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Sonia slashes at Thackeray, Joshi and Vajpayee

Congress president Sonia Gandhi mounted a scathing attack on the Maharashtra government on Saturday for insulting India's glorious tradition of tolerance, brotherhood and secularism.

Addressing a mammoth rally organised by the Indian National Trade Union Congress at Shrirampur in Ahmednagar district, where she ended her whirlwind tour of the state, Gandhi said a bunch of cowards ("kayaron ki jhund"), invoking the name of the legendary warrior king Shivaji, were trying to impose their views on others through violence.

"First they vandalise cinema houses and now they dig up cricket pitches," she said.

The independence the country achieved was not just from the British yoke, but also for the right to vote and for freedom of expression, she added.

Her visit to Ahmednagar district, land of saint Dnyaneshwar who preached tolerance and brotherhood, was an elating experience. Pioneers of the freedom movement like Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad were jailed in the Ahmednagar fort. It was there that Nehru penned his famous Discovery of India.

Now the Maharashtra government is insulting these historic values, Gandhi charged.

In Jalgaon too, where she inaugurated the Sant Muktibai sugar factory, the Congress president severely attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre as well as the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance in Maharashtra for their "anti-minority policies".

She said the governments were introducing communal feelings in the name of religion so as to hammer out the deep-rooted secularism which the Congress had built up over the years.

By rejecting the B N Srikrishna Commission's recommendations, the Maharashtra government is posing a threat to the minorities in the country, she said.

Earlier, addressing another mammoth rally after inaugurating the Indira Gandhi Mahila Sahakari Soot Girani [textile mill], a project run by women, at Shivnakwadi, 3km away from Ichalkaranji in Kolhapur district, Gandhi claimed the Congress would return to power in Maharashtra.

The atmosphere is favourable for the Congress, she said, adding that the process had begun with the elections to the Lok Sabha, the state legislative council and, more recently, the district councils.

She said Justice Srikrishna had listed "some names" as having been responsible for the Bombay riots of 1992-93. This has made it difficult for the coalition government to win back the people's confidence.

The government, Gandhi further charged, is trying to create differences between brethren so as to hide its mistakes and failures in solving the people's problems. It would never come up trumps again, she claimed, for people have realised its dirty politics.

She criticised Sena leader Bal Thackeray's stand on the India-Pak cricket series. She lamented that it limited sports activities and also the freedom of speech and was taken to divert public attention from the party's failure to solve burning issues.

Gandhi lauded Maharashtra's co-operative movement, recalling the contribution of the late chief ministers Yeshwantrao Chavan, Vasant Patil, and others. Mahatma Gandhi had dreamt of the success of co-operatives in India. Late prime minister and her husband Rajiv Gandhi, too, had wanted the development of the movement, she said, adding that it flourished in Maharashtra under Congress rule.

But the present government is making every effort to destroy the rural economy, she charged, adding that her party would not allow it.

Gandhi appealed to the people to repose faith in the Congress, claiming that it is the only party capable of solving the people's problems and stopping the fundamentalist forces.

Rajiv Gandhi, she went on, had realised that the country would not progress on any front without the active participation of women. Which was why he tabled a bill for 33 per cent reservation for women in the panchayats (village councils) and municipal bodies.

The Congress would make all efforts for women's representation in the state assemblies and councils as well, she promised.

She lauded the work of Shivaji and Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj, who was the ruler of Kolhapur state, for the downtrodden and the deprived, and accused the present-day rulers of spoiling their names for their own ends.

Speaking on the occasion, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sharad Pawar expressed serious concern over the "deteriorated law-and-order situation in Maharashtra" and "rampant corruption, militancy and extortion".

He called upon the people to extend their co-operation and support to Sonia Gandhi's leadership to eradicate the communal forces and secure normalcy in the country.

Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Pratap Bhosale spoke highly of the state's development of the co-operative sugar factory and textile mill sectors, and pointed out that it produces the highest amount of sugar in the country -- about 40 per cent of the national output.

Rajya Sabha Vice-Chairman Najma Hepatullah, All-India Congress Committee general secretary Madhavrao Scindia, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Mahila Front chief and MLA Vidya Belose, and Congress MP Sadashiv Mandlik were present on the occasion.

UNI

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