Sonia Gandhi's finest hour

BJP's insistence of continuing with the "foreign origin" issue and its refusal to attend the swearing in ceremony if she were to become the Prime Minister, despite NDA's definitive defeat at the polls, smack of reverse racism. Sushma Swaraj's threat to resign from the Rajya Sabha along with her husband and Uma Bharti's resignation from the post of Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh (the resignation letter was sent to BJP President Venkiah Naidu instead of the Governor of MP) were acts of worst possible undemocratic practice in a country which can pride itself for its unbroken (except for Indira Gandhi's emergency period) history of democratic rule. The xenophobes of RSS, VHP and the extremist elements of BJP only had to look up the history books of both India and Europe to discover their folly.

Perhaps they were mired in the "lessons" given by Chanakya who for strategic reasons arranged the marriage of Chandra Gupta with the daughter of defeated Greek general Selucus Nikator on the condition that no progeny from that marriage would be able to inherit the throne of Magadh. But they forget that Sita and Lord Buddha were of Nepalese origin and Gandhari (wife of Dhritarashtra) belonged to Gandhara now in Afghanistan. But the logic of they being treated as natural citizens of the land could be found in the definition of the political geography of Vedic India, Bharat-Khand, Aryavart or Bhara Varsh. Collectively the boundary of Bara Varsh or Aryavart was between the mountain range from the eastern sea (Bay of Bengal) to western sea (Arabian Sea). Territories beyond Aryavart were called land of Mlechchas (barbarians) and the Turks, Greeks, Mongols, Mughals and others who invaded the Vedic land were called Yavanas.

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After the defeat of Selucus Chadra Gupta Maurya could have easily annexed the territories occupied by the Greeks in India. But he was advised against it by Kautilya because the territories beyond Hindukush were beyond the pale of Vedic religion and laws. Kautilya believed in pristine Indianism which would not tolerate any association with the Mlechchas and the Yavanas. Fuelled by RSS/VHP concept of Hindutva, regardless of its disastrous effects on multi-racial, multi-religious, multi-linguistic, multi-cultural and almost multi-civilisational India, BJP did not "consider Sonia Gandhi ethnically Indian as she does not fit into the frame of their definition of patriotism and nationalism" (The BJP and RSS on Foreigner Issue South Asia Analysis Group). The foundation of the ideological philosophy of the BJP is the cultural and traditional heritage of India which the party feels Sonia Gandhi cannot inspire among the people.

BJP has forgotten that the first head of the Indian National Congress (albeit during the British Raj) was Allan Octavian Hume who was followed by Irish Annie Besant. The process of Indianisation of the party gained momentum with the entry of Mahatma Gandhi and Bal Gangadhar Tilak. BJP's self-contradiction becomes apparent if one looks at the speech given by then Prime Minister Vajpayee addressing the Parliamentarians in 1999 when he spoke of people of Indian origin holding elected offices in 19 countries, 200 MPs, 68 Ministers and three Prime Ministers who have done India proud. If place of birth is to be taken as determinant for holding high offices then IK Gujral, Joyti Basu and LK Advani could be disqualified from holding "high offices" of the President, Vice President and Prime Minister. This argument was however nullified by Arun Jetley in his assertion that article 6 of the Indian Constitution provides that 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.

There is no legal bar on a foreign born Indian citizen from occupying high offices. There was a time when former Prime Ministers VP Sigh and Chandra Shekhar and political leaders like Sharad Pawar, Mulayam Singh Yadav and PA Sanghma felt very strongly on Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin. But the 2004 elections have proved that ordinary Indians just do not care about the issue. That is why Govinda Acharya and Sushma Swaraj's communal attitude is so difficult to comprehend. Except perhaps in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh Hindutva , a weapon used by upper caste Hindus to divert the attention of the under-privileged from the failure of the BJP government to give them a share of India shining prosperity, could have had some effect but elsewhere the "foreigner" issue proved to be a total non-issue. In those areas Bijli, Sadak, and Paani proved to be the main determinants of victory or defeat of the candidates.

