Ready for combat: Cong's youth brigade plans first direct attack on Modi sarkar

New Delhi: While Prime Minister Narendra Modi continues impressing the media in the country and elsewhere with his foreign policy initiatives, the Congress is quietly working towards springing a surprise on his government by highlighting its failure on the domestic front. Despite rumblings within the Congress over issues ranging from retirement to official spokespersons, the party is all set for its first direct attack on the Centre.

The Indian Youth Congress is planning a show of strength, called Yuva Aakrosh rally, in the national capital on 25 September. While the main organization (AICC) is busy with seat-sharing talks and preparations for elections in Maharashtra and Haryana, the frontal organization has gone ahead with their ambitious plan.

“NDA government made tall promises to the people, but what has come of them?” asks Rajeev Satav, president of the Indian Youth Congress (IYC). “Our rally’s motive is to expose the lies told by BJP and their non performance in 100 days” he adds.

The rally is likely to be attended by IYC cadre from Delhi and neighbouring states like Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh. Apart from senior leadership of the Youth Congress who will attend the rally, few leaders of Delhi Congress like PCC Chief Arvinder Singh Lovely are likely to join them. The official figure is likely to be around a couple of thousand who will gather at Jantar Mantar next week, but with IYC raising the stakes this figure could touch the 8-10,000 mark.

“We have extended the invitation to Rahul Gandhi and there is no official word from his office yet,” says a youth leader on condition of anonymity. “Because it is officially an event being organised by the IYC, there is all likelihood of Rahul Ji joining it,” he added.

What has enthused the youth cadre even more is the result of the bye-elections that came in earlier this week. The Congress snatched three seats apiece from the BJP in Gujarat and Rajasthan, while the Samajwadi Party won eight leaving only three seats as consolation for the BJP in UP.

Terming the BJP losing ground as a “report card” of Modi’s 100-day governance, the Congress is already clapping its hands in glee as BJP leaders have been forced to defend themselves. Though many Congress leaders like Ghulam Nabi Azad, Digvijaya Singh and Shashi Tharoor have praised the efforts of the prime minister in rescuing Kashmiri civilians from the devastating floods, the IYC has taken a stinging approach.

With Modi going out of his way to please the Chinese premier Xi Jinping, who visited India recently, and winning accolades the Congress has chosen a different way to attack the NDA. “No person from the north-east was allowed to serve Chinese president in Gujarat and now they aren’t visible on the streets of Delhi. Evicted forcefully?” asked Satav on Twitter.

So the stage is set for Rahul Gandhi, a rally to take on the ruling dispensation at a time when the BJP is looking for answers to their recent electoral reverses, that too from a platform (IYC) which he can truly call his own.