Sonia Gandhi : The Albatross Round India’s Neck

Dr. Vijaya Rajiva

Nitin Gadkari BJP President called Sonia a “symbol of fascism”. Jayanti Natarajan , spokesperson for the Congress retaliated by referring to Gadkari’s gutter politics and called for an apology. Ofcourse, Ms.Natarajan whom the present writer has heard belting out the most inane statements on television, has chosen the wrong words this time round also.

It is clear that the Congress stands for the urban elite and no longer for the aam admi. The vicious , savage attack on a Hindu Yoga guru and his followers at Ramlila grounds is ample evidence of that. Baba Ramdev comes from an OBC caste and many of his followers at the peaceful rally on June 5, 2011 are from what is called the lower middle class. This is middle India and Congress has no time for this India. Its President, ofcourse, did originally hail from the bottommost rung of Italian society. Neverthless, her marriage to the son of a well established Indian family made it possible for her to reach the highest levels of power, and now it would seem (if allegations are true) that she has also become a very wealthy woman. All, at the expense of middle and poor India which has been defrauded by the various scams that she too has beeen participant of, if the allegations are true. The matter is now with the Courts and one can await the results. The latest report on the movements of both her and her son are revealing. They are supposedly on holiday in a certain part of Switzerland (known for its dubious banking arrangements) and the speculation is that the duo are there to take care of their finances !

Ms Natarajan, does not seem to know the history of her own once glorious party, the Indian National Congress. It is now filled with dubious characters, the most vocal of them being Digivijay Singh. There are others too. The skeletons will be falling out of the cupboard before long.

But the star of the show is Sonia. Middle India put up with the excesses of the present Congress Party in its monetary and financial corruption. And on June 5 it suffered the excesses of fascism. Nitin Gadkari was right on target in using the word ‘fascism.’
If fascism can be defined as the combination of political power and high finance, then the present Congress and its president are embodiments of fascism. And when the government launches a savage attack on an unarmed peaceful crowd in the middle of the night, then one sees fascism’s terrified response to its own misdeeds being found out.

Sonia’s unfortunate entanglement in Indian politics is not likely to continue much longer. The Congress has gone into damage control mode and mistaking the temporary subsiding of Baba Ramdev’s satyagraha for victory it has become complacent. But this whistling in the dark is just that, a whistling in the dark.It won’t be long before it drops Sonia from its visible high profile posts, if it plans to survive into the next election.

Not just middle India, but all of India, except the Congress and its camp followers, are alert to the Party’s misdeeds. More will come out if an alert Opposition remains vigilant.
Dr. Subramania Swamy’s legal battles are always backed by substantial evidence. His moving the Court concerning Sonia Gandhi will produce substantial results. Other individuals are also speaking out.

Indians, as a people, must now reflect seriously on the fact that an Italian Catholic, who has not shed her monotheistic superstitions, cannot understand the vast and complex country that she was fated to link herself to. As a result she has been an easy target for careerists, opportunists, and fanatics in the Congress Party. She is especially vulnerable to other monotheists both in her personal circle and her national political circle. A quick google search tells one that her main attack dog Digvijay Singh is listed as a Christian.
Her personal advisor a Mr. Ahmed, is a Muslim. Her inner circle is composed of people who it is reported,belong to the minority communities. There are ofcourse, also the hangers on, waiting for crumbs from the high table and these are from all denominations and religions. The Minister for Railways went so far as to say that lighting a Hindu lamp at ceremonies should be scrapped. Some members of the minority, such as famed singer Jesudasan, got up and left that meeting in protest at the Minister’s statement.

Even the ‘secular’ Jawaharlal Nehru did not go that far. Lighting Hindu lamps has been an age old tradition in India, since time immemorial.

It is not just in these smaller details that Sonia reveals herself. Almost daily one hears reports of Christian evangelical groups being given free access to the country, the most recent one being the approval given to a US based Christian evangelist group, Word of God Fellowship Inc., to launch a non news channel in India. The approval was given by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB). Then there is the recently released draft of the Communal Bill which is heavily weighted against the Hindu population. It should be pointed out that some dubious characters were on the committee that put forward this draft Bill. One of them is the infamous Teesta Setalvad who has been charged by the SIT with bribing witnesses, perjury, coercion etc. There are known anti Hindu personages such as John Dayal there.

Hindus may get complacent with the fact that their great and ancient civilization( the only one that remains standing in today’s world) in the past, has withstood conquests, murder and mayhem, the destruction of their great temples and conversion at the point of the sword, of their population. But today, both jihad and Christian conversion inside India has an additional support from the non nationalist elements of the ruling and upper middle classes, who are wedded to globalization and neo liberalism. To put it in less opaque terms, the concerned Hindu can no longer support globalization and the excesses of neo liberalism. Expecting support from the Left parties is also a misstep since their internationalism is a variant of the liberal position in Indian politics. Their nationalism is on the surface only.

It is time that the Hindus of India voted down the albatross : a moribund and corrupt political party and its president.

( The writer is a Political Philosopher who taught at a Candian university)