Sonia Gandhi yesterday generally endorsed the Congress policy of fighting communalism, but did not go into the specifics of the political line propounded by Jitendra Prasada for bringing together all the secular forces to fight the BJP, at a Mushaaira Sammelan in the city.
On her first meeting of its kind Gandhi spoke slowly but clearly in Hindi. She said we should fight continuously against communalism for preserving the integrity of the country. She said that six years back, Rajeev Gandhi had come to the city with a message for peace. I have come here to join you all in remembrance of those days.
At that time there was considerable conflict between communities. The secular forces were weak. Rajiv Gandhi undertook the peace mission to promote communal harmony and to strengthen the bond among various people. He was killed within two months of his Kanpur tour. She said that it was important that there should not be violence and an atmosphere of violence should not be allowed to be created. Communal forces are born out of violence.
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The way she read out the address written in Hindi running into 6 pages and the clear pronunciation showed that she has been practicing the language regularly. Her visits was treated in a far more thorough manner than even that of a Prime Minister. The aura built through the security measures added luster to her personality. The whole of the circuit house was taken over by the SPG. Even its regular staff was kept at a distance. The roads were blocked for a long period. At the podium, she was flanked by Mani Shanker Aiyer and Jitendra Prasada. Narain Dutt Tewari, Balram Singh Yadav and Mohsina Kidwai sat on the second row. She finished here speech at 10.20 and continued to sit till past midnight. Her spending so much time has raised doubts about her intention of joining active politics. She met over 1000 people in delegation.
Many Congressmen feel that all this was in preparation for her joining active politics. The meeting was only to test the waters.
She made a good impression on Muslims, who constituted nearly 50 percent of the audience, and drew applause from them.
Mani Shanker Aiyer, who spoke before Sonia, and Jitendra Prasad both repeatedly presented her as the symbol and the successor of the great Nehru Gandhi family, which has made unparalleled sacrifices for the country. Jitendra Prasad lauded the work of Aiyer, whose Society for Secularism organised the function.
Aiyer in turn said what we are doing at the thought level Jitendra Prasada was continuing at the political level. He said the country was sitting on a volcano.