Rahul Gandhi winks at fellow Congress member Jyotiraditya Scindia after the hug. (Photo | PTI)
NEW DELHI: To win back urban voters in the 2019 national polls, Congress president Rahul Gandhi is taking the economic route. At a recent national congregation of office-bearers of the newly created All-India Professionals’ Congress (AIPC), Rahul urged them to launch a series of dialogues with the urban voters to educate them on the negative impact of demonetisation and flawed GST on the economy and how the Centre was squeezing the middle class with a slew of taxes.
“Demonetisation hit small industries and took away millions of jobs even as no new jobs were created by the government. The flawed GST has created hardships for small traders,” said an AIPC office-bearer.
The interactive sessions will also be used by AIPC members to elicit views of the urban voters on policies of the Modi government so that the Congress may come out with corrective action in the party manifesto for 2019.
Within a year, the AIPC, headed by Shashi Tharoor, has grown into 50 chapters across the country with around 5,000 members. Though it has a limited role — it cannot launch mass movements like state units — it helps the party provide a platform to professionals who may have a political mind.
“There may be some young professionals who may not be satisfied with the direction our country is moving in. We provide them a platform to come together,” Salman Soz, AIPC coordinator for the northern region, told The Sunday Standard. “In the process, we find talented youngsters who may want to associate with the Congress.”
Since its inception, the unit has held a ‘save the tree’ campaign in Delhi and organised workshops to help the salaried class deal with income tax related issues in some cities, besides several seminars on social and civic issues in Mumbai and Lucknow. The members also helped the party prepare its manifesto for the Karnataka elections.
