A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi taunted her over the AgustaWestland chopper deal in an election campaign speech in Kerala, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday hit back at him by saying that he could not take away her commitment to and love for India.
“Yes, I was born in Italy but this is my home, this is my country,” Sonia said at an election rally of the Congress-led UDF in Thiruvananthapuram late Monday evening in a direct and emotionally-charged reply to the swipe Modi took at her at the same place on Sunday in the context of the chopper gate. Modi had said, “All know who has relations in Italy.”
“I came here in 1968 as the daughter in law of Indira Gandhi. This is my home, this is my country. It is here that I will breathe my last and it is here my ashes will mingle with my loved ones. For all these 48 years the RSS and others have taunted me for being born in Italy,” the Congress chief said in emotion-choked voice.
“I was born to proud and honest parents and I will never be ashamed of them. Yes, I have relatives in Italy. I have a 93-year-old mother and two sisters,” Sonia said, adding that Prime Minister Modi might not be able to understand her emotions but the people of India were able to understand it.
At another election programme at Thrissur earlier in the day, she hit out at the Modi Government accusing it of toppling elected governments, suffocating universities, threatening NGOs and treating rivals as traitors.
“Our democratically elected governments – like in Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand – are being toppled through unconstitutional and other underhand dealings,” Sonia said while addressing a rally of the Congress-led ruling UDF for the May 16 Assembly election at the famous Thekkinkadu Grounds in Thrissur.
Alleging that the Modi Government was a threat to the universities, Judiciary, NGOs and civil society, the Congress chief said, “Universities are being put on notice, judiciary is being threatened, NGOs are being silenced.” She also asked Keralites to unite to oppose the BJP-RSS efforts to destroy the State’s secular fabric.
“The Prime Minister has plenty of time to tour all over the country but when it comes to farmers’ sufferings, he just looks away,” the Congress president alleged. Coconut farmers were suffering due to the Centre’s refusal to impose restrictions on the import of palmolein, she said, adding that the Government also declined to release money for the price stabilization fund.
She also slammed the Modi regime for cutting down funds for various schemes like the MNREGA initiated by the previous Congress-led UPA government. “likewise, it is also refusing to support self-help groups like Kerala’s Kudumbasree which had become famous all over the country,” Sonia said.
Beginning her speech by expressing grief at the loss of more than a hundred lives in the gruesome fireworks tragedy at a Kollam temple on April 10, Sonia said she shared the pain of the mother of the 29-year-old Dalit law student who was brutally raped and murdered at Perumbavoor on April 28. While praising the UDF Government headed by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy for implementing several development projects like the Kannur airport and Kochi Metro Rail in the past five years, the Congress president criticized the CPI(M)-led Opposition lDF for adopting anti-development policy.