolic agenda of BJP to play politics, to use NRC as a divisive and emotional tool for misleading people. This is being done to deflect the nation’s attention from colossal failures and mega scams like Rafale, bank frauds and the betrayal of people by the Modi government on various promises,” Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said.

Claiming ownership of Assam’s NRC exercise, he asserted that the Congress will stand with every Indian citizen who has been left out of the draft list.

“The NRC is a baby of the Congress party,” Mr Surjewala said, referring to the Assam Accord signed by former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1985, and added that the party remains committed to it.

“We deported 82,728 illegal immigrants between 2005-2013, whereas BJP only deported 1,822 in the last 4 years,” he said.

“We are aware that there are multiple anomalies in the final draft NRC list, leaving out 40 lakh persons comprising indigenous Assamese people, Hindu Bengalis, Nepalis, Gorkhas, tea tribes, religious minorities, Indian citizens from other states domiciled in Assam as also serving and retired defence personnel and those who are in other public or private sector services…  The Congress will ensure that no Indian citizens is deprived of his legitimate right. The Congress stands committed to help and assist every Indian Citizen in this endeavour,” he said.

The Congress’ appropriation of the NRC process comes after a sharp attack from BJP president Amit Shah in Rajya Sabha where he said that the Rajiv Gandhi government did not have the guts to implement the NRC.

All the important Congress leaders from Assam, including Sushmita Deb, Ripun Bora and Gaurav Gogoi, were invited to the CWC meeting and they were told to expose all acts of omission and commission being committed by the Modi government. Former Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi gave a detailed presentation on the NRC issue at the meeting.

This was the second meeting of the freshly-constituted CWC under Congress president Rahul Gandhi. Many in the party said the quick succession in which the meetings were called showed that the body would be more important under Mr Gandhi than it was under his mother, Sonia Gandhi. Mrs Gandhi did not attend the over four-hour long meeting on Saturday.

Soon after the meeting, Mr Gandhi tweeted: “The CWC met today. As a team, we discussed the political situation in the country and the huge opportunity for the Congress to highlight issues of corruption and failure of the government to provide jobs to our youth. Thank you to all those who attended today’s meeting”.

At the meeting, former defence minister A.K. Antony gave an elaborate presentation on the Rafale issue.

Giving details on the discussions on Rafale, Mr Surjewala said the CWC discussed how the Prime Minister and the defence minister had refused to answer questions raised by Mr Gandhi, inside and outside Parliament, on the purchase price of Rafale fighter jets and continued to hide behind a non-existence “Secrecy Clause”.

“Stark truth is that while the Congress-UPA was purchasing Rafale jets for Rs 526 crore, the Modi government proceeded to buy the same jets for Rs 1,670 crore — that is a jump of over 300 per cent (purchase price of 36 jets being Euro 7.5 billion). This is a clear-cut case of an extra amount of Rs 41,205 crore being paid from the state exchequer, for which there is no justification,” he said.

The Congress has roped in all Opposition parties to support it on the Rafale issue and the floor leaders of all parties are likely to hold a press conference on Rafale soon.

According to Mr Surjewala, the CWC also expressed its shock and dismay over the complicity and connivance of the Modi government in the escape of Mehul Choksi in the Rs 23,484 crore PNB scam.