Dimapur, Feb. 14: Congress president Sonia Gandhi today asked the “historically secular and pluralistic Nagaland electorate” to keep the BJP away from the portals of power.

Addressing a rally at the public ground here, the Congress chief exhorted the voters of the region not to let the BJP or the Sangh Parivar “plant the seeds of communal poison”. She accused the BJP-led government at the Centre of using the peace talks with the NSCN (I-M) as an electoral plank instead of painting a true picture of the situation.

Showing a degree of combativeness that many think she is incapable of, Sonia Gandhi said the people of Nagaland should be wary of the BJP given its track record of sparking communal tension. “This party has set followers of mandir, masjid and church upon one another and instigated division of the country on religious lines,” she said.

The Congress leader dismissed the recent dialogue between the Centre and the NSCN (I-M) leadership in New Delhi as an election gimmick. She claimed that it was the Congress that broke the ice with Naga insurgents, leading to the declaration of a ceasefire in 1997.

“The BJP actually delayed the Naga talks. It was only when elections in Nagaland were announced that it arranged a show in the name of talks to take the electorate for a ride.”

Sonia Gandhi said the Congress would have long solved the Naga problem if it had been in power at the Centre. “We promise peace because we believe that comprehensive peace can be brought about by taking on board all sections of the people and every faction. The BJP, on the other hand, looks for piecemeal solutions. Let alone initiating a political settlement, the BJP has not cared to even appoint a political negotiator for the talks,” she added.

Midway through her speech in English, she lapsed into Hindi to strike a rapport with the “large number of people in Dimapur who are from the mainland, particularly the North”.

AICC general secretaries Anil Shastri and Mani Shankar Aiyar and Nagaland chief minister S.C. Jamir were present at the rally. Jamir set the tone for the rally by declaring that “today is auspicious because the first drafting committee of the Naga People’s Convention met on this day in 1959, leading to the creation of the state of Nagaland.”

In a lighter vein, the chief minister added, “February 14 is also my marriage anniversary. Soniaji has turned up to make it another auspicious day for me and the party.”

In a chat with newspersons in Shillong earlier in the day, Sonia Gandhi had made light of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Purno A. Sangma’s tirade against her, saying she preferred to concentrate on bettering her party’s electoral prospects instead of getting involved in an unnecessary war of words.

Giving the impression that she did not consider Sangma a threat to her political ambitions, the Congress chief said the Garo leader had repeatedly raised the issue of her “foreign origin” without gaining anything.