Chanakya, for strategic reasons arranged the marriage of
Chandragupta Maurya with the daughter of Seleucus Nikator after the Greek General was
defeated in the battle. But, it was laid down that no progeny from the marriage
could inherit the throne of Magadh--- A historical reference to the
“foreigner” issue.
Many of the political leaders in India who are known to be
habitual players of negative politics hardly showed any interest when Sonia Gandhi entered
into the Nehru-Gandhi family as a daughter-in-law of foreign origin by marrying Rajiv
Gandhi in 1968. They started keeping track record of her activities only when Rajiv
Gandhi was groomed by his mother Indira Gandhi as crown prince after the death of Sanjay
Gandhi. The Italian connection of Rajiv Gandhi, however came to lime light in Bofors
scandal which played a decisive role in the defeat of his Government in 1989. After
the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, the status of Sonia was like a royal mother who had an
important say in the internal affairs of the Congress Party .
People started taking interest in Sonia Gandhi since 1998 when
she took over the presidentship of the Congress. The Party subsequently won assembly
elections in Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and Rajasthan. Gauging the potential of the lady,
the RSS and its constituents coined the slogan–“Ram Rajya vs Rome Rajya”
and initiated a debate on her foreign origin as well as the desirability of a foreign born
Indian citizen of holding the top executive post in the country.
It was not the first time that the Indian National Congress is
headed by a foreign national. The Congress was founded by a British national, Allan
Octavian Hume, followed by an Irish theosophist, Ms Annie Besant as its president.
Many would argue that there were compulsions then, to have foreigners head a
political party when India was under colonial rule perhaps with a view to
communicate better with the British, the Indian aspirations. When the freedom
movement gained momentum, the process of Indianisation of the Congress party began
particularly after the entry of Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Mahatma Gandhi. Thus comparison of
Sonia Gandhi with Mr. Hume or Annie Besant may not be
relevant.
The RSS and its political front, the Bhartiya Jan Sangh and now
Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) do not consider Sonia Gandhi ethnically Indian as she does not
fit into the frame of their definition of patriotism and nationalism. The foundation of
the ideological philosophy of the BJP is the cultural and traditional heritage of India
which every Indian should be proud of. According to “Sangh Parivar” Sonia Gandhi
cannot inspire this philosophy.
When Sonia Gandhi, as president of the Congress Party played an
active role in the fall of Vajpayee Government even though she had no chance of forming an
alternative Government, the entire Sangh Parivar smelt a conspiracy against a
“nationalist Government”. They initiated a debate questioning the
desirability of an Italian born Indian citizen to hold the post of the Prime
minister. “Organiser”, the RSS weekly in its June 6, 1999 took up
the issue publicly with an article entitled “Evangelization-2000 &
India”. Sohail Siddiqui, Chief editor of the Urdu weekly Hamara Qadam of New
Delhi gave a new name to Sonia Gandhi-“Sonia-de-Gama.” The article
projected that while Vasco-de-Gama’s landing in Indian soil was a precursor of
European dominance in India, the entry of “Sonia-de-Gama” in Indian
politics…was a conspiracy to destablise the 13-month old nationalist
Government. “At the instance of her foreign friends who hardly need to be
identified, she delivered this blow to India when the 12th Lok Sabha was
dissolved.” Highlighting Sonia's love for Italy the article said, “Again
when it came to marrying her daughter, she cleverly chose to have an alliance with the son
of her Italian friend.” Few in this country know that Robert Vadra’s
(Vadera) mother is an Italian national married to an Indian, Eric Vadra. The Italian
mother-in-law of Smt. Priyanka Vadra had almost discarded her Pakistan born Indian husband
Eric Vadra.
S.Gurumurthy, a known BJP ideologue and convenor of
“Swadeshi Jagaran Manch “ in his article (BJP TODAY-May 15, 99 ) hit out against
Sonia Gandhi—“ All that the nation has told Sonia in silent mode is:- Madam, it
is India now, not East India any more…. The conviction that Sonia as Prime Minister
of India will be a national shame cut across all political parties including the
Congress.”
Thus, with the help of party organs and supporting journalists,
the RSS and its constituents brought the debate to a very high pitch and attracted the
participation of a wide range of political leaders, including some of the former Prime
ministers, journalists, academicians and retired bureaucrats. Former Prime Ministers
V.P.Singh and Chandrashekhar, political leaders like Mulayam Singh and others who hardly
subscribe to the RSS point of view including ex-Foreign Secretary, J.N.Dixit expressed
their opinion disfavouring Sonia Gandhi to hold the post of Prime Minister.
The view of RSS found echoes in Congress I too. Three Central
Working Committee members of the Congress party-Sharad Pawar, Purno A. Sangma and Tarique
Anwar challenged the leadership of Sonia Gandhi on grounds of her “foreign
origin.” In their letter they said -“the issue affects not just the
security, economic interest and international image of India but hits at the core pride of
every Indian. The Congress manifesto should suggest an amendment to the constitution
of India, to the effect that the offices of the President, Vice-President and the Prime
minister can only be held by natural born Indian citizens. We would also request that you,
as Congress president, propose this amendment. This will be in line with your consistent
stand that your sole concern in entering public life was to revive and rejuvenate the
party.” The debate took its first toll with a split in the Congress
Party.
