NEW DELHI: Congress chief Rahul Gandhi is set to sound the 2019 poll bugle with two big rallies in Delhi next week.
After the “political” move to seek the impeachment of Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, Rahul is expected to brand Prime Minister Narendra Modi as anti-Dalit at the mega “Save Constitution” rally in Delhi’s Talkatora Stadium on April 23.
Nitin Raut, the newly-appointed head of the party’s Scheduled Caste department, is organising the event at Talkatora Stadium, where the Congress chief will highlight atrocities against the Scheduled Catses under the BJP regime and the weakening of the law meant to protect them. Workers and leaders from all over the country will converge for the event to send out a strong message to the community.
The April 29 show of strength, being dubbed by party managers as “Jan Akrosh” rally, aims to channelise public anger against Modi’s policies over the past four years.
“It is our build-up against the Modi government. Rahul believes the public mood has taken a definitive anti-Modi turn and the right time to strike is now,” a Congress insider told this paper.
On Rahul’s table are Modi’s policies related to the economy, security, foreign affairs, lack of social cohesion, neglect of Parliament and the hollow promises made in 2014, he added.
Accordingly, Ashok Gehlot, who was recently appointed AICC general secretary in charge of organisation, is supervising the mobilisation of men and material from all over the country to stage a big show at Delhi’s Ram Lila grounds next Sunday.
“This will be Rahul’s first public rally as Congress president. He is expected to launch a scathing attack on the Modi government,” said a senior AICC functionary.
Sources close to Rahul explained that though the leader had addressed the Congress Plenary Session in March, it was more of an in-house show.
According to a party strategist, Rahul’s nod to the impeachment motion against the CJI was a hint to both the BJP as well as the other Opposition parties that the Congress alone was capable of launching and leading an anti-Modi front at the national level.
“The April 29 AICC rally is an attempt to reclaim lost ground,” said a former Union minister.