“We assembled here as the 2014 Parliament elections approach. We meet here to send a clear signal that the Congress is ready and prepared for the battle ahead” and sent a warning by saying “This election will see a sharpened contest between conflicting ideologies between conflicting interpretations of the past and between clashing visions of the future. It will be a battle for India as it was conceived by our founding fathers and as we cherish. It will be a battle for the preservation of our age old secular traditions of diverse communities living harmoniously in one composite national identity”.
She also took the opportunity to hit out at the BJP, without taking its name and said that it is spreading hatred among the people. “The biggest enemy is the communal forces and fundamentalist ideologies. Congress always worked to unite the country and its people. We also respected our diversity and committed for integrity. But what is the main agenda of our main opposition party?” and continued, “Opposition's way is to divide communities, to spread disharmony. It is to divide the society on communal lines and spread hatred in the name of unity to impose a single identity. They hide their real face behind the mask of moderate pretensions. They criticise our leaders and level false allegations against them and they go to the extent of spreading violence. How can such an ideology be tolerated?”
“As a Congress worker, we must be proud that we never compromised with such divisive ideologies and have always fought against communal forces” said Sonia Gandhi and emphasized, “Our culture ensures equality and dignity to all. For Congress, secularism is not a political compulsion but a matter of deep faith”.
The Congress President also touched on the issue of corruption and appealed to parties to rise above political considerations to ensure passage of anti-corruption measures pending in Parliament. “All Congress ruled states are committed to a new powerful and independent Lokayukta by the end of February, 2014. Crucial bills in our fight against corruption are pending in Parliament and we will do our utmost to get those bills passed when Parliament reconvenes next month and I appeal all parties to rise above political considerations and pass these bills” said Sonia Gandhi.
“In our long journey, we have seen many ups and downs. We have witnessed victories and faced defeats which are inescapable in politics. But we have kept ourselves vibrant. We must surge ahead amidst all challenges. There is one more factor and that is our strength to fight, which has kept us going, and will keep us going in the coming days. It is not my hope but my belief that we will continue our fight in the coming days and will emerge victorious overcoming all the challenges ahead of us” added the Congress President towards conclusion.
Boosting the morale of the Congress leaders, while ending her speech, Sonia Gandhi said, “We will be united in speech, our vision, our goal, and will emerge victorious in this struggle”.
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