Kanyakumari (TN): Stepping up her attack against BJP and Narendra Modi, Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday said they represented a dangerous combination of religious fanaticism, power and money and asked the country to reject the "ambition of that individual".
Addressing her maiden election rally in Tamil Nadu, the Congress President said the BJP seeks to divide the country on communal lines and harmony is under threat from them. "We have to fight the forces that want to divide India."
"It is a dangerous combination of religious fanaticism, power and money. Their intention is to divide the country on communal line and communal harmony is under threat under them. The country cannot progress in such a situation," she said.
In an obvious reference to BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, she said, "One individual goes across the country and says that he will make India a paradise. You should reject the ambition of that individual."
She said "sacrifice' of leaders like Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi should "not go in vain".
She said the two leaders had "sacrificed their lives to safeguard the idea of India, the idea of secularism and diversity and equal opportunities to all sections of the society."
Dwelling on the performance of UPA during the last ten years, Gandhi said the country made "a tremendous progress" and the economy grew by 7.5 per cent despite difficult economic situation in other countries during the period.
"Always, we have managed to ensure growth of the economy. During the ten years, fourteen crore people have been lifted from poverty line," she said adding UPA Government empowered Dalits, Scheduled Tribes and backward classes and minorities.
The UPA Chairperson also said huge investments had been made in education, health care, road, power and ports.
"Year after year we provided lot of funds under our flagship programmes, especially to Tamil Nadu, for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment and midday meal schemes. We have also provided Rs 77,000 crore for the self-help-groups and Rs 55,000 crore for education loan," she said.
Describing enactment of Right to Information Act as the "mega" achievement of UPA, she said it gave people the right to pose questions to the government about governance.
