My passion for politics is not a passing phenomenon: Sonia

Congress chief Sitaram Kesri who shared the dais with Sonia for the first time during her campaign said everything short of declaring her as the Congress party’s Prime Ministerial candidate. Abdicating in her favour, he said the truth was thatshe was the only real leader. “Only she can give the country leadership,” he said.

Kesri neither touched on major issues nor did he attack the opponents of the Congress. Unlike Sonia, he did not even wave to the crowds when he stepped on to the stage along with her.

The moment she arrived by helicopter, which circled over the meeting ground before landing, heightening a sense of expectancy in the crowd, Sonia waved to a rapturous crowd and they waved back at her. Women could be seen atop the buildings around, sitting even on water tanks. Her appeal was essentially emotional. “When I married and entered the family of Indiraji, she accepted me with an open heart. Indiraji and Rajivji gave me infinite love. Through them I adopted India and India adopted me.”

She went on, “Aaj main apne aap ko Hindustan ki beti maanti hoon. Yeh mere suhag ki bhoomi hai. Marte dam tak yeh mera desh hoga. (Today I consider myself as the daughter of India. This is the soil of my marital home. Till I die it willremain my country.)”

The lines could have been from an Amitabh Bachchan film and they evoked an applause.

All through she emphasised her Indianness. She talked about Haryana being the land of the battle of the Kurukshetra. “Yahin Krishna Bhagwan ne sabko Gita ka gyan diya tha, (Here Lord Krishna gave everyone the knowledge of the Gita),”she said.

Referring to the heros of Haryana, she said,“Maain un sabko aadarpoorvak pranam karti hoon. (I bow before them most respectfully.)” And finally, “Humare Mahan Bharat ka matlab hi ekta main anekta hai,(Our great Bharat means unity in diversity.)”

Random conversations with those present at the meeting today showed that Sonia is viewed not as a foreigner but as the mukhiya of the Gandhi-Nehru clan, and the inheritor of that legacy. This seemed to be the overwhelming opinion of all those this writer talked to at the meeting.

“In India, a woman belongs to her husband’s family, she takes on his religion, creed, language. The husband’sfamily decide even the amount of spices that are added to the vegetables. Sonia’s mother-in-law was an Indian, her husband was an Indian, her children are Indian. She has lived here for 30 years. She has become an Indian after marriage. Look at her hav bhav, bolchal, pehnava (the way she conducts herself, speaks in Hindi, dresses in Indian clothes.)” The speaker was a Rohtak housewife who passionately defended Sonia but had not made up her mind on who to vote for.