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Indian Politics: Soniaji - I Was Wrong
Vikas Chowdhry
After the last elections, when it appeared that Sonia Gandhi might be the next Prime Minister of India, I went ballistic with anger. An immigrant in a foreign country who felt proud whenever a person of Indian origin was elected to an official position in countries like the US, Canada or UK, it was an obviously bigoted reaction. Part of it was because I was extremely fond of the grand old man of Indian politics, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and I felt that Sonia had dethroned him in a coup; part of it was a visceral reaction to the shenanigans of the Congress party in the past, but the rest of it was bigotry due to the sole reason of Sonia being born in a foreign country.
A couple of years down the line, I think I owe an apology to the lady. Much bandwidth, ink and paper has been consumed in the past few days over the recent events surrounding Mrs. Gandhi and overwhelmingly, the response of the Indian middle class and Indian intelligentsia has been cynical and negative. I know that the middle class and the upwardly mobile consider Congress party and specially the Nehru family to be the main reason for India's economic stagnation (and so do I) but that is really no reason for them to not to see through their own demagoguery and ideological position in ignoring the facts staring in their face regarding Mrs Gandhi.
You could attribute any number of motives to Mrs. Gandhi's actions. That she is playing a political game, that she is preparing the stage for her children but the only charge that sticks is that she inspires Congressmen to burst into wild bouts of sycophancy, which is a disgusting sight, but even that is not her fault - blame the Congress, nay Indian, political mindset for it. It is ironic that the biggest albatross that she seems to be carrying is her connection to the Nehru family, obviously ironic, because had it not been for that connection, she'd be somewhere in Europe, worried about the Muslim immigration issue.
During the past two years, Mrs. Gandhi has shown that all said and done, she really is different from the current breed of Indian politicians. Her willingness to be a fast learner, her aptitude in mastering foreign policy, her political intuition and just plain decency, everything sets her apart from the Mulayam Singhs, the Sitaram Yechuris, the Amar Singhs, the Rajnath Singhs of Indian politics. And yet, despite considering all these alternatives, people are not able to see anything good about her insisting that everything she does is attributable to her planning to further the Nehru raj. Well, I used to be terribly worried about the continuation of the Nehru raj as well, but honestly, the more I see of her, the less I am worried because if her actions are any indication, then she surely must have given a much better upbringing to her children than Indira ever did to her two brats.
In today's political climate, where every party and politician seems to have put country's interest aside, how can you not admire a leader who has the guts and understanding to write something like this?
To the person who gave India one of the best Prime Ministers, to the person who by the sheer decency of her behavior has highlighted the depravity of the rest of Indian politicians and to the person who has proved that I was utterly wrong in my analysis of her, I owe an apology - I was wrong about you and I stand corrected!
Indian Politics: Soniaji - I Was Wrong
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BangaloreGuy
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March 31, 2006
07:34 AM
Unless I missed the sarcasm in the post, I'd say you're wearing blinkers. If mere written letter to party workers could be taken to convey the intention and intelligence of the person, then we'd all need to do a lot of rethinking on our politicians and leaders.
BTW, the same Congress Party that she writes as eschewing "communalisation of Foreign Policy" had Nutwar Singh saying that "India's support for Iran took into consideration India's 150 million Muslims". Going back much further in history, it was also the same Congress Party that, under GandhiJi, participated in the Khilafat Movement.
Vikas Chowdhry
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March 31, 2006
08:22 AM
BangloreGuy - Maybe it is a sign of the times that we live in that you mistook my post for sarcasm. There is no sarcasm here and I don't have any blinkers either.
I agree we need to do a lot of rethinking on our politicians (leaders? I hardly see any leaders around on the political stage). For me, everything is relative - so would you rather have an Indian born crook like Mulayam Singh lead the country? Or the pack of jokers who are running the show in Banglore?
You are enumerating the crimes Congress has committed in the past and putting it all on Sonia's shoulders and that is exactly what I am trying to say in my post - that it is unreasonable to do so.
BangaloreGuy
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March 31, 2006
09:38 AM
I did not attribute them to Sonia at all, but the Congress party. I was referring to the "letter to Congressmen" that you linked to. If 2005 is the "past", for you, I'd think your PoV on the Govt should change every day. (She was, Chairperson of the NAC, and an MP then)
There are any number of things that this government has done wrong, and India been the worse for it. I'd list them, but you would again portray it as "others' mistakes /the past" being attributed to Sonia. So I'll refrain from that.
BangaloreGuy
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March 31, 2006
09:40 AM
Oh btw, If you think what you said about Sonia isnt wearing blinkers, well, I suppose, you can be said to be "relatively" blinkered.
Nachiketa
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March 31, 2006
10:58 AM
because had it not been for that connection, she'd be somewhere in Europe, worried about the Muslim immigration issue.
If you read yesterday's newspapers,she is worried about that in India too :)
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1662978,001302200004.htm
Vikas Chowdhry
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March 31, 2006
12:33 PM
BangloreGuy: Is Manmohan Singh government perfect? No! Have they committed blunders? Yes! Find me a single government anywhere in the world which did not commit its own set of blunders.
The bigger concern here is what is the alternative to Congress? BJP? It is still shell-shocked from the beating it got 2 years ago and does not have a single leader of any stature. The rag-tag coalition of n number of Janta and Samajwadi Parties with Mulayam Singh Yadav as Prime Minister?
The problem is that Indian middle class cannot put its vote where its mouth is. That is why someone like Manmohan Singh lost elections in South Delhi.
Nachiketa: Good link. The best friends make the worst enemies and the Bachchan family is proving that adage in abundance with respect to the Gandhis. I loved this comment from Jaya:
"Amitabhji was unable to be here amidst you all. But he has sent his best wishes to the people of Assam," she told the rally.
Probably he is too busy dancing in the wedding of a local Samajwadi Politician in UP.
BangaloreGuy
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April 2, 2006
12:48 PM
I was, very specifically answering your comments, which took from Sonia to Congress Party to the past and finally to 'whether any government is perfect'. Every time I comment on one you jump to a neighbouring, even unrelated, topic!
When evaluating the performance of a government, IMO, we cannot be evaluating the hypothetical situations. And btw, if May '04 had resulted in a BJP/NDA victory, you'd have seen a far stronger centre, and a much weaker opposition.
Vikas Chowdhry
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April 2, 2006
02:00 PM
BangloreGuy "if May '04 had resulted in a BJP/NDA victory, you'd have seen a far stronger centre, and a much weaker opposition."
And that is a big if my friend! However, after the defeat, the way BJP has behaved has been a big disappointment and it is no longer a credible opposition and not a viable contended for power in its current state and that is how the things stand right now.
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