Sonia Gandhi Warns Pakistan of Befitting Reply

Congress president Sonia Gandhi, on Wednesday, vowed to fight terrorism and warned Pakistan in indirect words to stop spreading the menace or face a befitting reply.

Addressing a public rally in the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Sonia said the “neighbouring country” was trying to harm India and destroy her communal amity.

“The neighbouring country has the malicious intention of dividing our country and destroying its fraternity. The people of India will respond to this,” she said without naming Paksitan.

“Indira Gandhi died fighting terrorism. United, we will give terrorism a strong reply,” she told a gathering, which included a large chunk of tribals. She further said terrorism is a huge challenge before the country and “we will defeat it”.

Hinting at the recent attacks on migrant workers in Maharashtra, she lauded the people of Dadra and Nagar Haveli for “loving and accepting outside workers” who came to work in the Union Territory.

Underlining the achievements of the UPA Government at the Centre under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, she stressed that it was pro-people. “We have waived off agriculture loans worth Rs 71,000 crore, which benefited four crore farmers. We have given scholarships to tribal children, and also cleared forestland for cultivation. We have reduced the prices of petrol and diesel twice,” she said.

She went on to say that tribals and villagers stand to benefit from the civilian nuclear deal, which the UPA government signed with the US, through the prospect of uninterrupted power supply.

Shops, schools, markets and even factories remained closed in the city till the afternoon in connection with the rally. Silvassa is an industrially developed city with about 2.2 lakh voters. It has a large population of migrant labourers.