As the first of the seven-phase Lok Sabha election 2024 is done and dusted, Chief of the Congress’s women wing, Alka Lamba, in an exclusive conversation with Siddharth Bedi Varma of GPlus, talks about the changes one can expect from the Grand Old Party if voted to power.
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Earlier, you were in Congress, but then you joined AAP and now you are back in Congress. So what is the difference between the two parties and how do you think Congress is better?
During my 30 years of career in politics, I was in Congress for 25 years and in AAP for 5 years. But my ideology was the same throughout. I started my career with Gandhi’s ideologies of truth, non-violence, independence etc., and till today I remain rooted to them.
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You and Congress are members of the INDI Alliance, how many seats do you think the bloc is going to win?
There are 26 political parties in the INDI Alliance. Our aim is to protect the Constitution, to protect democracy, and people’s rights. We also aim to protect the rights of the farmers. It was promised that the farmers would be debt -free but that hasn’t happened till now. Suicides were supposed to stop but that hasn’t happened yet. There has been injustice in the last 10 years, and we want to provide justice to the people. The unemployed youths were supposed to get 2 crore jobs but where are they? 30 lakh government posts are empty. But now justice will be provided, and those posts will be filled. Prices of gas and petrol have gone through the roof. The value of rupee against dollar is down. Earlier, the debt of our country was ₹50 lakh crore, but today it is ₹207 lakh crore within a span of only 10 years. The country has been dealing with BJP’s injustice for far too long. We are not egoistic like BJP, we can’t just say that we will win 400 votes. We are just going forward with the hope that with the change in power, we can hopefully undo the injustice done by BJP. We believe that we will be able to stop BJP within 180 to 200 votes, and that we will form a government with a solid and stable foundation in 2024.
Do you think that the INDI Alliance will be successful?
The parties in INDI Alliance are one. Our aim is not to choose who makes the government or who the next PM becomes. Our aim is to protect the Constitution and provide justice to the people and for that we all are working as a single entity. From Bihar to Kerala to West Bengal, the INDI Alliance is everywhere. Even if 13 candidates of Congress are fighting against 13 from AAP, and the rest are from BJP, we have given people two choices and the one winning will be from INDI Alliance. The new government will be formed by the INDI Alliance as it’s the citizens who want it.
What strategy will Congress use to retain its power in the South? And how will it take the seats in the East from BJP?
BJP is facing heavy losses in the South so they are focusing in the North. Recently, we defeated BJP in Karnataka and in Telangana as well. These two places have Congress governments now. The place from where BJP had started its journey, the Northeast, is burning today. Currently, PM Modi is roaming the streets of Guwahati but can’t dare to step inside Manipur. He isn’t even daring to step inside Arunachal Pradesh because there, questions are being raised on whether China after entering Ladakh, has entered Arunachal or not. Modi is unable to give an answer to their questions.
Right now, the Delhi CM is facing corruption charges. Do you think his arrest will affect the Lok Sabha elections?
They put the elected Jharkhand CM in jail. They put the Delhi CM in jail in between elections. These do not seem to be the actions of a party winning 400+ votes. These actions will affect BJP because the accused has to be tried and proven guilty according to law, but in this case, the accused are put in jail without a proper trial. Sisodia (Manish Sisodia, AAP leader) has been in jail since a year now. Soon UP and Delhi elections will be over and this issue won’t be an issue anymore. In reality, 24 people have been arrested in ED cases. 22 people got into BJP. 22 people had their names cleared and were freed, starting from Ajit Pawan to Narayan Rane. They were washed in Modi’s washing machine and thus their names came out clear.
What factors will sway people in favour of Mira Borthakur, even though Guwahati has been under BJP since the last 15 years?
Since the last 15 years, right? And who was before that? Congress, isn’t it? First people gave Congress a chance, and after 15 years, they will realise what they have got from BJP. People have realised that this is not Atal-Advani BJP, this is the corrupt Modi-Shah BJP. From misusing ED, income tax, to bringing corrupt people into the party, they have done it all. When the public realised this, they gave up on the BJP ideology and came back to following Gandhi’s ideology.
What is there in the Congress manifesto that makes it better than the BJP’s?
I think there is no comparison between the two. They made one in between four walls whereas we travelled ten thousand kms, sat with Dalits, farmers, and tribals. Only then was the Congress manifesto made. And PM Modi is so overwhelmed that without having a look at our contents, he said that it is a manifesto of the Muslim League, even though the word ‘Muslim’ hasn’t been mentioned even once in it. There are pictures which depict the oneness of all religions. Here, there are plans of constructing better roads, of providing an annual sum of 1 lakh to the women belonging to lower economic classes, of stopping famers from committing suicides and freeing them from all their debts. We are even offering jobs in the army.
Congress is providing 50% reservation in government jobs to women. Do you think that Congress itself has ever under-represented women?
In any sector in this country, women have been and are still being under-represented. Our government had approved 33% reservation for women and had these laws been enacted 10 years back, a lot of our sisters would have been represented, but BJP kept it from happening. The law is there, but it hasn’t been given effect yet. They are taking away women’s rights. Over 250 women female candidates led by Priyanka Gandhi have been given the ticket in UP. BJP also gave the ticket to men like Ram Dulare, having cases of sexual crimes against minors.
PM Modi said that Congress is the head of ‘tukde-tukde’ gang. What are your thoughts on this?
Do you think someone promising 400+ seats will utter words such as ,’Muslim League, tukde-tukde’ gang? Commenting on what someone ate. When BJP government was in Karnataka, they chose what clothes our daughters would wear. They even attacked languages spoken in Karnataka. They attack stuff like these which is also an attack on the Constitution of the country. The PM cannot find words for important topics like unemployment, China crossing our border, justice to farmers, etc. so he is trying to create distractions like CAA, NRC, love jihad, and what not. Congress mentioned in its manifesto that it will recognise LGBTQ Union if elected.
So what will the Congress do in urban areas to recognize this Union?
We have come from the ages of sati pratha and several other social issues. To provide prominence to these issues and to create a sense of acceptability, we will talk about them and bring a sense of agreeability within the people. Whether it is a man or woman or third gender or even modern day concepts such as live-in, man liking man, or women liking women, we are giving some thought into such things.
