Jaipur: Congress president Sonia Gandhi in her speech on the last day of party Chintan Shivir in Jaipur focussed on empowerment of women and fight against corruption. Raking the Delhi gangrape incident, in which a 23-year-old girl was brutally raped and beaten up in a moving bus, Sonia said: "The barbaric gangrape in the national capital shook the entire country. The Delhi gangrape victim in many ways is a symbol of women and children who suffer from a similar fate." She promised that the death of the young girl would not be in vain.
Sonia said that people were right in demanding an answer from the government over the safety of women in the country. She said that it was every woman's fundamental and constitutional right to feel safe in the country.
Talking further on the empowerment of women in the society, the Congress president said her party will continue its campaign for one-third reservation for women in legislative bodies. "I will personally press for the passage of Women's Reservation Bill," she said addressing a gathering in Jaipur on Sunday.
Sonia also highlighted the efforts the UPA government was making to fight corruption. She said that the government has initiated five-point programme, including drafting laws to combat corruption. The UPA chairperson also took the credit of introducing the Lokpal bill in Parliament. Praising the government's newly launched Direct Cash Transfer Scheme, she said: "The scheme will eliminate corruption by middlemen."
Amidst cheers for Congress's newly-appointed Vice President Rahul Gandhi, the party president said that she was happy that the youth of the party was taking over more responsibilities and was getting an opportunity to play an important part in country's politics. "Delighted with the participation of so many youths. Involving young people more centrally is necessary to develop and protect new leadership," she said.
Preparing her party workers for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Sonia said if they would come together and work with discipline there was no doubt that they would again win people's mandate. "Only 15 months are left for elections. If we work with unity and discipline there is no reason why we won't get people's mandate again," she said infusing confidence in her party workers. "We should understand that people are disillusioned by the political institutions, we should be sensitive to that and bring changes to that effect," she added.
Sonia also said that there was a need to explain to people why the government took some tough economic reform decisions. "Government took few tough decisions due to economic downturn. We need to explain to public why those decisions were necessary," she said addressing the All India Congress Committee meeting in Jaipur.
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