Let voters decide who is strong leader, says Sonia

In a strong rejoinder to the BJP prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani’s charge that Manmohan Singh is a weak and indecisive Prime Minister, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Sunday said the so-called “strong leader” was incapable of taking any decision on his own.

“He takes directions from an organisation [the RSS] and worked in accordance to its dictates. His resignation as party president was also on the directives of the organisation”, Ms. Gandhi said.

Leaving it to the voters to decide who, in this context, is a strong leader, Ms. Gandhi criticised Mr. Advani for his comments that terror incidents increased under the United Progressive Alliance government.

“Who was the Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister when Parliament was attacked by terrorists and when a dreaded terrorist was released from jail and airlifted to Kandahar as a guest; of course by BJP leaders,” she asked.

Ms. Gandhi was addressing an election rally at the Jyotiba Phule open air stadium here in support of the local Congress candidate Rita Bahuguna Joshi.

The Congress, she said, was not functioning on the directions of an individual. On the contrary, it worked for the welfare of the common man.

There was no leader in the BJP of the stature of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, who sacrificed their lives for the country.

The saffron party’s temple agenda was also slammed by the Congress president. She said: “the party talked about Ram Rajya, but in a Ram Rajya there is no discrimination; no hatred for the other community and no riots. Ram Rajya is one where there is respect for every one and security is guaranteed.”

Without naming the Samajwadi Party, Ms. Gandhi said its real face was known to all. In an implied reference to the coming together of Mulayam Singh, Lalu Prasad and Ram Vilas Paswan and the Congress-SP seat-sharing fiasco in Uttar Pradesh, she accused the “party” of changing its colours to suit its political needs.

“At one time it was with some party, at another time it was in a front,” she said.

“SP is unreliable”


Ms. Gandhi quoted an adage, “pal mein tola, pal mein maasha” (to suggest changing colours or shifting stance), to drive home her point that the (Samajwadi) party is unreliable.

She also criticised U.P. Chief Minister and BSP president, Mayawati’s (who was not named) penchant for erecting statues and her concern for Dalit welfare.

Criticises Mayawati


Accusing the BSP chief of dividing society to garner the support of Dalits, Ms. Gandhi said now she (Ms. Mayawati) was banking on the same segments of society to remain in power. “Mahatma Gandhi, Jyotiba Phule and Bhimrao Ambedkar, who worked for Dalit uplift, did not install their own statues, but reformed society.” Law and order, she alleged, had gone for a toss and criminals were joining the BSP.