Tharoor's shoes impossibly large to fill, says Professional Congress new chief

New Delhi: Congress' Praveen Chakravarty, who took charge as the Chairman ofAll India Professional Congress (AIPC) on Thursday, said party leader Shashi Tharoor did a stellar job in organising professionals and "his shoes were impossibly large to be filled".

Chakravarty was appointed as the new chairman of the AIPC by replacing Tharoor.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had approved Chakravarty's appointment as the chairman of the AIPC on Wednesday night.

After taking charge as the Chairman of the AIPC, Chakravarty in a statement said: “The Indian National Congress came into being as an organisation of the professional classes, steeped in liberal thought who endeavoured to learn the art of governing - Journal of Asian Studies, 1966.”

AIPC is a frontal organisation that acts as a bridge between working professionals and the party.

Chakravarty, who headed the Data Analytics Department of the Congress and said that professionals have played a pioneering and a pivotal role in securing independence for our country, in the founding of our Republic and in the building of our nation.

He cited the roles of several professionals who were members of Congress and played an important role in independence.

Chakravarty, who is an alumnus of BITS Pilani and Wharton School in Philadelphia said that post Independence, the Republic of India was nurtured, nourished and built by many professionals.

“One of modern India's greatest nation builders, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, is a quintessential professional,” Chakravarty, who replaced Tharoor after his elevation as a Working Committee (CWC) member in August earlier this year said.

He further said that exactly a hundred years ago in 1923, nearly half of the 338 AICC members were professionals.

“Today, of the nearly 2000 AICC members, just a handful are. At a time when there is an attack on the very idea of a diverse, democratic India that we cherish, it is incumbent upon professionals to step up and be counted in this struggle to reclaim our nation,” Chakravarty, who joined Congress in 2018 and was appointed as the chairperson of the party's Data Analytics Department said.

He said that professionals bring a modern, forward looking, future first outlook who understand the primacy of economic development and prosperity, which is what our nation needs.

There are lakhs of professionals who care for the future of our nation and want to get involved and want to contribute and build. The AIPC is precisely that platform, he said.

Chakravarty further said that AIPC was pioneered and chaired by an exemplary professional who devoted himself to public life -- Tharoor.

“AIPC under Tharoor has done a stellar job in organising professionals into a formal group. It is now time to turn it into a formidable group. As I embark on expanding the ambit of AIPC, I look forward to his continuing guidance and mentorship to me and the organisation,” he said.

He said that he envisions AIPC to be a platform for professionals' engagement in nation building through the twin realms of actions and ideas.

“AIPC will belong to the entire gamut of professionals -- business, arts, sports, academia, civil society, media, medicine, law and others -- organised by domains and geography. AIPC will strive to be the first port of call for any professional that wants to contribute, in whatever form or size, to the cause of a modern, liberal India,” he said, adding that it will provide avenues for professionals to participate in a broad spectrum of activities from digital activism to street activism, hashtag campaigns to ground campaigns, virtual events to physical marches and rallies, community organising to political participation, shaping online discourse to electoral manifesto ideas.

“As someone who stepped into active politics after more than two decades as a private sector professional, I know what it takes to contribute meaningfully to the larger national interest through the platform of a liberal political party,” he said.

Chakravarty is also credited with drafting Congress' NYAY scheme along with former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and had served with the Manmohan Singh-led government on the unique identification programme.