Congress spokespersons should talk strongly on communalism issues: Manish Tewari

NEW DELHI: As Congress geared up to tone up its media strategy ahead of next general elections, Union Minister Manish Tewari today made a strong pitch to take forward the "secular agenda", asking spokespersons to talk strongly on issues related to communalism.

The assertion comes amid a talk in the party that BJP, which has pitchforked Narendra Modi in a key role, could attempt a polarisation on communal lines in the next Lok Sabha polls.

Addressing young spokespersons from the states and members of NSUI and Youth Congress, Tewari, who is Information and Broadcasting minister, said that they should not be seen being soft and making any compromise when speaking on communalism.

Tewari said that the core of Congress is secularism and fighting communalism. "We should not waver from this agenda," Congress spokesperson Meem Afzal told reporters here. The minister also advised the spokespersons to read at least for three hours to remain well-prepared on current issues.

Tewari was addressing a session on preparedness for electronic media while Sandeep Dikshit addressed the one on research and Deepender Hooda on social media.

The concluding day of the two-day media workshop of the party also saw Minister of State for HRD Shashi Tharoor, an avid Twitterati, giving the participants lessons, through video conferencing, in the use of social media Twitter and Facebook.