New Delhi: Reminding members of the newly-constituted Congress Working Committee, the role of Congress as the ‘Voice of India’, AICC President Rahul Gandhi on Sunday called on party workers to rise and fight for the country’s oppressed sector.

Chairing the first meeting of the revamped CWC, Gandhi described it as an institution, comprising experience and energy and as a bridge between the past, present and the future.

BJP attacks institutions, Dalits, tribals, backwards, minorities and poor.

Addressing the meet, Chairperson of Congress Parliamentary Party Sonia Gandhi cautioned about the reign of despair and fear heaped upon India’s deprived and poor.

She pointed out that the rhetoric of Prime Minister Narendra Modi showed his desperation, reflecting that the reverse countdown of Modi government has begun.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh rejected the culture of constant self-praise and Jumlas of Modi, as against a solid policy framework for driving the engine of growth.

On the government claim of doubling the farmers’ income by 2022, he pointed out that it will require an Agri Growth Rate of 14 per cent, which is nowhere in sight.

This is the first meeting of the revamped CWC, since Mr Gandhi assumed the position of Congress President.

On July 17, Gandhi revamped the CWC and dropped veterans like Digvijaya Singh, Janardan Dwivedi, Kamal Nath, Sushil Kumar Shinde and Karan Singh.

Veterans like AK Antony, Ahmed Patel, Ambika Soni, Motilal Vora, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mallikarjun Kharge, Anand Sharma and Kumari Selja have been retained.

The new CWC includes 23 regular members, 18 permanent invitees and 10 special invitees. Incidentally, the party, which is seeking 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament and state Assemblies, has three women among the regular members.

The permanent invitees include former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit, P Chidambaram, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Randeep Surjewala, Balasaheb Thorat, Tariq Hameed Karra and PC Chacko.