The changes which are necessary in the style and functioning of the Congress party must be understood against the background of these pressing problems. The events of the last few months have compelled us to search for a new identity, greater ideological clarity and greater programmatic cohesion. It is the need of the hour that we shed the kind of ideological amorphousness which has come to characterise Congress over the decades. There has to be a much closer and real connection between the social and economic tasks before the country and their political expression in the ideology and programme of the Congress.
The commitment of the Congress to the welfare of the masses will have to be in terms of these concrete time-bound programmes and policies. We are on the threshold of seventies which should symbolise the new politics of commitment and emergence of programmatic leadership. No party can hope to have the loyalty, faith and devotion of the people if it gets removed from the realities of the changing situation. These are the challenges of the seventies. It is upto the Congress to convert these challenges into orderly changes. Our success will be dependent on the involvement of the common men in this gigantic process of transformation. Unless a new social content is given to freedom, unless the people see a reflection of their hopes and aspirations in the programmes and policies of the party, the Congress will fail to be a stabilising force in the seventies. These manifold tasks will call for a rededication on our part to the ideals of secularism, democratic socialism and the well-being of the weaker and neglected sections of the society.
