It is perhaps the first time that Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has released his speech delivered at a meeting of Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc leaders to the public.
This writer has attended all INDIA bloc meetings, including the formative gathering in Patna, Bihar, in June 2023 before the alliance adopted the INDIA name.
Gandhi’s impassioned speech, delivered at a time when the BJP’s ‘double-engine’/National Democratic Alliance (NDA) governments span over 20 States and Union Territories, was both reassuring and somewhat concerning.
While it would have resonated strongly at a Congress meeting, parts of it seemed somewhat discordant in a gathering of 23 parties representing diverse ideological streams united in defence of India’s sovereign, socialist, secular and democratic republic.
Gandhi is right in reminding us that the Congress became a movement of resistance after Purna Swaraj (complete independence) became the official goal of the Congress.
