'Pehli baar aisa dekha hai ki janata bol rahi hai aur neta sunn rahe hain,' said a participant from Uttar Pradesh during the second manifesto consultation. This short comment brilliantly captured thespirit behind the Congress Party's effort at building a people's manifesto.

Recalling the fear of a young boy he met at a relief camp at Shamli near Muzaffarnagar Shri Gandhi said, 'No person of any community or caste should ever be scared in India. This is a secular country'. Shri Gandhi stressed the need to 'fight the politics that thrives on creating fear'. The Congress vice-president said that the Congress party believes in 'shanti ke saath kranti (peace and transformation)'. He interacted with representatives from minority communities who provided a variety of suggestions for the Congress Party's Manifesto for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Stating that key issue is leadership the Congress Vice-President said'Until we don't open up processes, until we do not encourage leadership, problems will not be solved. The main problem at all levels is that of developing leadership.