Adalaj (Gujarat), Mar 12 (IANS): Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi on Tuesday urged people to consider the Lok Sabha polls as "another independence struggle" and told them to raise the real issues facing them instead of getting drawn into trivialities.

"Your greatest weapon is awareness about the realities facing the country, your vote is your weapon. Use it with after due consideration and due discretion. Ensure that it does not hurt anyone," Priyanka Gandhi said in her public address here.

"True 'desh bhakti' is getting aware about real problems and challenges before the country."

Amid slogans comparing her with Indira Gandhi, she made a short speech in a conversational style in Hindi, saying this was her first visit to Gujarat.

"When I went to the Gandhi Ashram in Sabarmati, I was almost driven to tears," she said, adding that it was "crucial that the message about real issues should go out from this land of the Mahatma.

"In this election, raise issues that are real, not trivial and diversionary, and this is your responsibility as the true citizens. This country belongs to nobody else but to you. So make the right and informed decisions after taking stock of the hollow promises given to you.

"Where are the two crore jobs? Where is the Rs 15 lakh in your account? Where is women's security? Think about this, ask these questions," she said.

Priyanka Gandhi said the real India was not about spreading hatred everywhere.

"The true nature of India is love and compassion towards one and all, not hatred. It is this very ethos which is being destroyed," she said.