New Delhi:
Congress president Sonia Gandhi today set the tone for her party's poll agenda, stressing that the 2014 general elections will be a battle of "conflicting ideologies" and "interpretations of the past and clashing visions of the future."
She accused the BJP of "dividing society and spreading violence," and identified "communalism" as the biggest threat to the country, insisting that the Congress is not using the secular card as an election gambit.
(Highlights of her speech)"Secularism is not a political compulsion, but a matter of faith," Mrs Gandhi said.
The general elections, she said would be the Congress' "battle for the preservation of secular traditions" and asserted that her party "is ready and prepared for the battle ahead."
In recent elections in key states, the Congress was washed out. The BJP did remarkably well and is far ahead of the Congress in opinion polls.
Mrs Gandhi referred to her party's debacle in the Assembly elections saying, "We have seen many ups and downs. We have seen victory and experienced defeat. We can't escape it in politics. But we have the courage to fight." She asked her party to remember "that each big change in the country has happened thanks to the Congress."
Mrs Gandhi, whose throat was clearly troubling her, began her speech in English and then switched to Hindi. She enumerated the many policies the UPA government her party leads has initiated and asserted its commitment to combating corruption.
(Track LIVE UPDATES)Before she began her address to 3000 party leaders and workers, she asserted that her decision on Rahul Gandhi's role for the 2014 general elections was final. Even as she spoke, there were slogans demanding Rahul Gandhi's nomination as the party's prime ministerial candidate.
(Amid Congress roar for Rahul-as-PM, decision is final, says Sonia) Yesterday, at a meeting of the party's working committee, Mrs Gandhi decided that her son and party vice president Rahul Gandhi will not be the Congress' prime ministerial candidate, but will lead the party as its campaign in chief in an election many believe will be tough for the party to win.