Resolution

Guru Govind Singh Inspiring: Sonia Gandhi The All India Congress Committee president, Smt. Sonia Gandhi in her message on 5, January said : "I join my fellow countrymen in commemorating the birth anniversary of Guru Govind Singhji, the tenth Guru of Sikh faith and founder of Khalsa Panth. His message of secularism, communal harmony, universal brotherhood and equality are of eternal reverence. His values and ideals of selfless sacrifice, compassion for the downtrodden and social justice shall continue to inspire the posterity." Sonia Gandhi Condoles R.K. Hegde's Death Smt. Sonia Gandhi, Leader of Opposition, (Lok Sabha), on 13, January sent a condolence letter to Smt. Shakuntala Hegde. "It was with great sadness that I learnt of the passing away of Shri Rama Krishna Hegde. Shri Hegde enjoyed a unique position in Indian public life. His charismatic, multi-faceted personality left a memorable impression on all those who interacted with him, and won him universal admiration and affection. A man of rare erudition and charm, he was deeply interested in a wide range of subjects, from culture and education to local self-government. Unwavering in his belief in secular and democratic principles, Shri Hegde lent stature and grace to public life. His contribution, at both the regional and national level will always be remembered and his memory honoured. At this painful hour, I share your grief and pray that you and your family find the strength to bear your loss. Please accept my heartfelt condolences."

Congressmen Exhorted to work for Victory

NEW DELHI: The Congress marked its foundation day on December 28 with a call to members to bring back the glory of the 118-year old party.

In a brief function at the All India Congress Committee headquarters, senior member and Party Treasurer, Shri Motilal Vora unfurled the party flag in the presence of a large number of Congress leaders and Sevadal workers. December 28 is also the founding day of Congress Sevadal.

Both Shri Vora and Working Committee member, Shri Janardhan Dwivedi asked the partymen to remember its glorious past and face the present challenges before the nation and the party. Shri Vora said some parties were attempting to malign the legacy of the Congress and facts were presented in distorted form to mislead the people. He also paid homage to departed leaders of the party.

Shri Dwivedi who is incharge of the Sevadal said the party was passing through a challenging period and therefore there was greater responsibility on each member.

Others present included CWC members, Shri Manmohan Singh, Smt. Mohsina Kidwai, Shri Ahmed Patel, Shri R.K. Dhawan, Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad, Shri Omem Deori and Shri Mukul Wasnik apart from office-bearers of the frontal organisation and Sevadal volunteers.

DEHRADUN: Various programmes were organized to celebrate the 118^th foundation day of the Congress here on 28 December. Under the auspices of the City Congress Committee a seminar was organized and Pradesh Congress Committee president, Shri Harish Rawat was the chief guest.

Addressing the Congress workers and the office-bearers, Shri Rawat said that though the Congress has people of different thoughts it enjoys unity of thought. He praised the role of Congress Sewadal and added that after a short training the Sewadal workers are fully prepared to confront any social problem in society. Shri Rawat said that Sewadal is the foundation on which the Congress is built. Shri Rawat unfurled the Congress flag at the Congress Bhawan. Transport Minister, Shri Heera Singh Bisht, Shri Dinesh Aggarwal, MLA, greeted the Congressmen on the occasion.

Those who participated in the seminar included Shri Virendra Bisht, Shri Yeomendra Khandoori, Shri Prayag Bhatt, Shri Rajendra Shash, Shri Jagdev Singh, Shri Satish Sharma, Shri Jugal Kishore, Shri Ashok Verma, Shri Jitendra Gala, Shri Sagar Singh, Shri Sukhram, Shri Dinesh Gupta, Shri Pramod Gupta, Shri Rajiv Jain, Shri Savitri Kapur, Shri Seema Bhatia, Sanyogita Rani, Smt. Krishna Devi, Shri Sushma Aggarwal, Shri Harvinder Luthra, Shri Surendra Nagpal, Shri Anil Grover, Shri Devendra Sethi, Shri Dilshad Kureshi, Shri Anil Sharma, Shri K.K. Sharma and Shri Rajendra Aggarwal. The District Congress Committee also organized a function at the Gandhi Gram in which many speakers addressed the Congressmen.

