Ahead of the 2019 general elections, the Congress is working on expanding its support base by reaching out to new sections of the electorate, even as it seeks to strengthen traditional vote bases. On Thursday, Congress president Sonia Gandhi approved the renaming of the All India Congress Committee’s (AICC) ST (Scheduled Tribe) Department as the Adivasi Congress Department (ACD), constituted a Research Department, and created two new departments — the Overseas Congress Department and the Fishermen’s Department.
The appointment of former Cabinet Minister and former general secretary V. Kishore Chandra Deo as the Chairman of the Adivasi Congress, as well as the change in its name, suggests the party wishes to give this department a higher profile and a centrality in its functioning.
Speaking to The Hindu , Mr. Deo said his mandate was to both educate tribals about their Constitutional and other legal rights as well as organise agitations when the department came across cases of denial of rights or justice, adding, “Today, for instance, an NGO gave us information that a district magistrate was blocking the collection of tendu leaves by tribals: for such cases, we will adopt an ‘agitational’ approach.”
The ACD will also monitor cases where mining is disrupting the lives of tribals. It will also tell tribals about the many laws — such as the Forest Rights Act — that the previous Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government had enacted during its tenure.
Mr. Deo will have five vice-chairmen assisting him — Mahendrajeet Singh Malviya from Rajasthan, Shyam Sunder Hansdah from Odisha, Bellaih Naik from Telangana, Manoj Mandavi from Chattisgarh and Atuwa Munda from Assam.
Similarly, the new Research Department will replace the Research and Coordination Department, the Research and Reference Department and the Department of Policy, Planning and Coordination (DEPCO), populated by some of the seniormost people in the party.
Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Gowda has been appointed Chairman of the Research Department: the role of Mr. Gowda, whose responsibility earlier was to research issues for Parliament, would expand with the appointment of an advisory committee of party seniors.
Preparing reports
Earlier, Mr. Gowda had headed the party’s research team that produced the detailed ‘Real State of the Economy’ report a few months ago, “a sort of surgical strike on the government’s numbers”. To produce that report, former PM Manmohan Singh and former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram were consulted. Currently, he is engaged in preparing a report on the Jat, Maratha, Patel and other agitations in the country. Another report will be on the BJP-led NDA’s track record on corruption.
The Overseas Indians Department, headed by Sam Pitroda, is to counter the influence of the BJP’s friends abroad.
