Secularism is core to Congress’s value system, Rahul Gandhi tells party’s top brass

Lok Sabha LoP and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi during the extended Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting, in Ahmedabad.
| Photo Credit: ANI

Secularism is core to the Congress, the party should not shy away from it and believers of every faith must find equal respect, former Congress chief and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi is said to have told his party colleagues in a closed-door brainstorming session on Tuesday (April 8, 2025).

Mr. Gandhi’s assertion that the Congress cannot be seen as the party of “one community/religion” came as the Extended Congress Working Committee (CWC) had an intense debate on the main resolution to be adopted at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) session on Wednesday.

In response to a question from CWC members, including Shashi Tharoor, on the party’s strategy to counter polarisation, Mr. Gandhi said his party colleagues should not be ambiguous on the religious identity of a person, if she or he is being attacked because of their faith.

“If a Muslim or a Christian or a Sikh is being attacked, we must clearly say it,” Mr. Gandhi was quoted as saying by a CWC member.

The Opposition leader reiterated that the Congress lost support among the Other Backward Classes (OBC) after 1991. He said the country could not progress by ignoring OBCs who are roughly 50% of the population, 22% Dalits and Adivasis form 22% and 15% minorities and reiterated his focus on social justice.

The AICC session would approve two resolutions: one on national issues, reflecting the party’s political, economic and social justice and another on Gujarat.

The main resolution would reiterate the party’s ideological framework, its position on contemporary political developments and lay down the road map to carry out organisational reforms. On organisational reforms, AICC general secretary K.C. Venugopal, addressing a press conference along with party’s communication chief Jairam Ramesh, announced that the party is going to have “massive organisational reshuffle”.

Reflecting the party’s strong views on a host of issues, sources said the resolution is likely to describe the passage of Waqf Amendment Act as part of BJP’s “polarising narrative” and mention the Union government’s response to international events such as reciprocal tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump, deaths of innocents in the Palestine-Israel conflict, targeting of minorities in Bangladesh and the face-off with China as “weak-kneed and submissive”.

The resolution would also include the party’s understanding of nationalism, promise of making minimum support price (MSP) for farmers a legal guarantee and talk about empowerment for women, who make up half of India’s population.

Calling itself the “guardian of democracy and defender of the Constitution,” the party has expressed concern over the functioning of autonomous institutions, including the Election Commission.