I am willing to die for India, says Sonia
AFP, Madras
Sonia Gandhi, the main opposition Congress party chief, Friday made a fervent appeal to voters two days ahead of the final round of balloting in India's staggered elections, saying she was willing to die for the country. "As I stand on this soil tonight, this soil in which the blood of my husband has mingled, I can assert there can be no greater honour for me than share his fate for the sake of our country," the Italian-born Sonia Gandhi said. The Congress president's husband and former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated, allegedly by Sri Lankan Tamil Tiger rebels, in 1991 near Madras, capital of southern Tamil Nadu state. Rajiv Gandhi's mother and India's most powerful prime minister Indira Gandhi was also assassinated in 1984 by her Sikh bodyguards. "To those who attack me and my family I would only like to state that it is the greatest honour to belong to a family that has lived and died for this country," Sonia said. "They cannot break my resolve to bring about a strong, resurgent, secular and just India." Sonia Gandhi, who only assumed Indian citizenship several years after her marriage to Rajiv Gandhi, is the prime target of the ruling Hindu nationalist BJP party in the ongoing parliament elections. The BJP has made Sonia Gandhi's Italian origins an election plank, saying she cannot become prime minister as she was not born in India. Sonia Gandhi said Friday that she remained inspired by her husband and "his ultimate sacrifice". "It was Rajiv Gandhi who took the country into the computer and technology age," she said. "But these strong foundations have been severely damaged in the last five years."
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Party president Sonia Gandhi is garlanded by Delhi Congress leader Prem Sing during a last-ditch campaign rally in New Delhi yesterday. Sonia made a fervent appeal to voters as curtain falls on campaigning for the final round of balloting in India's staggered elections tomorrow, saying she was willing to die for the country. PHOTO: AFP |
