‘Rahulji wants Congress’s inclusive ethos to be spread at grassroots’

An eye on the upcoming Assembly polls in several states next year, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has asked workers to spread awareness about the party’s ethos in a manner that it would reach all booths in a constituency.

A senior Maharashtra Congress leader, who attended a two-day training for master coaches at the Jawaharlal Nehru Leadership Institute in Delhi, said that Mr Gandhi, in his nearly one hour address spoke against the “misdeeds” of the Narendra Modi-led BJP government and the urgent need to “save the country from it”.

“Rahulji consistently spoke about the inclusive agenda of the Congress and the divisive agenda of the RSS. He also spoke about the idea of Swaraj, and the freedom of thought that Indians deserve and how the BJP was crushing anybody who dared to think against it,” the Congress leader, who was one of the four to attend the training programme, told this newspaper.

“Rahulji has also asked us to gear up for the important polls scheduled next year and spread the party’s ethos right up to the booth level,” he added.

Quoting Mr Gandhi, he further said the party vice-president spoke about the RSS’s fear of poor Hindus. “It (RSS) feels the poor will revolt against it, if they found out how badly they are being treated,” said the leader.

“Rahulji wants to continue training members of the National Students Union of India and youth Congress who will in turn make sure that they fight the RSS at the booth levels in their own style and register wins in important states,” he said.

The Congress leader further said that around 125 master coaches from across the country had been invited for the event.