Tavleen Singh’s anti-Sonia tirade
Published by Yazad Jal May 17th, 2004 in Political TheatreI can ignore the Sushma Swaraj style theatrics about Sonia Gandhi becoming India’s next PM. After all Sushma has a constituency of hardcore Hindutva to promote. (Plus the political theatre will spring up responses like Rabri Devi’s)
What I find strange is the loss of perspective from respected columnists like Tavleen Singh. Tavleen Singh is offended at the prospect of being represented by an Italian. My first reaction is to ask her to take a break. Sonia Gandhi is a naturalised Indian.
Singh goes further. She dishes up a hardline Hindutva backlash against democracy and indirectly blames Sonia!
More dangerous still are the murmurings that you already hear from Hindutva nationalists. On the day of the election results, I happened to travel on a flight with a leading light of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. When I asked how he reacted to India having an Italian prime minister he spat out the word democracy as if it was poison. ‘‘This is what comes when you give illiterate, desperately poor people the vote.’’ And, from Pravin Togadia we already hear that it is because the BJP moved away from its Hindu nationalism that it was defeated.Those who think having Sonia as prime minister is insurance against the sort of ugly nationalism that men like Togadia represent need to think again. When the backlash begins, and it will not take long, you will see violent nationalism of a kind we have never seen before.
If this is not enough, she goes on to somehow think that Sonia Gandhi is responsible for the divisive politics based on her candidature for PM. (Blaming the victim?) Her conclusion is what I take most objection too.
for the first time in my life I feel ashamed to be Indian.
The first time I felt ashamed to be an Indian was during the 1992-93 riots in Bombay (which I witnessed and felt terribly helpless as I could do nothing). The most recent was during the Gujarat genocide in 2002.
I feel issues like communal riots — especially their frequency — are far more shaming for us Indians than petty issues like whether naturalised citizens can hold the post of Prime Minster. Maybe Tavleen Singh needs to check her priorities.
Disclaimer: I hold no brief for Sonia Gandhi or the Congress party. However, I do feel proud of the fact that India is progressive enough to allow naturalised citizens hold the post of Prime Minister.
33 Responses to “Tavleen Singh’s anti-Sonia tirade”
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from The Economist
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/678112.cms
I think Bachi Karkaria said it best yday. I am sure Sonia is more indian than most urban indians including Tavleen Singh.
choose as prime minister a leader who is Indian not by birth but by choice
Or without any other choice in 1984. Ahem.
i don’t know why those who talk about Indian culture and Hindutva - keep using a model of the western nation state to define us.
We are different. our concepts of inclusion and exclusion are different. The Tavleen Singhs and the Sushma Swaraj’s of the world should spend more time figuring out how to include the poor, the dispossessed, the Dalits, and the women - and less time on how to exclude people out of political represenation.
..interesting that most commentators have missed the obvious matter of the party opting to “elect” a dynasty oriented leadership instead of opting for veteran leaders of the Congress.
My bet: this govt will last 2 years. Elections in 2006.
Progressive by what definition ? Are the commies progressive too by ur definition ? :-D
Realize that India has not “chosen” that firangan as her leader, she is the opportunistic winner in a fractured mandate. If anything, she is where she is because she married into the right family, and because she is, well, a firangan. Ask urself the question, with her present qualifications, wud she have been able to get elected to the premiership of the country if she was African, or Latin American, or Sri Lankan, or Arab ? IMO, an honest answer is NO.
She was elected to the leader of the congress party not because of her qualifications, or because she felt obligated to serving the country of her long and priveleged residence (after all, what wud she be if she left India for Italy ? here she gets a permanent govt acco in the best city in India, New Delhi, for life, a cavalcade of bulletproof cars, and a posse of gun toting super macho commandos as security guards). She was dragged from her oblivion to replace Sita Ram Kesari as the regional congress satraps could not agree on who was most qualified among them to lead the country. Besides there is the added qualification of the GANDHI surname.
Of all the reasons, the GANDHI surname (dynastic politics), the fair skin (racism), lack of a leader of adequate stature within the congress and well.. rank opportunism, I cant find one thats progressive. IMO, there are no qualities of management, vision, leadership, tech-savvy, business acumen evident in that firangan, which were an issue in these elections, and for which she is going to become the PM.
May be, there is some reason that I have missed here, if there is, please enlighten me. I am a patriotic Indian, and feel good when I can say to all my firang colleagues that India is a progressive country.
yazad (is that ur name ? ), u may or may not like the BJP or the RSS, as a member (if there is such a thing) of the RSS, I dont have any issues with u supporting/being indifferent to/ or even hating RSS/BJP. But you dont cut your nose to spite ur face. A leader who has not shown anything to indicate leadership potential, who became the PM for all the wrong reasons, who doesnt know any Indian language (I am counting English as an Indian language) can only be a matter of shame for Indians. Any leader, Manmohan, PV Rao, even Laloo or the Lohia-ite jokers wud have been more acceptable (even to a dyed in saffron guy like me) than her.
