Ayodhya's Ram was the guiding presence today for the most unlikely of politicians — Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. So while her husband, Rajiv Gandhi, had begun his 1989 campaign from Faizabad pledging Ram Rajya, Sonia today said the BJP had ripped apart the secular fabric of the country on that very promise.Drawing a parallel between manavta ka prateek (symbol of humanitarianism) Ram and his self-proclaimed advocates, she said the saffron brigade has taken its toll on the country. ‘‘A party which could drag even Lord Rama in the battle for power cannot be expected to spare the common folk.’’ She alleged political values and ethics had taken a severe beating in the NDA’s rule which has failed to provide jobs to one crore youth as promised. Instead, a number of PSUs were sold at throwaway prices, leaving several people jobless. She targeted the ‘‘so-called’’ secular parties for their stand on communal forces. ‘‘The BJP and the so-called secular parties were shadow-boxing.The truth of the matter is that inke andar hi andar taar khhiche hue hain (they are in league with each other),’’ Sonia said. ‘‘Tum apna vote lo, hum apna vote lein, satta ka sukh batorne ke liye janta ki aankh mein dhool jhhonk rahen hain (they are only splitting up the votes for the sake of power and misleading the public),’’ she said.She blamed the successive non-Congress regimes for bringing down UP from its days of glory under the Congress to a communally torn, laggard state. ‘‘There was a time when UP was a model state and leaders from here were accorded great respect.The Ganga-Yamuna (mixed) culture of the state was the role model but now, the situation has changed,’’ she said at a Salempur rally.
