Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Sunday took the National Democratic Alliance government to task, calling it a government of scams and scandals.

Addressing a massive rally at the Ramlila grounds in Delhi just 24 hours after Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee addressed an equally large gathering to celebrate his government's five years in power, Sonia said the NDA government had failed on all fronts.

Largely repeating her Friday's address at the convention of Congress block presidents, the Congress president said: "This is a government of scams and scandals. This is a government which did not even spare the coffins of our soldiers who laid down their lives fighting for the country."

Praising her party's strong ideological foundation, Sonia said it was not for nothing that the Congress was in power in 15 states.

Sonia said her party would continue to work to provide a secure future to the youth, prosperity to farmers and equal rights to women.  "The underprivileged and the socially and economically weaker sections of the society have always had a special place in the Congress and they will continue to do so," she said.

On the security scenario, Sonia said: "We unitedly stood behind the government on the question of national security. But, what did we get? Innocent people died during the Amarnath Yatra. Terrorism visited Akshardham temple and now the massacre of Kashmiri Pandits."

She said the Congress which had lost three of its top leaders to terrorist violence required no certificate from anyone on its approach to the menace.
 
She said it was the Congress which had brought an end to militancy in Assam and Punjab. "And you will all recall it was an external affairs minister of this government who escorted terrorists to Afghanistan. The same terrorists later masterminded more violent acts in India," she said.

Referring to the US-led war on Iraq, the Congress president said such unilateral action should be condemned in strongest terms. "The matter must be taken back to the UN security council for an amicable settlement."

Objecting to the Sangh Parivar's definition of Hinduism, she said Hinduism  preaches social unity, from which flows the concept of national unity. "Only a united nation can progress and prosper. And, only a united nation can stand up to the threats of an enemy," she said.