Have atleast the guts to say she is a foreigner

"Either Sonia is befooling the Indian citizens or she herself is being fooled by them". It is not the statement of an Advani or Vajpayee, Surjeet or Gujral. It is the remark of another Italian, Ms Alec Sandara Consolaro, a research scholar working in Varanasi for the past several years. This scholar finds the hysteria around, Sonia "amusing" and adds "back Rome in Italy, people would not have accepted anyone with foreign origin as a mass-leader"

"We are surprised at the media hype surrounding a fellow Italian" - says Sandara. Mark the World fellow Italian ! She is not alone. There are many Italians like her in Varanasi.

Another Italian, Dr.Stefano Desiags wonders, "How can the Congress Party accept her as the leader ? Has every one in that party become senile ?" Yes, Italy like India is passing through political instability, admits Dr.Stefano and says, "but no foreigner would ever be accepted in Italy as a political leader". He assets, "there will be a revolution in Italy if an attempt is made to foist a foreigner on the people". Stefano pities us for being politically "vulnerable" and "immature" because we are "illiterate".

So it calls for Italians to say that Sonia is a `foreigner'; that she is a `fellow Italian'; that Congress is `senile' to accept her as the leader; that in Italy no foreigner will be accepted as a leader; there will be a revolution if they did.

The only way these Italians have rationalised the advent of Sonia in Indian politics is by calling us `immature', `vulnerable' and `illiterate' - indicating that a mature and a literate India would not accept Sonia.

But what about our leaders ?

No Indian leader, at the national level, save a George Fernandez, seems to have the guts to call her a foreigner. Chandrababu Naidu and Bal Thakeray did denounce her as unfit to lead the nation. Even the BJP was ambivalent to call her a foreigner for a long time, but finally, its manifesto seem to have come round to see her as a foreigner. Otherwise many tall Indians have preferred to maintain discreet silence.

While the Congress sees her as a saviour of the once Gandhi- led centurian Party, the Marxists see in her the prospect of stopping the BJP from marching to Delhi. So a `foreign cure' for an `Indian malady' is welcome to the Marxists. For the likes of Laloo, Moopanar and Mulayam, Sonia's `Pallu' has become their party flag.

The `secular' Press puts her on the front page day after day to project her as a great crowd puller eventhough a Mayavati or Karunanidhi, a Mamta or a Jayalalitha, a Naidoo or Bal Thakeray attract much more crowds than she does. The reason is clear - in a desperate bid to thwart the BJP, a Sonia factor is being inducted in politics. For the Congress it is a survival game; for the left it is an inevitability in the secular cause.

Thwart the BJP by all means. There could have been a `secular' alliance of all non-BJP parties. This could have done the trick. But that will call for sacrifices in the cause of secularism, which no `secular' party or leader is ready for. So the easier option of projecting and winking at Sonia. But does anyone care for what happens to the country, and its self-confidence and image, when it projects a `foreigner' - which Sonia is in social and political terms though not in technical legal terms - as a leader ?.

"It is despicable to call her a foreigner. Sonia is not a foreigner. She is as much Indian as you and me are" - say Congressmen like V.N.Gadgil; even some of our progressive intellectuals agree with. The answer is: `she is not an Indian like you and me even in law', not to speak of how questionable is her emotional and other bondage with this ancient nation is.

The Constitution of India and the Indian Citizenship law do make a distinction between a foreigner like Sonia who has acquired Indian Citizenship by registration and Indians like you and me who are natural born in India. Our Citizenship is by birth. Almost the entire population of India, are citizens by birth. Only a small group, measurable in thousands, has acquired citizenship by naturalisation or registration. Sonia Gandhi became a citizen of India by registration, nearly two decades after she married into the Gandhi family and after it became clear that her husband would be the Prime Minister.

There is a citizenship hierarchy in India. The law regards her citizenship as second in the hierarchy - unlike yours and mine which is by birth and is superior to her citizenship. For instance, the grant of citizenship to her can be challenged on certain grounds and registered citizens like Sonia can even be deported under certain circumstances listed in law.

In contrast the citizenship which attaches by birth - which you and I enjoy - can never be abrogated. We can never be separated from our motherland.

Now this registered citizen who meditated for 20 years to decide to register herself for Indian citizenship is touring the country with Rahul her son who is reportedly betrothed to a Columbian girl and with Priyanka her daughter, and Rober Wadhera, her son-in-law to project a new leadership for the Congress and the country. So, Sonia, and her son, daughter and son-in-law constitute the new hope for the Congress. Even Indira Gandhi who perpetuated her dynasty did not allow her foreign daughter-in-law, but, in contrast permitted the Indian born Maneka, another daughter-in-law, to enter politics.

Nevertheless this Italian Indian goes around evangelising on how this nation should behave, how the BJP is communal, and how someone else is a casteist and how her family has suffered for the nation. Only a shameless nation can tolerate this kind of humiliation. No one asks how much the family of Mahatma Gandhi suffered for the nation - and what has this nation done for them. Thousands have died in the cause of our freedom and afterwards in wars without their name being known, or that of their family. One has to go to he cellular jail of Andamans to see who fought for India's freedom and what happened to them. None of them survived even to see India free.

But, we have moved far from the days of Quit India movement, when we agitated and got killed in hundreds for asking the whitemen to leave India. Liberalisation seem to have removed the Swadeshi resistance not just to foreign goods, but, also to foreigners in general. Had the Englishmen known that an Indian marriage could have done this kind of wonders, they would have introduced democracy, married the Indians and got votes with the colour of their skin and defeated the Mahatmas, Patels and Nehrus. They were fools to have attempted to rule without democracy in India and without marrying the Indians.

And finally to call Sonia a foreigner and to tell us it is a matter of shame to make her a leader, we need Italians.

While the Congress and our intellectuals call her an Indian, her Italian colleague sees her only as an Italian. And that is how the world too would see her.