Meeting of the PCC Presidents & CLP Leaders

1600 hrs on Thursday, 6^th May, 1999

CONGRESS PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS

Members of the Congress Working Committee,

Presidents of the Pradesh Congress Committees,

Chief Ministers, and Leaders of the Congress Legislature Parties,

Friends,

I have had a very useful round of discussions with each one of you individually, PCC/TCC Presidents and CLP leaders, accompanied by the General Secretary or Secretary concerned.

I am glad you came well prepared for these discussions. From each of you, I have ascertained the situation existing on the ground. I have also had the benefit of your assessment, of the progress we are likely to make during the course of the election campaign.

All of you, without exception, have expressed great confidence in facing the elections. Moreover, each one of you has affirmed your readiness to put the interests of the Party above personal preferences. This reinforces our conviction that we are riding the wave of victory. We did not wish to inflict on our people a third Lok Sabha election in three years. Yet, these elections are now upon us. It is important to understand how this came about.

When in March 1998, the BJP put together a huge, unwieldy, unprincipled, opportunistic coalition, we warned that it would fall under the weight of its own contradictions. This is precisely what happened. Thirteen months of quarreling and bickering with one another ended with the withdrawal of support by the AIADMK on the 14^th April 1999. The AIADMK was the single largest partner of the BJP and its most significant pre-poll ally. The BJP proved a miserable failure in managing the coalition it had cobbled together. Notwithstanding the humiliations it repeatedly suffered, the compromises it made, and the appeasement it resorted to, over these thirteen months the BJP coalition never became cohesive or purposeful. The only thing that kept the coalition going was a lust for power at any cost. The formal withdrawal of support by Dr. Jayalalitha was but the last straw, which broke the camel's back.

It is not the business of the Opposition to ensure the survival of a government that has lost itgs majority. The Prime Minister lost his majority the minute Dr Jayalalita withdrew her support. He should have immediately tendered his resignation. Instead, he sought a vote of confidence from the House. Inevitably, the House in which he had lost his majority rejected his request for a vote of confidence. Notwithstanding all their underhand manoeuvers, the BJP was unable to manufacture a majority. The government fell. The blame for the fall of the government rests entirely on the shoulders of the BJP, which failed to manage its coalition.

As we had promised all along, as soon as the government fell, we prepared to take upon ourselves our Constitutional responsibilities. The parties of the secular Opposition wanted us to take up the leadership of an alternative government. Differences among different parties of the Opposition quickly made it clear that a stable, viable coalition government could not be put together. Only a minority Congress government, supported from the outside by the other secular parties, could give the country the assurance of a stable government. This was well understood by almost all members of the secular Opposition.

If such an alternative minority Congress government did not come about, much to the disappointment of the Left and the Third Front, as also the country at large, the blame lies squarely at the door of a small, regional party, which placed its narrow interests above the larger interest of the secular future of the country.

We were not prepared to succumb to political blackmail. Bending at the knee is a BJP habit. It is entirely appropriate that the Samajwadi Party has found its destiny in the arms of the communal forces of this country. The clandestine contacts between leaders of the Samajwadi Party and the BJP have ruthlessly revealed the nexus between them, a nexus, which has led us to the present situation. These nefarious links, now exposed, must be rejected through the ballot box by defeating both the BJP and its secret partner.

After thirteen months of endless turbulence, temper tantrums, internal quarrels, unprincipled compromises and shameless roll back, the people are looking for a stable alternative. Only the Congress can provide a stable alternative. When the electorate sees us strong, united and single-minded, and contrasts us with the multi-headed monster the BJP is fielding, there is no doubt that their vote will go to the solid, reliable, time-tested stability which the Congress has on offer. An alliance comprising close to twenty bickering, quarrelsome partners can give no credible assurance of stability.

The country is crying for stability. How can the BJP assure stability merely by seeking to replace the AIADMK with another Dravidian party with whom they share nothing in common? There seems to be no limit to the opportunism of the communal forces.

The BJP is trying to artifically manufacture a sympathy wave. None exists. They have started a pathetically low level campaign against us. This to me only betrays their fear and insecurity. I have full faith in the ability of our people to distinguish between right and wrong, between truth and falsehood. The BJP was ousted because they did not have a majority. They did not have the numbers to form another government. It is our duty to the country to ensure that the people reject the BJP7led coalition at the forthcoming polls.

The BJP game is to pull the wool over the eyes of the people. The technique is to say different things through different spokespersons. One day, the Prime Minister will say one thing to reassure the country at large that they have abandoned their quintessential communalism. Next day, some other leader of the BJP will say quite the opposite thing to reassure the sangh parivar that nothing has changed. Equally, leaders of the BJP say one thing to the national press and quite the opposite to or through the propaganda organs of the sangh parivar. They have one tongue for their coalition partners and another for their RSS support base.

Let the country stand warned. If, God forbid, the BJP brings another hydra-headed coalition to power, it will wobble and fall like the previous coalition did. The country will be forced into the fourth election in four years before the year 2000 is out.

We must not let this happen. The inability of the non-Congress parties to provide a stable government has been demonstrated again and again. In the 52 years since Independence, non-Congress governments have ruled the country for seven years - and given the country seven governments. More often than not, it is the BJP, which has been responsible for bringing about the premature collapse of these non-Congress governments. In 1979, it was the controversy over double membership of the Janata Party and the RSS which expedited the fall of Shri Morarji Desai's government even when it enjoyed a close to two-thirds majority in the House. It was the outrageous Rath Yatra of Shri L.K. Advani that brought down Shri V.P. Singh's government. And it was the patent inability of the BJP to keep its coalition going that brought about Shri Vajpayee's defeat on the floor of the House.

Contrast this with the history of stable government offered by the Congress. For 45 of the last 52 years, the Congress has been in office at the Centre. It has never failed to complete its term. The non-Congress Opposition has always failed to complete its term. The fundamental reason is that the Congress offers cohesive, purposeful, one-party government. The Opposition, especially the BJP Opposition, offers a Khichri of nearly 20 different flavours, none of which matches the other. Each of them has their separate ideologies, separate interests, separate objectives. Each of them hides their real agenda behind a so-called common agenda. The BJP itself is the worst offender in this regard. Their real goal is Hindutva as set out in their 1998 Manifesto, in the resolutions of the RSS and the VHP, and the brutal actions of the Bajrang Dal, the Hindu Jagran Manch and such other organizations. They are trying to ride the back of unprincipled and gullible partners to come to power on their own and to then unabashedly pursue their own agenda. Meanwhile, they are attempting to befool their partners and the people into believing that the mask is the face.

It is the duty of the secular forces to rip off the mask and reveal to the people the true face of communalism. The last thirteen months have shown how confused, corrupt and criminal are the forces of communalism. They cannot be given another chance. All of us true Indians must defeat the BJP and its game.

I would request you to carefully study the issues. You have already received our Report Card on "Thirteen Months of the BJP". Please read it carefully and bring it to the attention of the media in your respective states and territories. Above all, please ensure that the document is translated into your local languages and widely distributed to Congress workers at the grassroots. We will be sending you other materials, including the 1999 Congress Election Manifesto, as soon as possible. My own programme of tours is being finalised on the basis of the proposals you have made. We will give you all the help you need from the AICC. Please go forth, carrying high the standard of our 114-year old Party, and bring us to victory.

A vote for Congress is a vote for a stable, strong and good Government.

I would like to thank you for having come to Delhi at short notice. It was good of you to have taken the trouble. Our Party has emerged the stronger for it.

Jai Hind!

Jai Congress!