Delhi, November 4- A sea of humanity with thousands of people wearing pink turbans from Haryana turned up in a huge number at Ram Lila ground Maharally in New Delhi today which made it a grand show of the Congress party. Haryana Chief Minister Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda termed it as ‘Pink Army of Mrs Sonia Gandhi’.
Interestingly, majority of the crowd in the rally had come from adjoining state of Haryana.The crowed was so much that the huge Ram Lila ground appeared smaller, which was full in early morning as a large number of people from various parts of Haryana flaunting pink headgears were the first to throng the ground well before the arrival of UPA chairperson Mrs Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Congress General Secretary Mr Rahul Gandhi. The crowd exceeded the expectations of the organizers as large number of people could be seen roaming all over the roads upto the Rajghat and adjoining areas. The city witnessed traffic jams in all parts as the people had started to converge since early morning. The party utilized the occasion for clearing the misconceptions related to FDI in retail and economic reforms and majority of the speakers termed the charges of opposition as mere misinformation campaign for gaining cheap popularity.
The massive crowd seemed all charged up for the occasion. When Mrs Gandhi arrived on the dais, they welcomed her with thunderous applause. Similar applause was seen for Rahul Gandhi and Mr Hooda. The crowd raised vociferous sloganeering in their support during their address. During his speech, Mr Hooda had to appeal to the enthusiastic crowd to take their seats. He did not fail to remind, “I had earlier requested the Delhi Congress president Mr Jai Parkash Aggarwal that this ground is not large enough to accommodate the crowd, which would emerge for the rally and a bigger ground should be selected”. Many Congress leaders could be seen congratulating Mr Hooda for the massive turnout from his state.
If the presence of a large gathering is any measure of popularity, today’s show of strength by Congress can be said to be successful. With this mammoth rally, the Congress party has given a befitting reply to its opponents, who had been trying to corner it on various issues. Mrs Sonia Gandhi also thanked the crowd for coming in large number and acknowledged that the turnout has given her more strength and boosted the morale. Rahul Gandhi also impressed the people with his fiery speech and talked about need to change the political system, where the general masses and poor will have a say. Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh used the occasion to clarify the government’s economic agenda and reforms. Mrs Sonia Gandhi appeared in unusual aggression and targeted the opposition. Her speech was met with repeated sloganeering and clapping by the responsive crowd.