Sonia Gandhi warns against forces trying to ‘divide’ India

She said while Congress made Lokpal Bill a reality, the Opposition was stalling Parliament every day to ensure anti-graft bills are not passed.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi at the launch of the party’s election campaign in Kochi on Saturday. (PTI)

Launching the Congress election campaign in Kerala, party president Sonia Gandhi Saturday said the upcoming Lok Sabha elections are vital as the “idea of India is under threat”.

Addressing a special state-level convention of Congress workers, Sonia attacked the BJP, saying, “The idea of India is under threat by those who don’t just seek to rule but to change India’s heart and soul. The coming elections are the most important because it is about what kind of India you want. This election is about the country’s future. The Congress has stood for the idea of being India. It is due to the idea of one nation that we are all here today.

“The choice before you is the nation as an idea. The choice is between India for all or India that belongs to some people. The Congress wants unity and they want uniformity. While our idea joins India together, they seek to divide India.”

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Sonia said the coming weeks will be challenging as the Opposition will insist it is time for a change after 10 years of the UPA regime: “I want to ask, a change to what? Do people of India want to give up values they cherished for six decades over lies and untested promises. Their real intention is evident and we must fight for unity, not division.”

Sonia added that the Opposition has no intention to fight corruption. She said while the Congress made the Lokpal Bill a reality, the Opposition was stalling the Parliament every day to ensure anti-graft bills are not passed.

She also took on the CPM — Congress’s main opponent in the state. She said in Kerala, the choice will be between a party that stands for the 21st century and one whose ideology is irrelevant. Alluding to the murder of Marxist rebel T P Chandrasekharan, she said the CPM has rejected the principles of non-violence and settles differences through brutal killings.

Gandhi ended her speech with a clear message to factions in the Congress state unit led by CM Oommen Chandy and Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala. “To me, there is no this or that group. We are all one group. That is how we will fight the next elections. The only group is the Congress party,” she said.