Seeking to keep a promise he made soon after the Congress’ impressive performance in the May Lok Sabha elections to energise the Youth Congress in Tamil Nadu, All India Congress Committee general secretary Rahul Gandhi started a tour of the State from Nagercoil on Tuesday.
He interacted with groups as wide-ranging as Youth Congress workers, women, students and beedi workers at Nagercoil, Tirunelveli, Virudhunagar and Madurai. Mr. Gandhi addressed a ‘Dalit youth leadership development conference’ in an event coinciding with the centenary celebrations of P. Kakkan, former State Home Minister, at the Gandhi Memorial Museum here. He preferred to interact directly with participants at all the meetings: the media were strictly barred. While he encouraged the youth to come forward and talk on the stage on any issue, he impressed upon the crowd to join politics. “Join active politics. Join the Congress. Work for the uplift of your society? Only you [youth] can shape the country in the right direction. Only you can achieve a super power India.”
Young fishermen in Nagercoil appealed to Mr. Gandhi to take steps to ban fishing activity by multinational companies as it affected the livelihood of fishermen. They urged him to stop sand-mining (for precious minerals) by Indian Rare Earths in the coastal areas of the district. The consequent radiation caused diseases such as cancer, they claimed.
At Tirunelveli, when he urged students to join the Congress, a girl pursuing an engineering course wanted to know whether those without money power would be given the ticket. She went on to say that most of the political parties offered seats only to those who offered money to the party. Momentarily stunned by the young woman’s frank feedback, Mr. Gandhi instantly asked: “If I give a seat, will you contest as a Congress candidate?” She replied: “Yes, if you’ve faith, we’ll work for the nation.”
Mr. Gandhi was moved by the plight of beedi workers they pointed out at Tirunelveli. He assured them that their grievances would be looked into.
At Virudhunagar, he promised that elections to the posts of State Youth Congress office-bearers would be held in a fair manner.
Addressing a well-attended gathering of students at the Madurai Kamaraj University, he said: “I don’t have any slogan like the American President Obama had: ‘We can?’ All I can say is: Indian youth can. You should come into the zone of confidence from the zone of fear.”
Inspector-General of Police (South Zone) S.S. Krishnamoorthy told The Hindu that elaborate security arrangements at all the points ensured that there was no untoward incident anywhere during Mr. Gandhi’s visit. After an overnight halt at Madurai, the young leader is expected to proceed to Thanjavur on Wednesday.