JAMSHEDPUR: Congress party workers, PCC office-bearers and frontal organisations celebrated the 118^th foundation day of the Indian National Congress by organizing a seminar "role of Congressmen in the prevailing situation." AICC member, Shri Rajesh Kumar Shukla inaugurated the seminar.

Shri Shukla greeted the Congress workers and asked them to work with workers and asked them to make the party strong at all levels. He asked the workers to take the slogan given by the Congress president, Smt. Sonia Gandhi, "Congress ka Haath, Garibon ke Saath," from tours to villages and to understand the problems of the poor and try to solve them. Shri Shukla also asked the Congressmen to organize agitations and pressurize the state government to hold panchayat and Municipal elections in Jharkhand.

Pradesh Youth Congress general secretary, Shri Vijay Khan presided over the function and honoured Shri Shukla for his services to the party for a long time. Others who spoke at the seminar included Shri Vijay Srivastava, Samendra Ghosh, Sunil Kumar Shukla, Sanjeev Srivastava, Ram Ayadhya Rai, Anil Sharma, Wilson Samad, John Rodriques, Haroon Rashid Khan, Manoj Kumar Yadav and Raghvendra Asthana. Later, Shri Shukla distributed fruits and blankets amongst the poor and needy.

RAIPUR: On the occasion of the 118^th Foundation day of the Congress, the Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee Disabled Service Cell distributed tricycles amongst the disabled here on 29 Decembe r. PCC president, Shri Ramanuj Lal Yadav and PCC general secretary, Dr. Shiv Kumar Daharia (MLA) presented the tricycles.

Pradesh Disabled Service Cell president, Shri Mahender Kochhar and Shri Gurvinder Singh Chhadha of Jhuggi-Jhompri Cell addressed the gathering. Earlier, the Congress leaders and partymen paid floral tributes to the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi.

ALLAHABAD: Congressmen on 28 December observed the 118^th foundation day of the Indian National Congress. On this occasion, the Youth Congress organized a seminar addressed by the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee Special Invitee and former state spokesman, Shri Kishore Varshney who praised the role of Congress in shaping India into a modern, democratic, socialist and secular nation based on the rule of law, equality of opportunity and guaranteeing social, economic and political justice to all its citizens. Shri Varshney said that the Congress reaffirmed its commitment to the ideals of the founding fathers and the galaxy of leaders who led the organisation and shaped its destiny during the 118 years of its historic existence. Shri Varshney administered the oath of affirmity to the partymen to fight communal forces and terrorism.

The convenor of the seminar and state Youth Congress, Sr. vice president, Shri Ajay Mishra said that at the dawn of freedom, Congress undertook to build the newly independent nation. District Youth Congress president, Shri Mukund Tiwari said that Youth Congress will launch a movement to fight the growing menace of terrorism and communalism by bringing out rallies and by holding meetings. The seminar was conducted by the general secretary of U.P. Youth Congress, Shri Keshav Lal and presided by Rajendra Keshari `Dadda'.

Amont those who spoke at the seminar were UPCC secretary, Javed Urfi, UPCC member, Asad Khan and Harikesh Tripathi, state Youth Congress general secretary, Pramod Mishra, Indraresh Singh, Anil Srivastava, Rajendra Jaiswal, Dr. Yusuf Ansari, Rakesh Hajela, Sadan Lal Jatav, Anil Mishra, J.P. Srivastava, Ram Narayan Yadav, Alok Chaturvedi, Raj Kumar Tiwari, Santosh Yadav, Saurabh Srivastava and many others.

Congressmen also paid floral tributes to the martyrs including the Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi who laid down their lives for the freedom of the nation.