Sonia Gandhi wonders what civil society noise was all about

In a bid to win back people’s faith and cover lost ground, Congress president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday took on Team Anna, wondering “what’s the noise about” when the prime minister and the UPA-II government were committed to a strong Lokpal Bill. Gandhi, whose speech was read out to people at a Congress rally in Uttarakhand, said that corruption cannot be tackled by speeches.

A less-than-impressed Team Anna shot back, stating that mere speeches won’t be enough from the government’s side, also.

“India Against Corruption welcomes UPA chairperson’s commitment on Lokpal. We sincerely hope the government would honour her commitment of getting a strong and effective Lokpal during the winter session as per the ‘Sense of the House’. Mere speeches would not be enough from the government’s side,” said Arvind Kejriwal.

There is a feeling in a section of the civil society that the speech was nothing but an attempt to win back space taken over by Team Anna in the people’s minds.

Earlier, Gandhi said corruption cannot be eradicated by merely pointing a finger at others. “Everyone needs to look within.... You cannot eradicate corruption like this; that one thinks corruption by us is a holy affair while that by others amounts to corruption. This is what is happening these days,” she said. That was, no doubt, a finger pointed at Team Anna, some of whose members have been facing allegations of financial misconduct.

Gandhi was to address a public meet in poll-bound Uttarakhand but could not make it due to health problems, following which her speech was read out to the gathering. “There is a lot of talk about corruption these days. No doubt corruption is prevalent in society in some form or the other. An atmosphere needs to be created against it. Corruption will not go by merely making speeches, by pointing a finger at others. Everyone needs to look within,” she said.

Gandhi also expressed concern over rising prices and said the government must take steps that provide relief to the common man. This, she said, “can happen only with the support of both the central and state governments”.

“I admit that the government also has a lot of difficulties and this problem is there in almost all the countries. But when the whole world was passing through economic recession, we remained untouched,” she said.

The Congress president also felt that the hill state has a lot of potential for tourism, agriculture and floriculture and asked the state and central governments to work jointly and initiate necessary steps in this direction.

Attempting to woo women in poll-bound Uttarakhand, Gandhi said she was impressed by the women of the hill state. “You may call it discrimination, but I feel the social and economic system of the state has endured due to the hard work and dedication of the women in the state,” she said.

She also reminded the people that her government has initiated many measures to make them financially independent. She said to strengthen their voice on the ground, the government had granted 50 per cent reservation for women in panchayati raj institutions also. Sonia also talked about the recent procurement policy for micro, small and medium enterprises, whereby it was made mandatory for public enterprises, central ministries and departments to have 20 per cent reservation for dalits and tribals, to help provide financial independence and social equity to them.

She concluded her speech saying “people should do their own politics, but by leaving aside their vested interests. They should first worry about you, about this beautiful state and our great nation and do something for which the coming generations should feel proud of you.” She also expressed grief over the loss of lives in Tuesday’s stampede at Haridwar.

- With inputs from agencies