New Delhi,
The inaugural day of the 84th Congress Plenary today witnessed a combative Sonia Gandhi attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a “trickster” and urged cadres to be ready for any sacrifice in the face of “extraordinary” challenges ahead.

“It’s evident that his (Modi’s) 2014 promises of “sabka saath sabka vikas” and “naa khaunga naa khaane dunga” were “dramebaazi” and tricks to wrest power,” Sonia said in a speech that fired attending party delegates like she was still Congress president. Her address followed the adoption of Congress’ political resolution which, for the first time, endorsed pre-poll tie-ups based on common workable programmes to “defeat the BJP and RSS in 2019”.

Gandhi used chaste Hindi, the language of the heartland, to tear into the BJP for “using every trick to undermine the Congress, including slapping false cases on its leaders, denigrating Parliament and controlling the media”. Her message to the Plenary was clear: “Congress has never succumbed to pressures and never will… We face tough challenges which are not ordinary. But we must face these formidably and be ready for any sacrifice to build a discrimination-free, revenge-free and arrogance-free India.”

The 71-year-old veteran Congress woman spoke five hours after Congress president Rahul Gandhi, her son, and even today attracted more applause than all the speakers put together. A mix of emotion and firmness strengthened her speech as Gandhi remembered her early days from 1998 to 2004 as a period when Congress emerged from political ashes.

“We formed governments in many states and bounced back from a position of weakness at that time,” Sonia said invoking her mother-in-law and former PM Indira Gandhi’s historic Chikmaglur win to give hope to the party in election-bound Karnataka. “I am hopeful the Congress will repeat a spectacular performance in Karnataka and that will give new direction to national politics,” she said, citing Congress’ Gujarat and Rajasthan performances to challenge BJP’s Congress-free India slogan.

Speaking from a newage hi-tech stage that mirrored the generational shift in the party that would earlier have veterans lounge on dais for Plenary discussions, Sonia feted UPA-1 and 2 for a rights-based approach and slammed the BJP for undermining it.

Earlier, Sonia urged everyone to work with Rahul who kept his inaugural address short sufficing to mention in times of the rise of regional parties that Congress alone can guide a “fatigued India”.

“The nation is fatigued. When youth look towards PM Modi, they see no jobs. Farmers do not know when they will get a fair price for their produce. Everyone is looking for direction. The Congress alone can guide the country. We will work for everyone,” Rahul said in a five-minute speech this morning after he arrived at the Plenary venue to be received by party veterans, including ex-PM Manmohan Singh, and to unfurl the Tricolour in move customary for party chief.

This was Rahul’s first session as chief and his effect was visible in the choice of stage décor, patriotic music and lineup of speakers. Lesser know state leaders were called on stage to speak on political and agriculture resolutions and many ended up admitting: “This is the first time we got a chance to speak before Sonia Gandhi.” Beginnings of a new Congress? Perhaps.