At a time when the Congress is planning a revamp of the party, its priority should be to strengthen the Seva Dal.
After the electoral debacle in Haryana and Maharashtra, the Congress party will likely witness major organizational changes. Young leaders in key posts, examination of “capabilities of leaders”, and fulfilment of the key objectives set at the party’s Udaipur Chintan Shivir in 2022. These are some things that are likely to happen in the new year for the Grand Old Party.
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In his inaugural speech at Thursday’s Congress Working Committee meeting in Belagavi, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said that 2025 will be “the year of our organization’s empowerment.”
“We will equip our organization with the necessary skills to win elections from AICC to Mandal and booth. We will have to find such people who are ideologically committed, who are ready to fight to protect the Constitution, who believe in the Congress Party’s Idea of India.Such people have to be connected to the party and brought into the mainstream”, Kahrge said.
Of the seven objectives set at the Udaipur declaration, the Congress has implemented four suggestions, including expanding the CWC to include 50% youth, women, SC, ST and OBC members.
However, one person, one post, restriction of tickets to families and the setting up an election management cell are yet to be implemented.
There is also a buzz that Congress General Secretary (Organisation) K.C. Venugopal is also likely to be replaced, and he is likely to work at the helm of the party’s state unit in Kerala, where the polls are due in 2026.
Maharashtra, where the party came down from 44 to 16. Satej Patil is likely to replace Nana Patole as state Congress chief.
The party also announced a campaign named Jai Bapu, Jai Bhim, and Jai Samvidhan. The campaign concludes at Mhow, the birthplace of Dr Ambedkar, on January 26, 2025, commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Constitution coming into force.
The campaign will include padayatras, village-level, block-level, district-level, and state-level rallies. Leaders at all levels–national, state, district, and grassroots–will lead this initiative.
An AICC session will be held in April 2025 in Gujarat, where the Congress has been out of power since 1995.
Remember, in July 2024, Rahul Gandhi stood up in the parliament and said that the India bloc would defeat the BJP in Gujarat. Another rally – Samvidhan Bachao Rashtriya Padayatra – will take place from January 26, 2025, to January 26, 2026.
At a time when the Congress is planning a revamp of the party, its priority should be to strengthen the Seva Dal.
The secret behind BJP’s resounding victory in Haryana and Maharashtra was, to a major extent, the RSS working on the ground and motivating the core voters to vote in favour of the BJP.
The Congress, which has lost grassroot connect, will have to revive its social organization, the Seva Dal, to connect with the people, spread the Congress ideology amongst the youth, and counter the BJP-RSS ideology.
Formed in 1923, the Seva Dal (then known as Hindustani Seva Dal) was first led by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.
Seva Dal had played a significant role in India’s freedom struggle, training Congress workers and instilling in them military discipline and the passion to fight for liberty through the ideals of truth and non-violence.
Several Congress stalwarts such as Rajguru, Rajendra Prasad and Subhash Chandra Bose were members of Seva Dal.
In 1931, the Congress Working Committee renamed the Hindustani Seva Dal as the Congress Seva Dal, making it the central volunteer organization of the Congress.
Every province was to have a general officer commanding the provincial Seva Dal.
The organization also focused specifically on three categories of people: children, adolescents and adults.
All Seva Dal members were required to take an oath, which, among other things, required them to stay aloof from political activity in the Congress.
Interestingly, RSS founder Dr K.B. Hedgewar was also associated with the Hindustani Seva Dal.
As time passed, the organization lost its significance. If Rahul Gandhi promotes the Seva Dal, he can rebuild not just the Seva dal but also attract a lot of Congress ideology young blood to the party, establish ground connect amongst the people.
And the best way to do it is to be at the helm of Seva dal, which will bring the media and people’s attention to the Seva Dal. And this move can once again bring Seva Dal back to the mainstream.
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