The Hindu : Let's bring back Kamaraj rule, says Sonia

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Aug 15, 2002

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Let's bring back Kamaraj rule, says Sonia

By Radha Venkatesan

The Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, waving to the crowd at a meeting on Wednesday in Madurai where the Congress and the TMC merger was announced. Others present are (from left) the AICC Secretary, Ramesh Chennithala, the TMC chief, G.K. Vasan, Mani Shankar Aiyer, MP, and the TNCC president, E.V.K.S. Elangovan .— Photo: K .Ganesan. .

Madurai Aug. 14. Marking a new phase in Tamil Nadu politics, the Tamil Maanila Congress rejoined the parent Congress at a huge rally here even as the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, appointed its president, G.K.Vasan, as a new AICC secretary.

At the merger mela on the outskirts of the temple town, Ms. Gandhi not only assured all the erstwhile TMC men "due respect and positions" but also assigned them the task of "re-establishing" Congress rule in Tamil Nadu where the party has been out of power in the past 35 years now.

(The TMC, a breakaway outfit of the Congress, launched by the former AICC general secretary, G.K. Moopanar, has merged under the leadership of his son, Mr. Vasan.)

Amid a wave of applause, Ms. Gandhi said: "History is beckoning us. Let us prepare for the challenge of tomorrow and work towards re-emerging as the major political force in the State.'' As for the sceptics, she said: "I know we can do it. And, we will do it". Ms. Gandhi did not launch a frontal attack on her former ally and the ruling AIADMK, but focussed on the "sufferings" of farmers in the drought-hit districts of Tamil Nadu and the State Government's "wrong policies" in paddy procurement. Touching on the starvation faced by weavers following the withdrawal of the free "dhoti and saree" scheme, Ms. Gandhi asked "every Congressman" to go to the villages to buy handloom clothes and alleviate the sufferings of the weavers. She then contrasted the "distress" faced by the people in Tamil Nadu with the "programmes of development" during the erstwhile Kamaraj regime and in the Congress-ruled States now.

"During the Congress rule, Tamil Nadu was one among the three best governed States in the country. It is up to all of us to put Tamil Nadu once again on the path of development." And, the 14 States under Congress rule now were "working for the welfare of people," she added. "We in Tamil Nadu should, one day, bring in Congress rule again in the State," was her refrain. The "best tribute" to Kamaraj in his birth centenary year, was "to re-establish" his rule in the State.

All the Congress leaders who addressed the rally, including the AICC secretary, Ramesh Chennithala, the TNCC president, E.V.K.S. Elangovan, and Mr. Vasan gave a call for ending Dravidian rule in the State and restoring "Kamaraj rule". As the one-hour rally ended, a section of the crowd hailed Mr. Vasan as the "future Chief Minister" of Tamil Nadu.

Attacks NDA Govt.

In Pondicherry, Ms. Gandhi mounted a scathing attack on the BJP-led NDA Government at the Centre describing it as "most insensitive"' and "indifferent" to the needs of the States. Formalising the merger of the Puducherry Makkal Congress with the Congress, she said that never before the country had such a "heartless" government at the Centre.

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