Belagavi AICC session centenary message

The Belagavi AICC session centenary celebrations event on December 26-27, 2024 has a larger message for the nation. This session is historic not only because Mahatma Gandhi presided over the Congress the only time at All-India Congress Committee’s (AICC) 39th session on December 26-27, 1924, in Bela-gavi in Karnataka, but also, perhaps, because from a political platform, Gandhiji unveiled a social agen-da. This is unique, as political parties normally are engaged in power politics. But Gandhiji brought the social agenda on the centre-stage on a political platform.

The extended Congress Working Committee meeting in Belagavi is being organised on December 26, which is to be followed by a public meeting on December 27, to commemorate the occasion. Gandhiji spent a lifetime in improving the living conditions of the Dalits. Indeed, it is gratifying that a Dalit leader of the stature of Mallikarjun Kharge is Congress president, as the party celebrates the Belagavi AICC Session Centenary. A hands-on Dalit leader, with 50 years of Legislative and Parliamentary experience, Kharge has risen from being block Congress committee president to become Congress president. Per-haps, this is an occasion to step back from politics, which has earned a bad name, in order to focus more on rebranding politics as the medium of social service. This would help inspire youth, women and the middle-class enter politics, just as these sections did during the freedom struggle. This was the Belagavi AICC Session message in 1924, which is so relevant to this day, even after the span of 100 years.

Unless and until good people like academics, professionals, public intellectuals and social activists enter politics, it would be difficult to change the direction of politics and of the political discourse in the coun-try. Presently, it is centered around divisive and hate agenda. The Congress High Command sees it as an occasion to spread the ideals of social cohesion, economic self-reliance and the idea of India that is rooted in liberal, secular value system, among the youth, women and the middle-class.

Efforts need to be made to counter the fake news and the online abuse being mounted by vested in-terests, aimed at openly breeding hatred and idolising the assassins of Gandhiji and running down and rejecting the legacy of the Mahatma. Manipur is up in flames, but no serious government attempt is underway to normalise the situation in the North-Eastern State. At a time like the present, when Gandhiji's legacy is at stake, the Belagavi AICC session centenary celebrations assume tremendous sig-nificance. It signals the need for reviving the Gandhian ideals of truth, non-violence and love in dealing with the contemporary political challenges, to re-establish the relevance of the Gandhian values.

Walking in the footsteps of Gandhiji, Rahul Gandhi took out the Kanyakumari to Kashmir Bharat Jodo Yatra and from Manipur to Maharashtra Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra. Rahul Gandhi declared, “Nafrat ki Baazaar mein mohobat ki dukaan khol raha hun (In the Marketplace of Hatred, I am opening a shop that sells love)”. Gandhiji endeavoured for social justice, when he opposed untouchability and cam-paigned for communal harmony. Taking it forward, Rahul is making out a strong case for level-playing field for the weaker and vulnerable sections of society through caste census.

Perhaps, that is the grandest programme to carry forward the cause of Social Justice. Time and again, the Congress is driving home the point that Gandhian values and vision have continued relevance to society. The biggest challenge being posed today is to the hallowed ideal of Hindu-Muslim unity. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru described Mughal Emperor Akbar as the Father of the Indian nationalism, as he was the first to recognise that Hind-Muslim unity is the foundation of Indian nationhood.

In our own times, Mahatma Gandhi recognized that Hind-Muslim unity is the basis of the Indian na-tionhood. Gandhiji forged Hindu-Muslim unity by extending the Congress support to the Khilafat Movement. It had an electrifying effect on the Indian independence movement. As the Muslims moved away from the trappings of the Muslim League and plunged headlong into the freedom strug-gle, the Congress itself was transformed into a mass-based organisation. From a party of prayers and petitions, it was turned into a mass organization.

The significance of the Belagavi AICC session is that for the first time, Mahatma Gandhi integrated and made social reform programme central to politics. For Gandhiji, politics was not mere power play. For him, politics was a medium for social reform and social service. He unveiled his Vision for Free India by coming up with an 18-Point Constructive Programme, which included Hindu-Muslim unity, removal of untouchability, prohibition, popularisation of khadi, village sanitation and village industries aimed at rural transformation, Nai Talim or basic education, adult education, women’s education and empow-erment and Hindustani as the national language.

At the Belagavi session, from the chair, Gandhiji moved the Resolution for Removal of Untouchability. Long before Indian independence and the drafting of the Constitution, Gandhiji set the benchmark that equality and equal rights to the people is the basis for social cohesion. If you contrast this with the American record, it will show how advanced the Congress is. For the United States of America, with the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, came the promise of equality and equal rights to all. But, it took nearly 100 years for the Abolition of Slavery on December 6, 1865. The Congress committed itself to universal adult franchise and women got equal voting rights in the Constitution. But, for Amer-ica, it took 144 years after the American Declaration of Independence for giving voting rights to women on August 18, 1920.

The Belagavi AICC Session marks Gandhiji's deeper engagement with the freedom struggle. He sought to prepare Post-Independence India for national reconstruction, at a time when Independence was nowhere in sight. Gandhiji had the foresight to talk of national reconstruction. In the Belagavi AICC Session, Mahatma Gandhi brought on political centre-stage the Social Agenda for India. For Gandhiji and the Congress, political Independence was not a goal in itself, but just the starting point for bringing about socio-economic and cultural transformation in the country.

In his speech, Gandhiji highlighted Hindu-Muslim unity, boycott of foreign goods, popularization of khadi and village industries, prohibition and spoke against untouchability. He also gave a clarion call to support national education based on his concept of Nai Taleem. Several prominent leaders, including Pandit Motilal Nehru, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Sarojini Naidu, Lala Lajpat Rai, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and Maulana Azad attended the Belagavi Congress Session. In 1923, the Congress decided to hold Flag Satyagraha.

A flag was hoisted in Nagpur on June 18, 1923. Dr Narayan Subbarao Hardikar, who started the Rashtra Seva Dal, hoisted the flag in Hubali. The British rulers arrested Dr N S Hardikar. The judge was willing to pardon Dr Hardikar if he apologised. Unlike Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, who apologised, Dr N S Hardi-kar refused to apologise and instead chose to go to jail.

On December 28, 1923, the Congress Session took place in Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh. It was presid-ed over by Mohammad Ali Jauhar. He belonged to the Aligarh Movement and was drawn to the Con-gress, with the party extending support to the Khilafat Movement. Dr Hardikar was specially invited for the Kakinada AICC Session. A special responsibility was entrusted upon Dr Hardikar – to raise a band of disciplined and ideologically-driven youth. It was in the Kakinada AICC Session that a resolution was passed for setting up the Seva Dal. Sarojini Naidu named it as Hindustani Seva Dal, which was later re-christened as Congress Seva Dal. However, it was in Belagavi AICC Session in 1924 that the Seva Dal was formally constituted, with Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru as the chairman. The Seva Dal earned a name for itself by taking up responsibility for sanitation at the Belagavi AICC Session.

In a way, this is also the centenary of the Congress Seva Dal, as well, alongside the Belagavi AICC Ses-sion centenary. So, the occasion marks double celebrations for the Congress. It is also time to hark back to recommit ourselves to the ideals of the Congress Seva Dal of dedication and ideological com-mitment and the Gandhian ideals of truth, non-violence and love, as the Congress braces to boldly confront the contemporary political challenges. That is the larger message of the Belagavi AICC session centenary celebrations.

(Writer is a Special Invitee to the Congress Working Committee and is former MLC and former APCC President. Views are personal)