Thiruvananthapuram17 minutes ago
Congress MP from Thiruvananthapuram Shashi Tharoor said on Saturday that the party should learn from the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and move beyond caste and class to focus on issues affecting all Indians.
The Congress leadership has been placing greater emphasis on reaching out to Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and caste-based representation. However, Tharoor said the party also needs to move beyond issues associated with caste, religion, class and other specific groups.
In an interview with News18, Tharoor said Congress should focus on issues affecting ordinary Indians, the middle class, urban residents and professionals. He said these concerns affect people regardless of their caste or religion.
‘Focus on issues affecting all Indians’
Tharoor said he had been arguing for some time that the party needed to move beyond the interests of specific groups based on caste, religion, creed or tribal identity.
He said Congress should speak to ordinary Indians, middle-class people, urban residents and professionals about issues that affect everyone, regardless of caste or religion.
Tharoor said examinations affect people across communities, while inflation, rising prices and poor civic amenities are everyday concerns.
He also said Rahul Gandhi was right in pointing out that education had become expensive for the middle class, adding that Congress needed to address issues affecting everyone.
CJP raised an issue beyond caste and religion
Speaking about the CJP’s protests at Jantar Mantar, Tharoor said the movement had raised an issue unrelated to caste, religion, language, state or creed and had therefore attracted support from across the country.
He said all political parties could learn from this approach, while stressing that he was expressing his personal opinion and not speaking on behalf of or against any political party.
The CJP is a satirical political movement founded by Abhijit Dipke following a remark by Chief Justice of India Suryakant. The group later protested against the NEET paper leak, with demonstrations being held across the country.
Tharoor had suggested Congress join CJP protest
When asked whether Congress should have officially joined the CJP’s protest, Tharoor said he had suggested that the party participate.
He said both the CJP’s protest and Sonam Wangchuk’s fast had successfully captured public attention and imagination.
Tharoor said he was told that Congress stayed away because of a letter from the CJP leadership containing remarks the party found objectionable.
He said Congress’s decision was understandable, as political organisations have their own institutional interests. If the party believed the CJP was opposed to Congress as an institution, he said, it was understandable that Congress would not want to associate itself with the movement.
