Congress to Play 'New Age' Role of Constructive Opposition in Delhi

Wearing white caps with the slogan "Satyamev Jayate" on them, Congress's Ajay Maken and other party workers in Delhi today began a public awareness program about swine flu, which Mr Maken said is part of the party's new role of a constructive opposition as "new age politics" demand.

"We want to start on a positive not , we have new age politics where people want the opposition to also play a positive and constructive role," said Mr Maken, who was elected head of the party in Delhi last week.

The first part of its new "constructive" agenda involves deploying Youth Congress workers and block-level workers across 138 metro stations and public places to spread awareness about swine flu. This three-day awareness drive is expected to start this week.

"We want to assist the government and ensure that we can help stop the spread of this disease" said Mr Maken.

When asked if the party was trying to mimic the Aam Aadmi Party's volunteers who wore similar white caps, Mr Maken said the white cap was an old Congress tradition. The slogan, he said, was used by Mahatma Gandhi and summarised the party's core belief in the struggle against the British. When further asked if his party planned to follow Gandhi's tactic of civil disobedience, Mr Maken said the party would limit itself to a constructive role because "we are in situation in which the government has been selected by the people."