New Delhi: United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi today (Oct 7, 2004) said the Congress-led Government has given top priority to eliminating poverty through accelerated economic growth.

Speaking at the 7th Rajiv Gandhi Memorial Lecture function in New Delhi, she regretted that the "better India and more equitable world" envisioned by her late husband and former Prime Minister had not been realised yet.

"Our democracy provides confirmation that economic growth and political freedom can flourish together," she said at the function where German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder delivered the memorial lecture.

Gandhi said, "Eliminating poverty by accelerating economic growth and at the same time ensuring that its benefits are more equitably shared is our over-riding priority."

"We have no choice but to seek a balance between economic imperatives and social realities," the Congress president said.

Describing Rajiv Gandhi as a "modernizer", she said he had strived for a "more outward-looking and dynamic India, an India ready to seize opportunities which the 21st century would bring."

She credited his investment in Information Technology and science for paving the way for India's role in the global knowledge economy and its emergence today as a scientifically and industrially advanced nation.