PANAJI: Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday took a gentle swipe at her own male party leaders in Goa, while trying to highlight the significance of the party's decision to allocate a large number of tickets in the assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh to women.
Addressing an election rally in South Goa district, Gandhi also said that introduction of more women in electoral politics would bring down the tone of hatred in electioneering , while also lending a touch of compassion to the manner in which politics is conducted in India.
Earlier, in the course of her speech, the Congress leader, while trying to impress upon the audience the importance of women's participation in Uttar Pradesh politics, responded to a nod from one of the participants in the rally inviting the person to Uttar Pradesh.
"You are nodding. Come to Uttar Pradesh. And come (back) and work hard on convincing these men here, " Gandhi said, while referring to senior Congress leaders on the dais which included former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, All India Congress Committee official in-charge of Goa Dinesh Gundu Rao, state Congress president Girish Chodankar, Leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat, among others.
"The first and foremost (reason) is that as women and 50 per cent of the population, it is our right to have 50 per cent of the representation. It is not something anyone is doing us a favour. It is our right and we want to fight for our right. but more than that politics today has become filled with hatred, it has become filled with anger. You hear speeches... 90 per cent of the speech is negative, " she said. Vadra is the party's general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh.
"I firmly believe that us women being the practical people that we are and having to handle so much, can actually bring that positivity and compassion in politics as well. It is my belief that all of us women should also be helped to stand up on our feet, " she also said.