Cong readies blitzkrieg on N-deal, Sachar ahead of polls
Congress president Sonia Gandhi went about signaling her party’s preparedness to face elections and hit out at the Left for opposing the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal.
By Aarthi Ramachandran, TNN |
NEW DELHI: Even as Congress president Sonia Gandhi went about signaling her party’s preparedness to face elections and hit out at the Left for opposing the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal on Sunday, her party’s poll arsenal (or at least a part of it) was being silently readied in a hole-in-the-wall storeroom at 24, Akbar Road, the AICC headquarters in the Capital.
Rows of pale-yellow, medium-sized envelopes containing the Congress’ defence on “India’s nuclear energy programme and the 123 agreement with the US” and a leaflet on the UN declaration of October 2 as the ‘international day of non-violence’ were waiting to be dispatched to the party’s state units across the country. The English and Hindi pamphlets would soon be joined by an Urdu version of the material as well, Congress sources said.
But the grand old party of India is also looking beyond the nuclear deal and the Mahatma to get it through the forthcoming election campaign. Officials of the Congress’ minority department said they were in the process of translating minority affairs minister AR Antulay’s report on the implementation of the Rajinder Sachar Committee report, submitted to Parliament during the Monsoon Session. The Urdu translation of the report too would be brought out by the AICC in an election publication and sent to party state units for circulation soon, sources said.
“We are trying to educate the minority community on the current problems facing the country and the policies of the UPA government meant for their welfare and development,” Anees Durrani, secretary of the Congress’ minority department said.
The party is planning to send out the nuclear deal and Sachar booklets to states such as Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and others which are slated to go to the polls or have a sizeable number of Urdu-speakers.
The Sachar committee report documented the dismal social and educational condition of Muslims in India and also suggested ways of improving the situation. The Congress says the UPA government is already taking steps to implement the suggestions made in the report. However, the Left, Samajwadi Party and others have attacked the government for not doing enough.
It is this opposition that the Congress hopes to take on through the Urdu translation of the nuclear deal booklet. This might come handy for the Congress in states such as UP, where the Samjawadi Party could term the deal as being ‘anti-Muslim’ due to the US link. Congress leaders also said that the party was working on other ideas to “remove the misconception” that the UPA government had not done enough for the minority community.
The nuclear booklet has been named “India’s nuclear energy programme and the 123 agreement with the US” by the Congress specifically to highlight how the deal will help meet India’s rising demand for electricity. “A major challenge before us is to increase the supply of electricity....This will allow every household to be lit...our children to study under proper lighting...it will allow our farmers, artisans and workers to use energy as means of production...,” the publication says.
Rows of pale-yellow, medium-sized envelopes containing the Congress’ defence on “India’s nuclear energy programme and the 123 agreement with the US” and a leaflet on the UN declaration of October 2 as the ‘international day of non-violence’ were waiting to be dispatched to the party’s state units across the country. The English and Hindi pamphlets would soon be joined by an Urdu version of the material as well, Congress sources said.
But the grand old party of India is also looking beyond the nuclear deal and the Mahatma to get it through the forthcoming election campaign. Officials of the Congress’ minority department said they were in the process of translating minority affairs minister AR Antulay’s report on the implementation of the Rajinder Sachar Committee report, submitted to Parliament during the Monsoon Session. The Urdu translation of the report too would be brought out by the AICC in an election publication and sent to party state units for circulation soon, sources said.
“We are trying to educate the minority community on the current problems facing the country and the policies of the UPA government meant for their welfare and development,” Anees Durrani, secretary of the Congress’ minority department said.
The party is planning to send out the nuclear deal and Sachar booklets to states such as Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and others which are slated to go to the polls or have a sizeable number of Urdu-speakers.
The Sachar committee report documented the dismal social and educational condition of Muslims in India and also suggested ways of improving the situation. The Congress says the UPA government is already taking steps to implement the suggestions made in the report. However, the Left, Samajwadi Party and others have attacked the government for not doing enough.
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It is this opposition that the Congress hopes to take on through the Urdu translation of the nuclear deal booklet. This might come handy for the Congress in states such as UP, where the Samjawadi Party could term the deal as being ‘anti-Muslim’ due to the US link. Congress leaders also said that the party was working on other ideas to “remove the misconception” that the UPA government had not done enough for the minority community.
The nuclear booklet has been named “India’s nuclear energy programme and the 123 agreement with the US” by the Congress specifically to highlight how the deal will help meet India’s rising demand for electricity. “A major challenge before us is to increase the supply of electricity....This will allow every household to be lit...our children to study under proper lighting...it will allow our farmers, artisans and workers to use energy as means of production...,” the publication says.
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