Hyderabad: Highlighting the need for the existence of a strong opposition, a group of citizens launched ‘Jago Congress’, a unique petition to revive and rejuvenate the Congress party as India’s prime opposition.
The petition is rolled out on Monday (January 25) to mark the National Voters Day and the foundation day of the Election Commission of India, and symbolize the importance of democratic values and processes. The Jago India team is based out of India, US, UK, and Singapore, united with a vision of a vibrant democratic India.
“Some people think it is impossible to revive the Congress. It is a valid concern. We are a little more hopeful. New leaders emerge in difficult situations. An external spark might just revive the Congress,” their website mentions.
To symbolize the roll out, over 200 people signed petitions across the country. The petition is addressed to Sonia Gandhi and all the members of the Congress Working Committee including former Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh.
Besides these, the team will continue its mission and engage with people constructively with more action-oriented activities in the coming days and months.
The main objective behind the campaign is to mobilize one million signatures to petition the Congress party and its President to gear up to offer strong opposition to the government in power.
The petition is put up on change.org. The petition is also available in Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu, Marathi, Punjabi, and Urdu. “India needs a strong opposition to be a successful democracy. And only a successful democracy can guarantee individual rights and freedoms”, says the petition
Demands:
1. Have free and fair elections for key posts especially that of the Congress Working Committee and President.
2. A term limit of two on a president will also allow fresh talent to come up in the party.
3. No two immediate family members should hold key posts at the same time.
We demand minimum action to be taken by Congress Party by the 75th Independence Day, failing which we the people of India will explore other options, says their official statement.