The Congress is ready to shun its rights-based approach and is gearing up for a new aspirational paradigm. Speaking exclusively to CNBC-TV18's Shereen Bhan, I&B minister Manish Tewari laid out the blueprint of the party's upcoming election manifesto.
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Below are the excerpts from the interviewQ: Looks like the Congress is going into these elections on a losing wicket. How does that then galvanize the troops within the Congress camp? Rahul Gandhi made a spirited attempt at trying to raise the spirits at the AICC session but perhaps the sense that one gets, is it too little to late?
A: The mood in the Congress is absolutely upbeat. We are absolutely optimistic. There is a need to look at the wider picture. Since 2009, 29 states went to polls in terms of the assembly elections, the Congress won 12 out of them, the BJP and its allies 8 and the other parties have won the remaining 10 or 11.
Therefore, it is true that the last round was not very good for us. It was not up to our expectations but there is no reason for the Congress to be diffident and the Congress is neither down, it is absolutely optimistic, upbeat.
We have run a very good government over the past 10 years and therefore, with the message of continuity and change we are going into these polls.
Q: With regards to the position of the Congress, there doesn’t just seem a problem of credibility issue but also a problem of identity crisis. If I could use the analogy of a brand and from a business perspective the positioning of the Congress party today stands diffused.
The aam aadmi position has in a sense been used up by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Arvind Kejriwal. The Congress seems to be stuck in a time war between Indira Gandhi's ideas of nationalisation and Rajiv Gandhi's vision of taking India into the 21st century. The voter is confused what does brand Congress today stand for?
A: Brand Congress stands for exactly what it has stood for over the past 10 years and that is equity, growth and inclusive growth and that is the mantra of the Congress party.
In the past 10 years, I don’t think there has ever been a period in India's economic history when you have recorded an average 8 percent growth and that growth is translated into far greater inclusiveness in so far as main streaming the under privileged or the disempowered are concerned. That essentially continues to be the thematic approach of the Congress party. Super imposed on that is the handover of the baton. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has very categorically said that he is not running for a third term.
The Congress is fighting the election under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi. Therefore, he is a brand and it is under his leadership that we are going into the 2014 elections.
Q: I don’t want to sound facetious here but let us just look at what has happened as far as positioning Rahul Gandhi is concerned. Some would say it has been a rookie's mistake, using the same slogan as the BJP, using the same slogan that was used by Narendra Modi for a Congress campaign that for the very first time projected Rahul Gandhi as the leader of the Congress party. So, the sense once again seems to be that it is a series of self goals and the Congress doesn’t seem to be learning, are these rookie mistakes?
A: Again you are missing the big picture. First of all the Congress unlike the BJP neither plagiarises nor do we have a Phd in plagiarism. What is the quibble about? The quibble is about a slogan which says, "Main nahi hum". If you look at the discourse over the past six months after the chief minister of Gujarat was anointed as the prime ministerial aspirant by his party, the entire discourse of the BJP has been I, me and myself.
If you look at the entire paradigm over the past 10 years the entire paradigm has been about empowerment, it is about we. Therefore, when we make that distinction between we and I, over which the BJP seems to have a proprietary right they run absolutely scared and drag out these foolish arguments of plagiarism which are neither here nor there.
Q: I don’t know how you can hold that argument or put forth that argument because the fact of the matter is that they did use that slogan before the Congress party did but be that as it may.
A: If you want to down that facetious route then allow me to point out that the Congress party in Indore way back in 2007 or 2008 had used the same slogan. Therefore, if you are going to go by copyright and proprietary rights then Congress has a greater proprietary right because we had used it far earlier than the BJP. However, that is not the point.
The point is about a basic philosophy, it is about the approach and the approach of the Congress party is we and empowerment and the approach of the BJP is concentration and centralisation of power in particular hands. That is the distinction.
Q: Is there a review within the Congress party on how to sell the idea of inclusive growth beyond a subsidy scheme, beyond an entitlement scheme, beyond doll?
A: What the Congress party has done or the UPA has done over the past 10 years has entitled and empowered people. We have not put people on dole, we have not put people onto the subsidy habit. We have tried to see that the disempowered get included into the system, they get mainstreamed and this has not come at the cost of economic growth.
Q: Are you saying that if the Congress were to come back to power, there is a UPA-III, we will see more of these entitlements schemes, more of these subsidy schemes being rolled out?
A: Are you going to see more entitlement programmes? Yes may be where they are required but from entitlement we are making the paradigm shift to aspiration if I am not revealing a very big trade secret ahead of the Congress election manifesto.
Q: Can you be a little more specific? Does that mean more private sector investment? Does it mean going away from administered pricing? Does it mean focus on job creation? Does it mean manufacturing growth? What exactly does this mean and how will all of these poll promises translate into reality?
A: It means all of that. It is going to emphasis more on FDI, it is going to emphasis on manufacturing, it is obviously going to have far more emphasis on job creation and more importantly less of government. The one big piece that UPA-III, if we get support of the people, is going to look at is will be how to streamline and have lesser government. So, that’s also going to be a very big piece which nobody has been talking about.
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