The main objective of the meeting was to elicit the views of women activists on the various issues facing the party and the country. It was stated that the opinions expressed by the women may be included in the party manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections.

The meeting was in the form a question-answer session where both the participants and Rahul Gandhi asked and answered questions. Rahul Gandhi said that the Congress was committed to the empowerment of women. Amidst applause he announced that in the next five years, half of the chief ministers in the country would be women. Striking a personal note he recalled that in 'My family, despite the presence of my father (Rajiv Gandhi) and my uncle (Sanjay Gandhi), my grandmother (Indira Gandhi) was the boss. This should happen in every family. Women should be boss in the family and they should be the boss in the country also'.

It was this context that he said that it was his cherished ambition to hand over of the reins of administration of fifty percent of the states of the country to women. He said women do not need any protection or patronage of men if they are given their rightful place. Women were valuable assets for the country if they were empowered, he said.

‘Lakhs of women transformed their lives by joining the Self-help Groups in Uttar Pradesh,’ the Congress vice-president said.

A NGO worker, who came from Kerala, demanded not to reduce subsidy on LPG cylinders and sought assurance from the Congress vice-president that the UPA, in its third term, won't remove of dilute the subsidy on LPG. Gandhi, however, only replied that he would look into it. Hearing Gandhi's talk about women empowerment and equal rights, a female advocate from Gujarat said that she had been hearing such things for the last 25 years but nothing had really changed. Rahul said that things had indeed changed. The government had provided 50 percent reservation to women in Panchayats and equal wages in MNREGA, Now 33 percent quota for women in legislative assemblies and the Parliament is next step the Congress would take for women's empowerment.

‘Wait for 5-10 years, you will see that half of chief ministers will be women,’ he said. An Aaganwadi worker from Maharashtra demanded pension and status of government employees for Aaganwadi workers and said they were not given honorarium in time. Another woman, Nurjahan, of Gujarat said women of the minority community were not invite to political programmes; only their religious leaders were invited. The minorities were facing the worst situation in Gujarat.

Another NGO worker from Bhabhra of Madhya Pradesh said the Panchayat Raj was nothing but money-minting enterprise for ministers. She said that she tried to secure jobs for disabled persons of her district but 'maternal uncle' (Mamaji – as the MP CM likes to describe himself) of the state Shivraj Singh did not do anything. Child rights activist and head of Gulabi Gang Sampat Bai said they would support Rahul as candidate for prime minister.

One important feature of the get together was the presence of sex workers and eunuchs. They were happy that had been invited for the event. They said that it was for the first time that sex workers and eunuchs were being consulted by a political party. They regretted that the society does not recognise them as an integral part of the society. (IPA)