Congress President and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi spoke on the occasion of the (More)
Congress President and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi spoke on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of India's first Parliamentary session on Sunday said that we should not forget those troubled days and months and the numerous challenges the country faced “Sixty-five years ago at Independence, India awakened "to life and freedom", with a bold and ambitious vision – a vision to build a legislature on the basis of universal adult franchise. At one stroke, millions of our poor and illiterate, men and women, were given the power to change their destiny” said the Congress President beginning her address. “Let us not forget those troubled days and months and the numerous challenges the country faced then. Millions of refugees were homeless. Communal tension was rife. Destitution was rampant. Borders were tense. Resources were scarce. The very idea of India, let alone the idea of a democratic India, was being ridiculed in many quarters. When far older democracies had achieved universal adult franchise in a gradual process and after long decades of struggle, how could it become a reality in a new nation beset with such problems?” added Sonia Gandhi. Sonia Gandhi continued “To their eternal credit and our undying gratitude, our founding fathers persisted. The poor and illiterate masses of this country have turned out to be amazingly skilled and sophisticated. (Less)
