How does a foreigner turn Indian? Just ask Mulayam

‘‘She is a true Indian who has imbibed the spirit of the country and its culture in totality,’’ he said, ‘‘and it is wrong to call Sonia a foreigner now, as she has learned the ethos of Indian culture.’’

Fired by this new emotion, he said when the BJP raised the ‘‘Sonia’s foreign origins’’ it was bereft of political ideas. ‘‘It is likely the BJP will fight the next election on the Indian-versus-foreigner issue,’’ he added.

It is a long, winding road the SP leader has travelled ever since April 1999, when he refused to support Sonia’s claim to lead an alternative government to the BJP-led NDA government, which had been toppled at the Centre by one vote. Yadav said he was peeved by the Congress’ arrogance to take him for granted when Sonia unilaterally declared she had the support of 272 MPs.

Pushed to the corner by the offensive launched by the Congress, Yadav struck back when he declared at a press conference in Lucknow a month later, ‘‘The SP has saved the country from foreign power by refusing to extend unconditional support for a minority-Congress government led by Sonia Gandhi.’’

When asked if he was opposed to Sonia only because she was a ‘‘foreigner,’’ Yadav had said that ‘‘his party believed crucial posts like that of President, Vice-President, Prime Minister and Lok Sabha Speaker should not be held by a foreigner.’’

Party MP Mohan Singh had even moved a Private Member’s Bill to this effect in the winter session (1998) in Parliament. The SP leader lustily joined the chorus demanding for a constitutional amendment to disallow foreigners from occupying a constitutional post and even aligned with the National Congress Party (NCP), which was created by former Congressmen Sharad Pawar, P A Sangma and Tariq Anwar on the ‘‘foreigner issue.’’

Even when AIADMK Empress J Jayalalitha (who incidentally allied with the Congress to bring down the NDA Government) later said she would never ally with Congress if ‘‘foreigner’’ Sonia continued to lead the party, the SP leader rushed to agree with her.

He came out in support of Jayalalitha when he stated, ‘‘Sonia’s foreigner origin will be an issue in the next Lok Sabha poll,’’ and that his ‘‘party would raise it.’’ This was in September, 2002. Hardly one year ago.