Congress Remembers Sitaram Kesri At Party HQ For The First Time

New Delhi: As the Bihar elections draw near, the Congress, in a surprise move, observed the 25th death anniversary of its former president Sitaram Kesri. Kesri, who was unceremoniously removed as party president in March 1998 to make way for Sonia Gandhi, was remembered for the first time at the party headquarters on 24 Akbar Road.

Congress’s attempt to reclaim Kesri’s legacy comes as Rahul Gandhi gives importance to social justice politics, an area in which the late leader excelled. Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, Congress General Secretary K.C. Venugopal, Bihar MP Tariq Anwar, and other senior leaders paid floral tributes to Kesri at the party headquarters, a gesture many see as politically significant ahead of the Bihar elections.

Speaking to the media, Venugopal said that Rahul Gandhi and other leaders paid homage to Kesri, while Tariq Anwar, MP from Katihar, the seat Kesri once represented, remarked, “Kesri was our senior leader and former party president. Our Prime Minister remembers such leaders only during elections.”

When asked if the commemoration was politically motivated, Anwar, who considers Kesri his mentor, said, “Kesri started his career as a bandmaster and rose to become party president. He has been remembered every year at Sadaqat Ashram in Patna.”

Meanwhile, addressing a rally in Begusarai, Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the Congress of humiliating Kesri, “the pride of Bihar and a towering backward leader,” claiming that the post of party president was “snatched from him at the behest of the parivar (Nehru-Gandhi family).”

“Kesri hailed from a backward class and rose to become the Congress president, but the parivar humiliated him,” Modi said. “The country will never forget how he was locked in a toilet, thrown out, and stripped of the party presidency. This shows how Congress can deprive Dalits and backward communities of their rights. For them, only the family matters,” he added.