Rahul Gandhi formally resigns, makes his letter public

Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday formally resigned, holding himself responsible for the party’s Lok Sabha poll debacle and maintained that accountability would be critical for the party’s future growth.

In a four-page open letter, Gandhi said he had empowered the Congress Working Committee (CWC) to constitute a group of people that could find his successor and distanced himself from the process of selecting the next chief.

“As President of the Congress Party, I am responsible for the loss of the 2019 election. Accountability is critical for the future growth of our party. It is for this reason that I have resigned as Congress President,” said Mr. Gandhi in his letter.

“Rebuilding the party requires hard decisions and numerous people will have to be made accountable for the failure of 2019. It would be unjust to hold others accountable but ignore my own responsibility as President of the party,” he said.

He said the Congress must reclaim the institutions but for that to happen, the party must transform.

“It is an honour for me to serve the Congress Party, whose values and ideals have served as the lifeblood of our beautiful nation. I owe the country and my organisation a debt of tremendous gratitude and love. Jai Hind 🇮🇳” tweeted Rahul Gandhi with attached pictures of his resignation letter.

“To achieve this important task, the Congress Party must radically transform itself. Today the BJP is systematically crushing the voice of the Indian people. It is the duty of the Congress Party to defend these voices. India has never and will never be one voice. It is and always will be a symphony of voices. That is the true essence of Bharat Mata,” the letter read.

“A free and fair elections requires the neutrality of a country’s institutions; an election cannot be fair without arbiters — a free press, an independent judiciary, and a transparent election commission that is objective and neutral. Nor can an election be free if one party has a complete monopoly on financial resources,” he said.

“We didn’t fight a political party in the 2019 election. Rather, we fought the entire machinery of the Indian state, every institution of which was marshalled against the opposition. It is now crystal clear that our once cherished institutional neutrality no longer exists in India,” he stated.

“It is a habit in India that the powerful cling to power, no one sacrifices power. But we will not defeat our opponents without sacrificing the desire for power and fighting a deeper ideological battle. I was born a Congressman, this party has always been with me and is my lifeblood and forever that way it shall remain,” he said and ended by thanking all.

Taking to Twitter, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, sister of Rahul Gandhi, lauded his courage and said, “Few have the courage that you do Rahul Gandhi. Deepest respect for your decision.”

In his Twitter account, Rahul Gandhi’s designation as “president” of Congress was also changed to “Member of Congress and Member of Parliament”.