New Delhi: Former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi had a massive poll mandate in 1984 but he did not use it to create an atmosphere of fear, threaten and scare people or destroy institutions, Congress president Sonia Gandhi said on Thursday, in an apparent criticism of the Modi government. Addressing an event marking Rajiv Gandhi's 75th birth anniversary, she also said the challenges facing the Congress now are formidable, but it must continue with its ideological struggle against "divisive forces". "In 1984, he (Rajiv Gandhi) won an unprecedented mandate but did not use that power to create an atmosphere of fear or threaten and scare," Sonia Gandhi said.

He did not use that power to destroy the independence of institutions, trample on dissent and divergent views and create dangers for democratic traditions, she said, in her first public address after taking over as the Congress's interim president earlier this month. Her remarks assume significance as they come after senior Congress leader and former Union finance minister P Chidambaram was arrested by the CBI in connection with the INX Media case, with the grand old party accusing the government of using central agencies such as the CBI and the ED as personal "revenge-seeking departments".