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Journalism of Courage
In asking for a public debate on the issue of constitutional posts being open to foreign-born Indians, Prime Minister Vajpayee may have scored a political point, but he has also brought his coalition under scrutiny. In 1999, the BJP-led NDA promised a law banning naturalised citizens from occupying an office such as that of prime minister. The obvious target was the Congress president, Italian-born Sonia Gandhi. The NDA was duly elected and even put in place a Constitution Review Commission to, among other things, discuss the “foreign origin” issue. That’s where the matter ended.
The NDA introduced no bill in Parliament to put its resolve — or threat, depending on how one sees it — into action. Rather, it kept the issue simmering, to bring it to boil once again in an election season — to call for a renewed “public debate” on Sonia’s eligibility for primeministership. The past five years have seen a very public, very vociferous, debate on the subject. The time for broad sweep remarks is over. Either commit to introducing necessary legislation on the first day of the 14th Lok Sabha — and settle the issue in Parliament — or simply bury the business.
No doubt the Sonia case represents a bit of a constitutional conundrum. After all, even in countries that don’t expressly prohibit such it, there are few cases of a foreign-born citizen being seriously discussed as a candidate for head of government. If the BJP and the NDA perceive a lacuna in the Constitution, let them by all means try and bridge it. Yet they have to note that it is highly unusual for a law to come into effect with retrospective effect. It is one thing to argue that any foreigner who acquires citizenship of India from, say, January 1, 2005, cannot become prime minister. It is quite another to interpolate this injunction into the rights of those who became naturalised citizens 20 or 30 or even one or two years ago. Indeed, if a retrospective law is passed, it will not be seen as upholding a principle but as the targeting of a single individual. Such a law may be valid but there will always be doubts about its sanctity. As such, Sonia Gandhi’s acceptance is best left to the Indian voter and his/her wisdom, free of political rhetoric and other foreign influences.