Some have advanced the argument that in the US only a native born can be the President of the country. This argument has been made grotesque by BJP President Venkiah Naidu's claim that the framers of the Indian Constitution could never have imagined after liberating the country from foreign rule that fifty years later a foreign born naturalised Indian could vie for the post of Prime Minister of the country which was added by another argument by Harvard educated Subramanium Swamy that since in Italy an Indian cannot become Prime Minister so according to the principle of reciprocity an Italian could not become Prime Minister of India. That these arguments are facile are to say the least. The framers of the American Constitution Jefferson, Madison, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton and others possessing unmatched brilliance were genuinely afraid of foreign subversion. Among their nightmare scenarios was the prospect of a European noble using his money and influence to sway the Electoral College. Such a situation is inconceivable in India today.

BJP's "foreigner" issue also falls flat on the ground of Hindu marriage and tradition according to which a woman married to a Hindu man leaves her caste (gotra) and joins that of her husband's (gotrantar). Sonia Gandhi became an Indian "bahu" when she married Rajiv Gandhi. Therefore BJP's snide remarks of Ram Rajya vs Rome Rajya and ideologue S. Gurumurthy's observation that it is now India and not East India (Company) smack of reverse racism and narrow communal out look. If BJP's criticism is aimed at Sonia Gandhi being raised as a catholic is a threat to Hindutva then it only helped to insult not only Indian Christians but the entire minority community. Indians, by and large, are wedded to Nehruvian notion of secularism which advocates separation of religion from politics. In his characteristic way Pandit Nehru saw organised religion as being "very largely an empty form devoid of real content" and condemned the unyielding religious orthodoxy and communalism in all communities. One would hope that Sonia led Congress alliance's victory at the polls would at least give billion odd Indians some respite from the onslaught of Hindutva and BJP would take some time out to look up the pages of world history.

The founder President of the Irish Republic Eamon de Valera was born in New York(1882) of a Spanish father and an Irish mother. Richard Butler, British Chancellor of Exchequer and Chairman of the Conservative Party was born at Attock Sarai in Punjub. Catherine the Great of Russia was born in the Prussian town of Stetin and spoke little Russian at the time of her marriage to Peter III. George II of England was born at Hanover (Germany) and grew up as a German prince and was more interested in Hanover than in England. From George I (1714-27) to Queen Victoria (1837- 1901) the British royal family was known as the House of Hanover. The next King of Holland and the Queen of Sweden would be half German because late Prince Klaus and the present Queen of Sweden are of German origin and upbringing. Today the citizens of the European Union feel proud to be known as Europeans as opposed to their national identity (not that the two are mutually exclusive). This was evident during the recent inclusion of the ten new members of the EU.

Sonia Gandhi's refusal to be Prime Minister not only stunned India and the world but at the same time earned her universal praise. Indian Express paid her tribute for assuming high moral ground and for neatly disarming her political opponents of the one weapon they had hoped to use against her. The Hindu praised her for a well deserved victory earned through a decent issue-based campaign that refused to respond in kind to highly personalised attacks on her "foreign origin and antecedents". The paper's political editor Harish Khare paid glowing tribute to Sonia Gandhi for identifying herself "firmly with the land's ancient tradition of renunciation". Hindustan Times said "Rare is the Indian politician who turns away from power when it is offered to him or her on a platter. Sonia Gandhi is now the only person in Indian history to have turned down the post of Prime Minister not once but twice".

India is lucky to get Dr. Man Mohan Singh as the next Prime Minister. His nomination has brought back stability to the Mumbai stock market which had crashed due to recent political uncertainty. Dr. Singh has promised growth with a human face. In other words he would adopt pro-growth strategy but would abandon unbridled disinvestment and privatisation. One may recall that he was the initiator of liberalisation of Indian economy and is credited both at home and abroad for his encyclopedic depth of knowledge of Indian economy. His Lal Bahadur Shastri like integrity, his soft yet firm style of handling of complex issues, and his simple life style are endearing qualities. His greatest challenge would be to meet the expectations of the electorate, assure foreign investors and NRIs that there would not be sudden change of course in economic policy, and at the same time to convince the Left that the common minimum programme would be implemented. Dr Singh also has to make India a global player where India's voice would be heard loud and clear. These are early days to talk about foreign and defence policies of the new government which are expected to unfold as time goes by.

The author is a former Secretary and ambassador.