Congress Manifesto

OVERVIEW OF 45 YEARS OF CONGRESS ACHIEVEMENTS

A party built by the Father of the Nation.

Building one of the world's largest textile industries.

Extablishing world renowned institutes like IITs and IIMs.

Creating our magnificent Constitution

Turning India into a leading industrial power

Using IT to bring the nation closer

The achievements of successive Congress governments are indelibly marked on the contemporary face of our country. The RSS-BJP combine has never missed an opportunity to ridicule, distort and misinterpret everything that the Congress party has done.

It is the Congress that fought for and won India’s freedom. It was the forebears of the BJP in the Hindu Mahasabha and the RSS rejected Mahatma Gandhi’s call, “Karenge ya Marenge” with which he launched the Quit India Movement. It is Congress leaders like Gandhiji, Indiraji and Rajivji who have sacrificed their lives in the service of the country.

It is the Congress that was responsible for establishing and nurturing parliamentary democracy. It was the Congress that made our Constitution possible, a national charter for radical but peaceful socio-economic transformation. It is the Congress that spearheaded social reforms to give dignity to those who were discriminated for centuries. It is the Congress that has preserved and protected the political unity and sovereignty of India.

It is the Congress that created the public sector to industrialise India and make it self-reliant, to take it to new heights of technological progress, to develop backward regions and provide employment to crores of Indians, particularly dalits and adivasis.

It is the Congress that abolished zamindari and ushered in land reforms. It is the Congress that created the Green Revolution and the White Revolution bringing new prosperity to our kisans and khet mazdoors and making India the largest milk producer in the world.

It is the Congress that promoted the scientific spirit and established the infrastructure and institutions that have made India a major nuclear, space and missile power, and a global leader in Information Technology (IT). India could test its nuclear weapons in May 1998 only because of the foundations laid by the Congress. Missiles like Agni are the legacy of the Congress. Satellites like INSAT are the legacy of the Congress.

It is the Congress that launched extensive anti poverty and rural development programmes that have helped alleviate the distress of the most disadvantaged and deprived sections of our society and made a massive dent on rural poverty. A nation which had two-thirds of its people under the poverty line at Independence is now a nation with two-thirds of its population above the poverty line in the half century since Independence. The middle class of India is the proud creation of the Congress.

It is the Congress that empowered scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other backward classes through reservations and through social welfare and economic development programmes for their welfare and well-being.

It is the Congress, responding to Mahatma Gandhi’s call for Poorna Swaraj through Gram Swaraj, that promoted grassroots development through grassroots democracy in our villages and mohallas. It is the Congress that conceived and pushed through the Constitutional amendments relating to Panchayati Raj and the Municipalities.

It is the Congress that introduced and enacted extensive labour legislation to give workers in the organised sector and contract labour fair and remunerative wages and job security. It is the Congress that began the process of extending social security to the 93 per cent work force that subsists in the unorganized sector.

It is the Congress that pioneered the revolution in higher and technical education that has now rendered the Indian brain the most highly valued commodity in the world. It is the Congress that established the IITs, the IIMs and the RECs and that established the vast network of research laboratories.

It is the Congress that launched liberalization and economic reforms. It is the Congress’s policies that made India the world’s fourth largest economy by 1998.

Above all, it is the Congress that has maintained India’s unity while celebrating her many diversities.