Congress president Sonia Gandhi evoked Jawaharlal Nehru’s championship of the secular and democratic cause at a two-day international conference to commemorate the first Prime Minister’s 125th birth anniversary that began here on Monday.
“Secularism was and remains more than an ideal, it is a compelling necessity for our country,” Ms. Gandhi said as she quoted Nehru to say he had promised to fight for it ‘to the last breath.’
In the run-up to the conference that has 55 international delegates from 12 countries, the Congress had sent invitations to most political parties in India, except those who are BJP allies or sympathisers while stressing it wasn’t inviting Prime Minister Narendra Modi or his party.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of the Trinamool Congress, CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat and Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury, CPI’s D. Raja — all from parties with which the Congress had a bitter parting in recent years — were present.
While Mr. Karat sat next to Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Mr. Yechury and Mr. Raja were seen seated next to Ms. Banerjee in the front row among delegates and invitees.
The former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (Secular) chief H.D. Deve Gowda, JD(U) president Sharad Yadav, NCP general secretary D.P. Tripathi and RJD MP Jaiprakash Narayan Yadav attended the opening plenary of the conference. Leaders from the SP, BSP, DMK, NC and the PDP were, however, not present.
In her opening address, Ms. Gandhi said “the whisper of knowledge about Nehru’s life and work has weakened in recent years in our country, drowned out by misrepresentation and distortion” a reference to the recent attempts by political rivals to point out Nehru’s mistakes during his 17 years as Prime Minister.
Elaborating on the remark, Congress leader M. Veerappa Moily later said: “There has been distortion of facts. It was Patel who banned RSS. There are people who think they can shout and replace knowledge. That would be a disaster for the country.”
