Nehruvian legacy of secularism, socialism core beliefs: Sonia

Her comments, indicating a left of the Centre tilt, comes at a time when Narendra Modi has assumed charge as Prime Minister of the country, heading a government which has a decisive majority of its own.
In the internal meetings of Congress, party leaders have maintained that corporates and the media fully backed BJP in the just-concluded Lok Sabha polls.

On secularism, Gandhi told the audience of mostly Congress leaders, including party Vice President Rahul Gandhi, that while Nehru strived to prevent partition, “when it occurred, he never accepted the logic that since Pakistan had ostensibly been created for India's Muslims, what remained was a state for Hindus”.

“Nehru stood for an idea of India that embraced every religion, caste, ethnicity and language. Indian National Congress remains fundamentally rooted in such a conception of India,” she added.

Gandhi's impassioned praise of the Nehruvian vision comes at a time when the efficacy of that model is being questioned by sections of the media following BJP's landslide victory which reduced Congress to its lowest tally since Independence of just 44 seats in Lok Sabha.