In a massive show of strength at Ramlila Maidan in the capital, the Congress party on Sunday hit out at the Opposition while rendering its full backing to the UPA government on the economic reforms agenda.
A combative party president Sonia Gandhi also sounded the poll bugle in the countdown to state elections and the general elections of 2014. The triumvirate of Sonia Gandhi, Congress scion Rahul Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh took centre stage at the rally and talked about key UPA initiatives: FDI in retail, the Lok Pal Bill, the Right to Food Bill and the Land Acquisition Bill.
Lashing out at the Opposition for attacking the Congress and the UPA on the issue of corruption, Sonia Gandhi said, without naming the BJP, “They themselves are neck-deep in corruption.” She went on to allege that was why ‘they’ had been repeatedly stalling Parliament, as they did not want matters in which they were embroiled to be discussed.
On Sunday’s ‘Maha Rally’, initially planned to counter the Opposition attack on FDI in multi-brand retail, saw the top Congress leadership tackle a host of issues, from economic to political, to counter the “negative image” projected by detractors such as the BJP and India Against Corruption.
Rahul Gandhi, who was publicly acknowledged as the party’s “future leader”, sounded confident. Addressing the crowd of over 100,000, he said, “The Opposition talks about corruption. It was the Congress that gave the country the landmark RTI, the weapon in the hands of the people to fight corruption.” He launched a direct attack on the BJP, accusing it of defeating the Lok Pal Bill in Parliament. “It was the BJP which first talked of FDI. They were weak-hearted. But we are strong and have seen it through,” he said.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh emphasised the need for FDI and explained the rationale behind the UPA’s “unpopular decisions” such as raising petroleum prices. He said only when the country’s economy would be robust would there be enough finances to roll out welfare schemes. Saying 80 per cent of the petroleum products had to be imported, Singh said the subsidy bill needed to be checked. Nonetheless, kerosene prices had not been touched, as it was the cooking fuel of the poor, he said.
