Thiruvananthapuram: Hitting back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for “taunting to shame her for her birth in Italy”, Congress president Sonia Gandhi in an emotional speech during an election rally here on Monday said she would breathe her last in India and it was in this country where her ashes would mingle with those of her loved ones.
“But it is here in my country, India, that the blood of my loved ones is mingled. It is here that I will breathe my last and it is here my ashes will mingle with those of my loved ones,” said Sonia at the end of her speech.
Saying that Prime Minister Modi can sink to whichever depths he wishes to challenge her integrity, Gandhi added, “He cannot take the truth away from my commitment and my love for India, my country. I cannot expect Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India, to understand these feelings, but I know and I am sure that you will.”
“Before I end, I would like to share with you something, I would say, more personal than political and which is something that I feel I must share with you. Prime Minister Modi has been saying about the Congress, about me in particular, during his visits to Kerala.
“Yes, I was born in Italy. I came to India in 1968 as the daughter-in law of Indira Gandhi. Yes, I have spent 48 years of my life in India. This is my home; this is my country.
For all of my 48 years here, the RSS, the BJP and other parties taunted me to shame me for my birth. I was born to proud and honest parents and I will never be ashamed of them. Yes, I have relatives in Italy: I have 93 years old mother and two sisters. But it is here in my country, India, that the blood of my loved one is mingled,” she added. (ANI)