World | India
Sonia pitches for Kashmir women
Congress President Sonia Gandhi yesterday asked the women of Jammu and Kashmir to spread the message of peace and prosperity and get the party re-elected in the elections in 2008.
- IANS
- Published: 00:14 April 13, 2008
Jammu: Congress President Sonia Gandhi yesterday asked the women of Jammu and Kashmir to spread the message of peace and prosperity and get the party re-elected in the elections in 2008.
Gandhi, the chairperson of the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA), was addressing a gathering of women Congress workers here.
She said the women had a special role to play in this election year - to spread the message of Congress's programmes and achievements to the people in all the villages.
"Your work should help Congress regain power in the state," she said.
The Congress president said the party had brought about peace and development of Jammu and Kashmir and pulled the state out of the quagmire in which it had landed before the Congress came back to power.
Recurring theme
One of the examples, she said, was the way the UPA government had worked to better the lot of Kashmiri migrants. "The centre is constructing 7,200 homes for Kashmiri Pandit migrants in which 25,000 of them will be able to live.
"The NDA government paid lip service, while we have worked for the people on the ground," she claimed.
The recurring theme of Gandhi's speech, which lasted less than 10 minutes, was that women needed to raise their voice against social evils, especially female foeticide, domestic violence and other excesses.
"Please allow the girls to take birth. They can be as bright as sons. They are the light of two homes," she pleaded and cited the example of India's first woman prime minister and her mother-in-law Indira Gandhi. "She [Indira Gandhi] shone like a star all over the world.
"Maybe tomorrow your daughter becomes another Indira Gandhi," she said amid cheers. "Women's empowerment is the answer to all our problems."
Many participants at the rally complained that the Congress president had not addressed the main issues of price rise.
Jammu (IANS) Congress president Sonia Gandhi yesterday assured full help to Hindu migrants and promised their living conditions would be bettered till they return to their homes in the Kashmir valley.
Gandhi, chairperson of the ruling coalition United Progressive Alliance (UPA), was interacting with the migrants living in the newly constructed satellite township here in the suburbs of Jammu. She flew in straight to this township after her arrival at the technical airport in a special aircraft of the home ministry at around 11am.
Accompanied by Home Minister Shivraj Patil and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, the Congress president went around the flats in the township and spoke to the residents.
Before leaving the township, Gandhi planted a chinar sapling on the premises. The chinar tree - resembling the maple - is associated with Kashmiri heritage.
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