Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday said that the Congress was facing formidable challenges but despite that the party's struggle against the devisie forces must continue. Addressing an event commemorating the 75th birth anniversary celebrations of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in Delhi, Sonia Gandhi said: "Electoral ups and downs are inevitable, the challenges our party confront today are formidable, but what must continue is our ideological struggle against the forces of divisiveness, forces that are out to change the very nature of our society, the very idea of India as enshrined in our Constitution."
In an apparent swipe at the Modi government, she said that her husband Rajiv Gandhi got a massive poll mandate in 1984, but did not use it to create an atmosphere of fear, threaten and scare people or destroy institutions.
"Rajiv Gandhi came to power in 1984 but he never used powers to create an atmosphere of fear or to destroy the freedom & liberty of the people. He never used his power to put the principles of democracy in danger," the interim Congress chief said.
Sonia Gandhi said the former prime minister's 75th birth anniversary is not a ritual being marked by the Congress, but an occasion to reaffirm its resolve to uphold the values that inspired him.
"It is an occasion for us individually and collectively to reaffirm our resolve to continue to uphold the values that inspired him, to stand up and confront the forces that are determined to destroy those values," the UPA chairperson said.
Watch her full speech here:
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