Congress aims to take issue of polarisation head on in Chintan Shivir

The party has chosen six subjects, constituted groups to submit their primary reports

ITDC INDIA EPRESS/ ITDC NEWS Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend a Global Covid Summit hosted by US President Joe Biden today. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate in the Second Global COVID Virtual Summit on May 12 at the invitation of the President of the USA, Joseph R Biden Jr,” the MEA said

 in a statement on Wednesday. Modi had participated in the first Covid Summit, which was held in September 2021.

The theme of the virtual summit will be ‘Preventing Pandemic Fatigue and Prioritising Preparedness’. PM Modi will deliver remarks at the opening session of the summit. “The Summit intends to galvanize new actions to address the continued challenges of the Covid pandemic and build a stronger global health security architecture,” the statement said.

"India is also proactively engaged in multilateral fora with the objective of strengthening and reforming the global health security architecture with WHO at its centre,” it added.

Delhi, on Wednesday, reported 970 fresh Covid cases and one death. Other participants are co-hosts of the event - Heads of State/Government of Belize in its capacity as Chair of CARICOM, Senegal as Chair of African Union, Indonesia as President of G20 and Germany as President of G7 respectively. Religious polarisation, its impact on elections, and the challenges before the Congress in dealing with the politically thorny issue are expected to at the heart of the discussions at the party's three-day Chintan Shivir to be held in Udaipur, Rajasthan from tomorrow.

A strong sentiment that has been expressed in the discussions held in the party is the need for the Congress to outline a clear-cut strategy on how to deal with the issue of Hindu majoritarianism coming to the aid of the ruling BJP, even when it is bogged down by bread-and-butter issues of economic distress, inflation, unemployment and farmers' woes. Preliminary talks ahead of the Chintan Shivir have revolved around how the issue of communal divide can be linked to inadequate progress on developmental indices.

AICC Communications Department head Randeep Surjewala said the Modi government, in order to put a lid over the “unfathomable challenges beyond its grasp or comprehension”, “promotes toxic religious divisions and bigotry to target India’s minorities, particularly the Muslims, Christians and the Sikhs.” He alleged that the BJP “sows the seeds of lethal religious divisions between Hindus and Muslims and uses this terminal politics in its quest for electoral victory”. He said that instead of focusing on issues of development, the BJP is driving a narrative that is based on topics such as "shamsan/kabristan, bulldozer, loudspeaker, mandir vs masjid vs church vs gurudwara, changing names of roads and monuments, creating division on the basis of clothing and food habits".

This trend driven by the ruling party is the biggest challenge before the country and before the Congress, he said. “As India is plagued by the painful lines of division and hatred, it is obligatory on the Indian National Congress to defend the ethos of the Indian Nation and find lasting solutions for peaceful co-existence.”

Surjewala said the essence of the Nav Sankalp Chintan Shivir was to live up to the expectations of the people by reviewing the party's organisational dexterity, capacity, capability and to adapt it to the current situation and challenges.