After having been beaten black and blue on the issue of corruption and black money, the Congress leadership is now keen to change the discourse in the public domain from corruption and bring it back to its original agenda of development and good governance, which has been derailed over the last year or so.
In a booklet titled The congress view on present situation I, the All India Congress Committee has said that while action on corruption and black money is indeed important, "we must not forget that the main objectives of good government are inclusive of growth, development, employment and abolition of poverty".
The party has decided to distribute this booklet throughout the country. A source said that senior leaders and state in-charges would hold press conferences and public rallies throughout June.
It goes on to say that there are other social objectives such as gender equality, sustainable development, preservation of the environment and the eco-system.
It says that in the last seven years of the United Progressive Alliance, it has taken historic initiatives to further these objectives and to benefit the aam admi.
Among these are the Right To Information act, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee act, the Right To Education act, the Universalisation of Primary Education, and Anganwadi centre.
Others are pensions to the elderly, disabled and widows, expansion of scholarships for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Castes and the minorities and higher minimum support price for agricultural products and low interest loans.
It says the path breaking food security bill will be passed shortly.
The booklet which was prepared by Union Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, launches a strong attack on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-Bharatiya Janata Party combine and cautions the people on the dangers of communalism, religious fundamentalism and right wing extremism.
It says it is these forces which create the conditions for the rise of terrorism. The Congress says after the Mumbai terror attack the Congress took a number of steps to confront both communalism and terrorism.
It says that at the moment, right wing fundamentalist forces are under pressure for two reasons, "The first is they have lost political ground and are unable to win elections. The second reason is they have been accused in several terrorist cases including the bomb blasts in Malegaon, Mecca Masjid and the Samjhauta Express.
The booklet says the RSS is the fountainhead of the sinister design to push India into the medieval age while the BJP is the chosen political instrument.
The present attempt by the RSS to denigrate democratic institutions, elections, elected representatives, Parliament and Parliamentarians and the constitution itself and to dub all of these as a failure, is part of their grand design to usurp power through undemocratic means, it says.
It says the nation needs good governance. "We cannot remain satisfied with the status quo and we can always do better.
Mukherjee met President Pratibha Patil for almost two hours on late Thursday night to give her a point by point rejoinder to the memorandum submitted by the BJP to the President on black money issue.
"The Congress, as well as the government has decided to become proactive and aggressively counter the BJP, the civil society and self-styled babas, and put their point of view forward clearly and candidly," said a senior leader.