Its not that firangan who is the issue, its the thought process (or the lack of it) that went behind the farce, that is.
–salam, and take care.
For every columnist that attacks Sonia’s ‘origins’ there are a 100,000 people who consider her India’s bahu. Attack her by all means- on issues of performance and ability but don’t insult her patriotism. The vitriol spewing hate mongers need to realize that the Indian population is more sophisticated than they are.
BTW i really liked your comment Harini.
“uspeed”, my “real” name is Yazad. Google and I’m sure you’ll find stuff about me. I’m not afraid to reveal my identity on the net, unlike you.
My point in this post is only about the issue of whether naturalised citizens should be allowed to hold posts like that of the PM or President. Note, not foreigners, but citizens.
I agree with the dynastic point you made. But that’s not related to the issue here. I doubt if Sushma Swaraj would have done so much naatak if Sonia was say Punjabi.
Here’s what I disagree with.
not shown anything to indicate leadership potential
She’s led the Congress well. Both in state elections where her only hiccup was in last November and now in the general elections. Never has the Congress been out of power for 8 years and she’s brought it back from what everybody thought was the death of the party.
who doesnt know any Indian language (I am counting English as an Indian language)
Have you heard Sonia on TV? She speaks fluent English and from what I’ve seen recently, fluent Hindi. With an accent yes. But I don’t equate accents with fluency.
Regarding her being an opportunistic winner in a fractured mandate so was Vajpayee in 1996 and 1998 (and VP Singh in 1989). Today’s op-ed in the TOI deals with this in depth.
Finally, go through my blog and you’ll see that I would fit somehwhere on the opposite end of the spectrum vis-a-vis the leftists. Of course I don’t think they’re progressive. But once again, that’s beside the point.
aww.. come on !! I was confused abt ur name cause I never heard it before. and uspeed is just an anagram of my name, sudeep.
As far as possible, Vajapayees coalitions were formed before the elections. They had a common manifesto, and faught the elections from a common platform, unlike the left and the congress where they fight each other before the elections, and come together after elections are over :-D
So u think that Sonia is where she is due to her leader like qualities etc ? good for u that u can see “leadership potential” and fluency in the firangans halting speech.
At least it saves u a lot of heartburn :-D ab to jo hona hai, ho ke rahega, this farce will be played to the end.
Ok Sudeep chill. I don’t mind people using pseudonyms as long as they don’t assume that I’m using one too.
As far as possible, Vajapayees coalitions were formed before the elections.
“As far as possible” is the operative word. Remember TDP? In this case simply replace Vaypayee with Sonia and TDP with Left Front and hey presto, I see no difference!
Once again, my point is not on Sonia leadership qualities — although it would be fair to say that she has some (not the same as Vajpayee of course). And I don’t think you would be focussing on Sonia’s leadership qualities if she wasn’t a “firangan”
I wud not.. That wud be another issue I guess. My issue with that woman is her foreign origin, not her qualifications, not her potential, nothing else.
IMO, shes just a dumb and opportunistic Italian girl who got very very lucky. Its not the persona of the firangan that is the problem, it is the thought process that lets people treate Indias Premeiership as an earn while u learn program, the thought process that considers Rahul Gandhi an acceptable alternative to his mother.
I am as proud as you, Yaz, that we can accept a naturalized citizen for PM - except that this particular candidate is one who was practically forced to accept the citizenship, rather than wanting to. That kind of puts a damper on things.
I am proud that our country can be so accomodative and progressive.
People who don’t want Sonia coz she was born in Italy is no doubt conservative and rigid.
But problem is, Sonia has a lot more negatives, even if we accept her ability and capability to be PM.
Whatever she does, seem to be forced on her.
She was forced into politics.
She was forced to become Congress president, against her wishes, for TINA factor.
Now she is forced to be PM.
This is dangerous becaue she doesn’t seem to have the confidence to stand for her will and desires. She doesn’t seem to have an ambition or vision.
I don’t want such a person who has no individuality as my PM. She is ‘dutybound’ to rule, she says. I hate seeing my PM giving such a statement. My PM is someone who should be able to say that he had wanted to lead the country with his vision right from his youth and that’s y he ventured into politics and traced a career for himself.
Not someone who doesn’t even know what she herself wants to do. She can inspire no-one and motivate no-one. In fact, if Indian girls take her as role model - the qualities they would learn are being faithful to husband and believing in destiny and fate! (Women’s empowerment, anyone?)
This point of mine in Jivha’s got no replies. :-)
Just for the record, here’s the actual tally for just the BJP and the Congress in the elections:
BJP - 138
Congress - 145
The rest are all “alliances”.
