Zee Media Bureau
Thiruvananthapuram: Even as Rahul Gandhi called the ordinance on convicted lawmakers cleared by the Union Cabinet led by the Prime Minister as `nonsense`, Congress president Sonia Gandhi praised Manmohan Singh on Sunday for implementing social security schemes for welfare of marginalised sections of the society.
On a two-day visit to Kerala capital, Gandhi lauded welfare and social security schemesfor marginalised people initiated by the UPA Government while inaugurating a research centre set up by her party`s Kerala unit and a major free health scheme of the Congress-led UDF Government in the state.
"They (marginalised sections) faced discrimination at every level. The UPA government led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has lifted million of them through its flagship schemes," she said at a function at Neyar Dam about 30 km from here.
Sonia Gandhi today said, "Congress always stood for the Gandhian principles of inclusive development and the party would continue to make efforts for the development of all sections of society based on this concept."
She was speaking after inaugurating the Research-cum Training Centre attached to Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Development Studies set up by Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee.
The UPA chairperson noted that discrimination on the basis of gender, caste and class faced by marginalised section in the society was still a problem in the country and urged the policy makers to evolve policies and programmes to address it.
She said both UPA government at the Centre and UDF in Kerala were committed to ensuring inclusive growth underlined Gandhian principles and uplift the poor and downtrodden.
"We need to do much more to empower poor and marginalised," she added.
The Congress vice president had on September 27, while addressing the press had said that the ordinance, which had been widely criticised, should be torn and thrown away. The main Opposition, the Bhartiya Janata Party had said that Rahul`s words had undermined the position of the PM.
After the outburst, Sonia Gandhi had spoken over telephone to the Prime Minister and Rahul also wrote to him expressing his "greatest admiration" for Singh`s leadership in extremely difficult circumstances.
Congress had made Rahul`s letter public hours after his attack.
With PTI inputs
