Rahul Gandhi: The connection of the Congress with the people is ‘broken’, we have to re-establish it

Acknowledging that the Congress’ connection with the people had been “broken”, Rahul Gandhi announced on Sunday that the party would embark on a journey in October to re-establish and strengthen it. He insisted on the “one family, one ticket” rule to ensure that multiple members of a family do not run for office without working for the party.

Congress on Sunday adopted a “new resolution” – a roadmap for sweeping reforms in the party organization to prepare it for the next Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.

The team has agreed with the ‘One Family, One Ticket’ formula rider that if another member of the family wants to run in the election, he has to work in the team for at least five years.

Addressing the concluding session of the party’s three-day ‘Nab Sankalp Chintan Shibir’ here, Gandhi said, “We have to accept that the Congress has lost touch with the people.”

“Our fight is for ideals. We have to go to the people and sit down with them, to re-establish the connection that the party had with the people,” he said.

“We have decided that in October the Congress party will go to the people and make a journey and strengthen relations with the people … with shortcuts this cannot happen,” he said.

Welcoming the open discussion in the camp, Gandhi said that no other political party would allow such talks where the party leadership had clearly stated what the Congress party felt.

“Of course, the BJP and the RSS will never allow such a thing,” he said.

Congress has always provided a platform where people can discuss without any fear or concern, he said.

Claiming that India is a union of states, Gandhi said, “It is important for the union of the country that the states and the people be allowed to have dialogue. The only alternative to dialogue between the people of India is violence between people. India,” he said.

He alleges there is a “planned destruction” of various organizations.

“The day the institutions of this country stop working, the day this country stops communicating with itself, we will have serious problems,” he said.

He said that the country’s demographic dividend would turn into a demographic catastrophe and there were allegations that the BJP government was responsible for it.