Let’s not kid ourselves that this is by any stretch a “clear mandate”. It is muddled; very muddled. The Congress-Left alliance is one of convenience, not of principle or ideology.
And now she won’t take it.
Just for the record, here’s the actual tally for just the BJP and the Congress in the elections:
BJP - 138
Congress - 145
The rest are all “alliances”.
Kannappan voted for DMK, because there was no Congress candidate contesting in Kannappan’s constituency.
All this to no avail!! The lady herself does not want it. What an anti-climax.
Now what will the BJP do?
Just like the Ram Mandir, Sonia’s foreign origin was to be a perennial issue for them. They could have built the temple, and changed the laws to disqualify Sonia when they were in power.
They did not. Because a makeshift temple with mosque rubble has more political “masala” than a magnificent temple. And an Italian-born PM has more political “masala” than an Indian born one.
The BJP, after dancing in joy claiming a facile victory, will have to go ammo-shopping.
Sonia has realised that ability to win elections is not the same as an ability to govern a nation!
Also, she has now gained the higher moral ground, with newspapers hailing her as a true Indian, as she has shown the ultimate Indian virtue: renounciation! (???)
Of course, anyone else who becomes PM will always be under her shadow. Now she can have her cake and eat it too, just like Bal Thackeray!!
who’s kannappan?
I suspect Kannappan is the Tamil version of T C Mits. (The Common Man In The Streer)
Yazad: You felt ashamed during 1992/93 and 2002 riots….I am glad….
You did not feel ashamed during the 2002 Godhra incident? Werent the persons who were burnt alive human beings? Oh! they were saffrons…you are entitled to burn them…Very much!
What happened when 3000 sikhs were butchered in ND alone….when the big tree fell? Oh no, they too have a tinge of saffron…. right?
Do one thing: count the number of communal riots that have taken place in India in Congress rule and in non Congress rule… need some help….do a google search… facts speak louder than words.
Balaji, for all practical purposes, I include Godhra in the Gujarat 2002 riots. I find it shocking that people keep comparing and saying “what about Godhra?” Even Citizens for Justice and Peace (the organisation that fought the Best Bakery case in the Supreme Court) have argued to move the Godhra case out of Gujarat as they feel that Godhra’s victims too will get no justice in Modi’s Gujarat.
The examples I gave were those that I’ve lived through. Yes, there were many riots during Congress rule including the anti-Sikh ones in 1984. I was too young to comprehend them and they remain a historical event for me, not an emotional one. Something like what the Holocaust represents for me.
The 1992-93 Bombay riots were under Congress rule. I am not making Congress / BJP statements here nor do I seek to make connections. My point, which you seem to have missed, is that communal riots are a much more shaming event than a naturalised Indian becoming Prime Minister.
India is a communally charged country. Even if there were riots during congress rule (which includes the post-babri riots), they were not engineered and aided by the state machinery (with the very tragic exception of the 1984 riots). Gujarat was doubly numbing because of the systematic complicity of the government and the method in which even the central government turned a blind eye.
There are no saints in India, even the sadhus and sadhvis have blood on their hands, and venom on their tongues. But, Balaji evil wrought by the hand of man, does not have greater virtue when it is done in the name of God, no matter who is doing the killing, and no matter who is being killed, each time that happens in India, I think I will feel ashamed and even afraid to be an Indian.
For the no-clear mandate people: The clear mandate may not have been for the congress, but considering the watering down of the BJP tally from 1999, means it was an anti-BJP mandate. The constituition does not rquire pre-poll alliances, it requires a PM to have the confidence of the majority of the members of the house. Any person who is qualified to be elected to the house, can be made PM. This includes a person who is not a member of the house(s). Under the constituition we elect the MPs and they decide who becomes PM. So we have finished our job, we should let them get on with their’s. Ofcourse it is a charachter of democratic society that people can express themselves all the time not just through elections, but the formal expression must be done in the election, and the vote went to parties opposed to the BJP/NDA, so the ball is firmly in their court.
Incompetent Leader people: Sonia Gandhi campaigned in 60 constituencies of which 52 returned Congress/Allied MPs, that is an 86% success rate. I wouldn’t call that incompetence.
Can’t speak an Indian Language people: I know some people who have lived in India all their lives and can’t speak any Indian language properly. Fortunately, speaking any language is not a qualification for holding elected office, that would certainly be discrimination against the deaf and the dumb, as well as any itinerant Italians that might accidentally become Indian citizens.
Dynasty Mentality People: Did anyone ever give a thought to the fact that the Gandhis are actually good at what they do - getting the Congress elected to government. The reason why the Congress so deperately want Sonia and Rahul, is because people just love them, and why shouldn’t they. After all, bhai democracy hai.