In favour of Sonia Gandhi:
Those who are defending Sonia Gandhi on this issue have their own
arguments. Picking up the thread from a speech of Vajpayee in his address to a gathering
of Parliamentarians of Indian origin (New Delhi-November`98) Ms Vidya Subramaniam of Times
of India charged Vajpayee of duplicity for falling in line with the stance adopted by the
BJP and Sharad Pawar, thereby treating Sonia Gandhi as a foreigner for debarring her from
the high offices of the country. (Times Of India, June 5, 99). Addressing the
Parliamentarians, Vajpayee had said “People of Indian origin hold elected office in
19 countries, the tally being as follows: 200 MPs, 68 Ministers, and two Prime Ministers
(now three)…that they had done India proud with their enormous political achievements
around the globe." He also commended the parliamentarians of Indian origin for
still "retaining their emotional, cultural and spiritual links with Bharat, our
common motherland.”
Though no reaction of Vajpayee to the Times of India article has
so far been made public, the RSS weekly Organiser (June 20, 99) countered the argument
through a write up of R.C.Batura which said, “ In her zeal to oppose the BJP move,
Smt. Subramaniam ignored the key words emotional, cultural and spiritual links with
Bharat. Vajpayee did not talk of political links of these persons….in
fact, Fiji and Mauritius where the Prime Ministers are of Indian origin, have a
numerically dominant population of Indian origin who are there for generations and have no
links with India which could be detrimental to their national interest whereas Sonia
Gandhi who acquired Indian citizenship after 15 years of her marriage with Rajiv Gandhi
continued to maintain her family links in Italy.”
Some of the CPM leadership while supporting the desirability of
Sonia Gandhi to hold the high offices in the country said, “ If Ms.Gandhi is a
foreigner, then so L.K.Advani and Jyoti Basu." The Marxists were countered by
Narendra Modi, General Secretary of the BJP and Arun Jaitley, member, BJP Election
Management Committee through a press statement (May 18, 99) – “The marxists are
either ignorant of or mischievously ignoring Article 6 of the constitution of India.
The article states, “A Person who has migrated to the territory of India from the
country now included in Pakistan shall be deemed to be a citizen of India at the
commencement of this constitution.”
Against Sonia Gandhi:
Some of the points raised against Sonia Gandhi could be summed
up:
* Sonia Gandhi is ethnically non-Indian as she is not a natural
citizen of India but a naturalised citizen of this country .
* Chanakya, for strategic reasons arranged the marriage of
Chandragupta Maurya with the daughter of Seleucus Nikator after the Greek General was
defeated in the battle. But, it was laid down that no progeny from the marriage
could inherit the throne of Magadh.
* Sonia Gandhi became a registered Indian citizen in 1983 i.e.
only after 15 years of her marriage with Rajiv Gandhi .
* Her enrolment as voter in 1980 when she had not acquired Indian
citizenship is questionable .
* If she travelled on an Italian passport even after becoming an
Indian citizen in April 1983, has she not committed an offence?
* Sonia violated the provision of FERA for over a year (from
January 1,1974 to January 21`1975) when she was allotted shares in Maruti Technical
Services PVT. LTD and was made its Managing Director.
* Sonia Gandhi is using the Christian world to help implement evangelisation-2000
programmes in India.
* Ashok Singhal, President,Vishwa Hindu Parishad gave a new twist
to the issue. He said “Pope wants to rule India by proxy in the form of Sonia
Gandhi. It was after Mrs. Gandhi`s entry into active politics that the country
witnessed Hindu-Christian clashes. (Nagpur, June 12, 99)
There is no constitutional bar on foreign born Indian citizen from occupying high
offices. However, Vajpayee according to some press reports, was initially opposed to
making it a public issue but subsequently changed his mind and called for a national
debate on it. Almost, all political leaders have an opinion on this issue but have
been careful in responding to the debate. A number of opinion polls have also been carried
out by the media and a majority of the views have gone against Sonia Gandhi.
The on going debate on the “foreigner issue” has little
to do with the future of India as such, but everything to do with the coming general
elections to the Lok Sabha. The BJP may like to portray Vajpayee as the son of the soil
against the foreign born Indian citizen Sonia Gandhi and compare the latter’s
inability and inexperience with that of Vajpayee having vast experience in tackling the
national problems.
Sonia Gandhi has so far not come out with any detailed defence except for her emotion
packed speech during a Youth Congress rally when she said, “ I married here, I became
a mother here, became a widow here before your eyes and my mother-in–law breathed her
last in my arms.”
How far the sorrowful eyes and emotionally choked voice of a
‘Suhagin-mother-widow’ will be translated into fetching votes is still
uncertain.
The RSS has won its first round on the “foreigners”
issue, but the question remains- Will they win the bout?
R.Upadhyaya
2.7.99
