'Catch them young' strategy of the Congress to counter RSS-BJP

NEW DELHI: The Congress is into war mode with the RSS on ideological front and has started a series of programmes to counter the RSS-BJP ideology and attract youth and children in the age group of 7 to 18 into its fold. The party believes that young talent can be potential party workers and leaders as the present day party is lacking talent.

Recently Congress inducted Kanhaiya Kumar, a left student leader and a good orator from JNU in the party. It has Hardik Patel and Jignesh Mewani is also set to join officially ahead of Gujarat polls.

Congress General Secretary K.C. Venugopal has written to all state party units to establish Jawahar Bal Manch (JBM) in their respective state. "Jawahar Bal Manch is one of its kind of corollary organisation affiliated to the AICC with the sole objective of providing and ensuring holistic learning and developmental environment to those who belong to the age group of 7-18," he said.

"JBM owes its mission vision spirit and fervour to the ideals of Jawaharlal Nehru who always stood for catching them young and grooming them as future architects of India," it said further.

"In addition to providing holistic learning and developmental opportunities, JBM envisions and aspires to inculcate in children the essence as well as idea of India, in addition to streamlining and moulding their community along with nurturing their cultural and artistic aspirations," Venugopal asked the state unit to support the JBM.

The Jawahar Bal Manch will work towards building future leaders in the country. Children are the future of the country. They are and should always remain at the forefront of nation building and they will give a new direction to our country. The JBM aims to create a strong network of organisation across the country.

The Manch was active in Kerala and now the party wants to take it pan India. It seeks to inculcate in children the qualities of social values, creativity and innovation, personal effectiveness, proactive participation in social and national causes, adherence to democratic, secular and socialist ideals and to take pride in the nation. The need to ingrain in young minds the concepts fraternity, equality and compassion is one of the key purposes of the gatherings of this group.

The Congress started this campaign in December under the chairmanship of G.V. Hari. The JBM has given good talents in Kerala where it was started and Congress MP from the state Ramya Haridas is one of the them from the organisation who has won

Lok Sabha

polls.

Jothimani, MP from Tamil Nadu, said: "Ramya Haridas, the young MP in Lok Sabha, is the gift of Jawahar Bal Manch and in the times to come, the Manch would work to produce more such leaders who would provide a direction to the country".

This organisation aims to work towards sensitising the children about the importance of diversity, inclusiveness, equality, justice and secularism, in the idea of India, so that the basic spirit of the Constitution is protected in future, she added.

"These days the life of likes of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi are being misrepresented through lies, misinformation and photoshopping. There is a conspiracy at play. By deliberate distortion these haloed leaders' lives are being presented in poor light so that the Congress Party is targeted. There is a deliberate design to remove these leaders from the pages of history and Jawahar Bal Manch will work as a bulwark against such distortion efforts," said Hari.

The JBM was constituted 2 months back under the guidance of Rahul Gandhi. "We will create an active organisation in the whole of India. He said that the Manch is dedicated to work and engage with children between age group of 7 to 18 years," said G.V. Hari.

"The main motto of this organisation is to help build the future of nation through children who need to be brought up with laughter and love, with the melody and beat of songs; without discrimination of any kind, whether physical, mental, or emotional, among the myriad colours of life available to them, so that they grow up to be a worthy citizen," Hari added.