For the record my political position is only slightly more centrist than Yazad’s, atleast in India’s political topography
Oh, the ant-sikh riots where not engineered by the Congress? So who was pissed that some sikhs shot Indira Gandhi? Must be all those slum dwellers that Sanjay bulldozed, I guess.
Eh Kingsley? This is what I said:
Yes, there were many riots during Congress rule including the anti-Sikh ones in 1984.
And this is what Gautam said:
Even if there were riots during congress rule (which includes the post-babri riots), they were not engineered and aided by the state machinery (with the very tragic exception of the 1984 riots).
Both of us agree that the 1984 anti-Sikh riots were Congress engineered.
sonia gandhi is a typical sensible white who would never settle in a third world country. she did not take indian citizenship for 14 years. shes became a citizen only because of circumstances of belonging to a political family.
how can we think of making her our PM ? do we have no shame?
The point of this post is about naturalised citizens being allowed to hold the position of Prime Minister. I don’t hold a brief for Sonia.
Sonia’s so called renounciation seems more of a drama because:
1. She took letters of support from supporting parties in ‘her’ name not in the name of the Congress party initially, remember there was a big hue & cry because Amar Singh of Smajawadi didn’t write in support of ‘Sonia’ but chose to support a govt. lead by the ‘Congress Party’.
2. She was quite upbeat and promptly got herself elected as the leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party in the first instance before the President invited her to discuss the formation of the govt.
3. It was only after some serious issues came up during this meeting with the President (Sonia + Manmohan Singh) that the whole renounciation drama started. All previous events have no corelation with the so called pre-planned renounciation resolve of Sonia.
4. Points to be seriously considered here are the limitation of reciprocity provided under section 5 of the Citizenship Act - where a naturalised Indian Citizen of Italian origin will be aforded just as many privileges in India as a naturalised Italian citizen of Indian origin - ( which as we understand are fairly limited, a non natural born Italian can not even stand for the municipal elections in Italy !!)
5. The constitution also disqualifies any person from becoming a member of any house of parliament or state legislatures who have allegiance or binding relationship with foreign state (the wordings are not exact but to this effect)and Sonia has ancestoral properties in Italy, which could be interpreted as being a basis for her disqualification from remaining even an M.P.
6. The above objections had to be settled before she could be sworn in as a P.M. and when these issues would be examined under the Supreme Court’s microscope the results in all probability would have been disasterous for Sonia.
7. The campaign by BJP’s Uma Baharati,Sushma & Govindacharya was also beginning to catch on and had already resulted in public demonstrations & clashes at a number of places (e.g. Varanasi), there was some news of some persons self immolating in Kanpur etc.
8. There were beginnings of a simmering discontent (low level discontent as they say in technical terms) in the Army reported by the intelligence. Except the Congress sycophants,the people at large,including Indians all over the world, were shocked and aghast at the prospects of seing Sonia as Prime Minister and the feelings were being made vocal with allthe SMSs shooting to every cell phone in the country. RAM is out & ROME is in- kinds.This was not missed atleast by Rahul & Priyanka & their friends! They knew what the people were thinking and how much respect their mother was getting from the people after coming to know that nothing can now stop her from the Prime Ministership.
9.Reading speeches from a written script is very different from first rounding up the critical remarks made by various leaders in the Parliament and then carefully replying to it and winning the debate in favour of the Govt. or answering pointed questions on various policy matters of the Govt. Sonia & her well wishers knew that they would not be able to provide her with written answers on every occasion andthat she would be exposed badly.
10. Coming to post renounciation events - she amended the Congress parties rules for the Parliamentary Party, giving herself powers to ‘dismiss’ the elected leader of the Congress Party - thereby becoming even superior to the Parliament where a 2/3rd majority or losing of ‘Vote of Confidence’ of the house is required to remove the duly elected Prime Minister. Thereafter as if her remaining the Congress President was not enough,she has become the Chairperson of a so called advisory Committee which shall guide & advise the Cabinet (which is extra constitutional since no such provision exists in the constitution) and on top of than accepted a Cabinet position (without taking any oath of allegiance to the Constitution or of Secrecy) alongwith a Govt. ofice and a secretariat of twenty persons at Vigyan Bhawan, at Govt. expense which again is extra constitutional,specially as she intends to become a party to Govt. decisions and see the Govt.’s confidential files etc. (later hastily denied - well if not then why the need for this cabinet position, office & secrertariat and under what provisions of law.)In the whole process the haloed and much aspired office of the ‘Prime Minister’ has been reduced to that of a peon of Sonia Gandhi.
The sadest part of this all is that wrong precedents are being set today by her & the Congress for which this Nation shall pay dearly in future, the Constitution & Indian Democracy are under serious threat, right minded persons must examine these issues in detail, keep a close watch on what is happeneing and call for proper legal/moral interventions before it becomes too late.