Chennai, May 7: Ignoring Jayalalithaa’s foreign origin barbs and attempts to link the DMK with Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, Sonia Gandhi today said she was ready to be martyred like her husband for the country’s sake.
Speaking at a joint rally with DMK leader M. Karunanidhi from the same venue where Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Jayalalithaa addressed a gathering two days ago, the Congress president said only a “secular India” could ensure a strong and resurgent nation.
Trying to revive the groundswell of sympathy that Rajiv Gandhi’s 1991 assassination caused, Sonia said: “As I stand on this soil with which the blood of my husband had mingled, there cannot be a greater honour for me than to share his fate for the sake of our country. His lifework, his love for the people and his ultimate sacrifice are my inspiration. I carry the dreams and message of Rajiv Gandhi in my heart.”
To those railing against her origins, the Congress chief said she could only say: “It is the greatest honour to belong to such a family (the Nehru-Gandhi clan) which had lived and died for the country.”
As these words struck an emotive chord with the crowd, Sonia had a word of praise for the “wonderful way” in which Karunanidhi had, a while ago, recited a poem he wrote in 1970 eulogising the democracy that Jawaharlal Nehru helped build.
The DMK chief, speaking at his first election meeting with the Congress in 24 years, picked up the cue from Tamil Congress chief G.K. Vasan. The leader, who last allied with the Congress in the state in 1980, modified a slogan he had coined that year to greet Indira Gandhi.
Karunanidhi’s oft-quoted 1980 one-liner was “Nehruvin mahale varuga, nilayani aatchi tharuga (Welcome, Nehru’s daughter. Give us a stable government)”. Now, with Sonia by his side, the octogenarian said: “Indiravin marumagale varuga, Indiyavin thirumagale velga (Welcome to Indira’s daughter-in-law. Let victory come your way, the auspicious daughter of India.”
Since “thirumagal” also denotes Lakshmi in Tamil, Karunanidhi was subtly hailing the Congress chief as symbolising prosperity.
Rubbishing Jayalalithaa’s statement that Sonia could not become Prime Minister as she is Italian-born, the DMK leader said: “Did not the AIADMK leader rush to Delhi in April 1999 to make Sonia Gandhi the Prime Minister?”
He also demolished the BJP-ADMK combine’s attempts to link the DMK with Rajiv Gandhi’s death by pointing to the Jain Commission report’s indictment of his party.
Karunanidhi said Justice Milap Chand Jain, who headed the commission, had stated in an interview that the BJP government had misunderstood remarks about the DMK chief in his final report.
The veteran leader said when late Union minister Murasoli Maran raised the matter in Parliament, deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani had said Karunanidhi’s name had been “wrongly subsumed under the head of suspects” who need to investigated further.
“I still have the letter Mr Advani had written in this regard to Murasoli Maran,” Karunanidhi said, rubbishing the charge that Sonia’s clean chit to the DMK on its LTTE links was unjustified.
