The Congress Working Committee (CWC), which met on Wednesday, decided to expand the party’s “Chhatron Ki Goonj” campaign to 800 cities nationwide. Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi will address select events, while state leaders take charge in their own states and constituencies.
The CWC also directed all four Congress Chief Ministers (Telangana, Kerala, Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh) to hold month-long consultations with education experts, student bodies, and other stakeholders to draft a concrete education reform plan for their states.
Apology demanded from PM Modi over ‘purification ritual’
The party has demanded an apology from PM Narendra Modi over the “purification ritual” allegedly carried out by right-wing groups in Uttarakhand’s Haldwani after a rally addressed by party president Mallikarjun Kharge.
The party called the act a reflection of the Sangh Parivar’s “upper caste and discriminatory mindset”, alleging Modi’s own past insults against Kharge had “shown the path” to his supporters. The party has decided to sing only the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram at all its functions going forward.
The Congress has demanded that the Lok Sabha strength be frozen at 543 MPs, with one-third reservation for women implemented immediately within that number.