With the absence of an English version of the Udaipur Declaration on the concluding day of the Nav Sankalp chintan shivir raising questions, Congress functionaries were hard pressed to offer an explanation on Monday.
In a first, the Udaipur Declaration document was only in Hindi and the Nav Sankalp chintan shivir stood out from all the previous chintan shivirs in that sense.
Dismissing media reports that the Declaration was made available only in Hindi to reach out to the Hindi belt States, an office bearer told The Hindu that the English version could not be circulated among delegates and the media because of discrepancies.
Sources confirmed that an English version was read out at the meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) that approved the final Declaration. However, different versions are given to explain what followed thereafter.
Leaders involved in the preparation process claimed that the 15-page resolution was very ‘poorly’ drafted and would have had to be completely rewritten. However, there was not enough time to do so as the CWC meet ended well after 1:30 in the afternoon and the final session of the shivir was expected to start by 3pm.
A few CWC members, however, claimed that ‘minor’ changes and corrections were suggested before it could be circulated among delegates.
“Most of our Lok Sabha members are from Kerala and Tamil Nadu and they couldn’t follow what was being said in the Declaration. We have said that copies in English will be made available,” said a delegate who did not wish to be named.
