Viewpoint

LOVE FOR THE NATION, LOVE FOR THE PARTY

Shree Chand Makhija

Love for the country, dedication and sacrifice has been the hallmark of a Congressmen, particularly in the Nehru-Gandhi family. This has been proved beyond doubt in more than a century-old history of the Congress party. It is this love for the party and the country that dragged Smt. Sonia Gandhi into politics.

Father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi, throughout his life struggled for India’s independence. He travelled to every nook and corner of the country and made people aware of their rights and encouraged them to fight against British oppression. Bapuji gave a clarion call to the countrymen to be prepared to sacrifice their lives to achieve freedom. It was Congress workers who made the supreme sacrifice to achieve independence. Pandit Nehru too was a powerful Congress leader who participated in the freedom movement with Mahatma Gandhi. A fearless leader as he was, he opposed the foreign rule. On many occasion he went to jail for opposing the Britishers and demanding freedom for the country.

The freedom struggle proved a success when India became independent and Pandit Nehru the first prime minister of the country. Jawaharlal Nehru soon understood the problems faced by the people, particularly those displaced from Pakistan, and earnestly went into the process of development – building dams, industries and projects. Later, when Smt. Indira Gandhi became the prime minister, she too implemented various development plans and programmes. Her famous 20-point programme was adopted well by all. But she could not live long. It was Shri Rajiv Gandhi who was handed over the responsibility to govern the country. And as expected he served the country with love and dedication. Realising the aspirations of youth he emphasized job-oriented policies and programmes. Shri Rajiv Gandhi wanted India to be at par with any other developed nation and Information Technology was one of the major programme of his agenda but before he could see the fruits of success, he too was snatched away from us at Perambudur in Tamil Nadu. His death followed disintegration in the Congress party because of several factors. But when the Congress workers witnessed the slide they turned towards Smt. Sonia Gandhi, requesting her to don the mantle of the party and save it from further deterioration. It was a tough task ahead for her after becoming the party President as she had to struggle hard in bringing together like-minded parties and people to save the nation from the clutches of BJP that was bent upon creating chaos and confusion amongst the people for their own vested interest. But Smt. Sonia Gandhi’s dedicated efforts bore fruits and the people turned towards Congress and toppled the BJP-led NDA government in the 2004 general elections. Here too, Smt. Gandhi once again showed the sacrificial instinct flowing in her blood when she turned down the prime ministerial post and instead nominated, Dr. Manmohan Singh as the prime minister of India.

Now the country is bound to make rapid progress as Smt. Sonia Gandhi herself is looking after the implementation of the Common Minimum Programme of the United Progressive Alliance.

- Shree Chand Makhija
(The author is a follower of Congress since pre-partition days).