The Congress on Tuesday said the RSS-BJP’s divisive agenda had put India’s constitutional democracy in peril, and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of failing to fight corruption.

A meeting called by Sonia Gandhi to finalise details of a membership drive and a nationwide campaign to expose the Modi government’s divisive agenda and failures also discussed Meghalaya governor Satyapal Malik’s allegations of corruption against Goa’s BJP government.

Malik’s disclosures dominated the post-meeting briefing, with the Congress accusing Modi of patronising corruption.

“When Malik, the then Goa governor, brought to the Prime Minister’s notice the rampant corruption in the government, Modi chose to shoot the messenger instead of removing his chief minister,” Congress communications chief Randeep Surjewala said.

“The Prime Minister’s role is in question and we demand a thorough probe by a sitting Supreme Court judge.”

Dinesh Gundurao, the Congress’s Goa minder, revived the “chowkidar chor hai (The watchman himself is a thief)” slogan that plays on Modi’s 2014 campaign pitch about being a watchman who would prevent theft.

“The Prime Minister was aware that everything is on sale in Goa but he acted like a bhagidar (partner),” Gundurao said.

Malik has been quoted as saying in an interview: “There was corruption in everything the Goa government did.... The Goa government’s plan for door-to-door distribution of ration was impractical. It was done on the insistence of a company that paid money to the government.... I investigated the matter and told the Prime Minister about it.

“They enquired from the same people who were responsible for corruption…. Today, people are scared to speak the truth in the country.”

Surjewala said: “A government involved in corrupt practices in the middle of a pandemic — is (that) what aapda mein awsar (opportunity in a crisis) means?”

“The Prime Minister should answer why no action was initiated against the chief minister when the (then) governor informed him of corrupt deeds? When Malik (then Jammu and Kashmir governor) informed him about corruption in Jammu and Kashmir, he was transferred to Goa; when he informed him about the corruption in Goa, he was transferred to Meghalaya,” he added.

Asked about the Trinamul Congress’s foray into Goa and its claim that it went ahead alone because the Congress was not serious about fighting the BJP, Surjewala said: “If any single party has consistently fought the RSS-BJP without any fear, without retracing any step, it is the Congress and Rahul Gandhi. Elections are not tourism; Trinamul fought even the last election in Goa and vanished.”

“Is Trinamul providing firing cover to the BJP in Goa? Are they helping the BJP? What are they fighting for and who are they fighting? Are they fighting to create their own space?” he said.

“We empathise with smaller parties who at times compromise when they get an ED notice. They get frightened and compromise. We have no complaints, we still support them. We know they are being unfairly targeted.”

The Congress meeting of office-bearers kept its focus on the Modi government, targeting its divisive politics, failure to create jobs and attack on farmers as well as the economic slide.

Sonia said: “We must fight the diabolical campaign of the BJP-RSS ideologically. We must do so with conviction and expose their lies before the people if we are to win this battle.

“You must train our workers to take on the unceasing onslaught of malicious disinformation campaigns at the behest of the BJP-RSS. And you must train our people to fight it while upholding and projecting the core Congress ideology.”

Both Sonia and Rahul stressed the importance of discipline and unity.

“I would like to re-emphasise the paramount need for discipline and unity. What should matter to each and every one of us is the strengthening of the organisation,” Sonia said.

“This must override personal ambitions. In this lies both collective and individual success.”

Asking the party to stay united, Rahul tweeted after the meeting: “True Congressmen are each other’s strength, not weakness.”