UP Congress marks 140 years with tributes, exhibition and political call | Lucknow News
Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee on Sunday marked 140 years of the Indian National Congress with a series of programmes at the party’s state headquarters, including flag hoisting, tributes to national leaders and inauguration of an art gallery chronicling the party’s historic journey.AICC general secretary and UP in-charge Avinash Pande and state president Ajay Rai paid floral tributes to the statues of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, and Rajiv Gandhi at the Congress office. This was followed by flag hoisting by Rai, who also administered a pledge to party workers.
The party also organised an art picture gallery exhibition showcasing Congress sessions held before and after Independence. The gallery highlights the objectives, decisions, and ideological foundations of the party, along with portraits of leaders who made sacrifices for India’s freedom and nation-building.Addressing party workers, Pande said the Congress was not merely a political organisation but the “soul and ideology of the nation”. He said the party laid the foundation for democracy, the Constitution, social justice, and national unity after Independence, and consistently stood for the rights of farmers, workers, youth, women, Dalits, backward classes, and minorities.Pande praised the exhibition and directed that the gallery be treated as a “masterpiece” and displayed across all 18 divisions of Uttar Pradesh. He also lauded the organising team led by Manish Hindwi, vice-chairman of the party’s media department.State president Ajay Rai said the message from Uttar Pradesh was that Congress workers were ready to rise again and claimed that 2027 would belong to the Congress, announcing plans for statewide rallies.National secretary and co-incharge Pradeep Narwal said the Congress upheld constitutional values since its founding in 1885, warning against threats to democratic institutions. Historian Ashok Pandey and Dalit thinker HL Dusadh also addressed the gathering, reflecting on the Congress’s role in the freedom struggle and contemporary challenges of inequality.
