Gujarat Congress state president Jagdish Thakor has once again made a statement that has put the Congress party on the backfoot. While addressing the ‘Sadbhavana Sabha’ held in Ahmedabad, Jagdish Thakor said, “Dr. Manmohan Singh said that minorities have the first right over the country’s resources, the Congress is still associated with that ideology.”
Reiterating Manmohan Singh’s statement, Jagdish Thakor said, “The former Prime Minister of this country (Manmohan Singh) used to say that minorities have the first right over the treasury of India. The Congress Prime Minister of this country spoke this loud and clear. The Congress also knows how much damage it caused to the party.”
In a hall packed with Muslim voters, Jagdish Thakor, without naming PM Modi or other leaders, said, “The lifeline of the one sitting in Delhi is here in Gujarat. We have to wipe out that.” As soon as this was said from the dais, there was a big round of applause in the auditorium. Besides, Congress president Thakor also said that there are 60 seats with more than 20,000 votes from the minority communities and congress is going to organize such programs in all those seats. He appealed to invite every group of Muslims to such events.
Gujarat Congress president Jagdish Thakor did not stop there. He promised houses to Muslims, saying, “In Ahmedabad, wherever there are slums in the minority areas, that too in a bad condition, write down the names of the areas and make sure that the Congress forms the government in the state and in next one year the Congress will give houses with rooms and kitchens in a 10-floors building.”
Dr. Manmohan Singh, while holding the post of prime minister, tried to woo Muslim votes towards Congress by saying that minorities had the first right to the country’s resources. The Congress party has a long history of Muslim appeasement. Now, Jagdish Thakor has also reiterated the same statement and made it clear that Congress has not shied away from this ideology at all.
The performance of the Congress in Gujarat has been steadily deteriorating. Congress has not been able to perform well in any of the elections in the last five years. After winning 65 seats in the 2017 assembly elections, the party performed very poorly in all subsequent elections. Now, the party seems to have again started to rely on appeasement to get votes.
It is the Congress that has been hovering over other parties accusing them of spreading animosity between different communities. Now the same Congress party started the politics of appeasement months before the state assembly elections. While minority and especially Muslim voters have always been on the Congress side, Congress has already started making efforts to woo these votes towards itself.
Further, Jagdish Thakor also said that Dr. Manmohan Singh’s statement caused serious damage to the party; even though he has cherished the same ideology! So the question here also arises whether Congress no longer understands the importance of Hindu votes. Anyway. The political situation in the country was different when Dr. Manmohan Singh made the statement. It is very different today. In today’s time, it would not be surprising if it proves to be more harmful than beneficial for Congress to revive such statements.
