Dehradun: Rahul Gandhi, the Congress leader, launched his party's election campaign in Dehradun, Uttarakhand on a tearful note on Thursday, stating that his family, like many others in the state, had made sacrifices for the country.

That is my relationship with the state, he remarked during a rally commemorating India's triumph over Pakistan in the 1971 war at Parade Ground here.

"Like thousands of families in Uttarakhand who have lost loved ones fighting for the country's honour, my family has made sacrifices as well. This is how I feel about Uttarakhand," he explained. He said his grandmother, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, took "32 bullets for the country," but her name was not mentioned at a government event commemorating the end of the 1971 war in New Delhi.

Families who have made no sacrifice for the country, on the other hand, will not experience this, he claims. India won the 1971 War because it was "unified" at the time, according to the Congress leader.

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