In a new low in the level of political discourse, BJP president Amit Shah lashes out against Congress president Sonia Gandhi saying, "'World knows about your love for son, National Herald."

This is probably what the BJP thinks is a fitting reply to Sonia Gandhi's speech at Thiruvananthapuram yesterday. The Congress president said that India is her home and "it is here that my ashes will mingle with my loved ones".

The Congress President used the election rally in Thiruvananthapuram to hit back at Modi after the prime minister raked up her Italian roots twice in the last three days while making a veiled attack on her over the controversial AgustaWestland chopper deal.

Sonia's response came while concluding her speech when she said she wanted to share something personal, not politics, about the prime minister's statement "about the Congress and particularly about me".

"Yes, I was born in Italy. I came to India in 1968 as the daughter-in-law of Indira Gandhi. I have spent 48 years of my life in India. This is my home. This is my country," Sonia said while referring to Modi's sarcastic queries to the gathering at his two poll rallies in Tamil Nadu and Kerala on Friday and Sunday whether they had any relatives in Italy.

Sonia said that all her 48 years in India, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Bharatiya Janata Party and some other parties had always "taunted me to shame me for my birth".

"I was born to proud and honest parents. I will never be ashamed of them. Yes, I have relatives in Italy. I have a 93-year-old mother and two sisters. But it is here, in my country, India, it is in this part that the blood of my loves is mingled.

"It is here that I will breathe my last. It is here that my ashes will mingle with yours and my loved ones," she said, pointing out that the sole objective of Prime Minister Modi was to "indulge in character assassination of his adversaries and spread lies."