CHANDIGARH: Congress MP Jagmeet Singh Brar said, on Nov.26, that Prime Minister P.V.Narasimha Rao should step down as the party president 10 pave way for an active president.
Talking to newsmen here, Brar, who is aligned with Human Resources Development Minister Arjun Singh, said the present situation required the reorganization of the party apparatus at the national level before the Congress is wiped out.
He said the election meetings addressed by Rao were poorly attended in almost all the states and he must get rid of the sycophants. He felt that the party was very weak at the organizational level and there was no new agenda with the party. He was, however, all praise for Finance Minister Manmohan Singh.
The dissident Congress MP said he proposed to launch a statewide movement in Punjab from April next year for the welfare of the Punjabis and for getting justice to the state which had been discriminated against during the last 45 years. He said the Congress leadership had failed to be magnanimous with the people of Punjab who have a record of making sacrifices before and after Independence. “We have been completely misunderstood.” he said. He said to begin with, he would organize conferences “to feel the pulse of the people” at Sir hind, Chamkaur Sahib, Anandpur Sahib, Damdama Sahib and Mukisar, the places associated with Guru Gobind Singh as the movement would coincide with the 300th birth anniversary of the birth of the Khalsa in 1999. He would later start marches covering the entire state.
Brar, who has been invited by the British Government to discuss the human rights issue, he conceded that human rights violations had taken place in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir but said England and United States had no claims to be.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 3, 1993
