When it comes to Ram, the BJP lapses into a convenient amnesia but they cannot forget Rome. For the BJP, “Sonia Gandhi is a foreigner and cannot be the prime minister of India”. She can be the leader of the Opposition or even defence minister but not a prime minister. One can understand the BJP’s frustration, since for the electorate neither Ram nor Rome, is an issue.Sonia Gandhi’s opponents point to the US constitution, which has a provision that only an American-born citizen is entitled to be president of the country. One has to see this provision in its context. The Americans had to drive the British, Spanish and French out. “No taxation without representation” was the cry that spurred them to win independence in 1777. The constitution was adopted on September 17, 1787, and became effective on March 4, 1789. But for half a century, thereafter, hardly five per cent of the total population — consisting only of white male property owners — were entitled to vote. Some Blacks got the right to vote, a century later in 1870, but not in the south, where it took another century (1960), for them to get voting rights. Women got voting rights only in 1920.Slavery was abolished by the 13th amendment on December 18, 1865. The equal protection clause was brought into the constitution on July 21, 1868, by the 14th Amendment. But the discrimination against the Blacks continued. Even after the US Supreme Court disapproved segregation in schools in Brown vs Board of Education (1954), the discrimination against Blacks and indigenous Indians continued.Mahatma Gandhi led the world movement against apartheid. He equally inspired the world to shed the yoke of colonialism. In 1945, when the United Nations came into being, only 51 countries were independent. Today every nation in the world is free. India is unique with its multi-religious, multi-cultural, multi-lingual, multi ethnic composition. It is a model of a vibrant democracy — the most pluralistic society on our planet. Diverse communities have been assimilated into India’s socio-cultural mainstream. It is no surprise that both the revered ‘Mother’ of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram and Mother Teresa — a Bharat Ratna and Noble Laureate — are not considered even for a moment as foreigners. It is this unique spirit of assimilation, without any feeling of deprivation or alienation, which explains the Sonia phenomenon in politics. The acceptance of Sonia Gandhi by millions in India represents the cosmopolitan human spirit of equality.Our Constitution has conscously removed the prejudice based on religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth. Article 17 bars untouchability. Dr B.R. Ambedkar wanted to burn Manusmriti. And now the BJP is trying to resurrect it by propagating the prejudice of birth. On coming to power the BJP lost no time in appointing the Venkatachalliah Commission to review the Constitution. The Commission consciously avoided the futile issue of place of birth. Our Constitution secures that birth can neither be a stigma nor disqualification. Equality is both its foundation and an unalterable feature.Winston Churchill once remarked that “at the bottom of all tributes paid to democracy is the little man, walking into a little booth, with a little pencil, making a little cross on a little bit of paper”. I think today more than the little man, it is the little woman who is playing a major role in our elections. How does this little woman perceive Sonia Gandhi? To the average Indian woman, she is a proactive mother, wife and bahu — fitting well into the Indian mould. She is the woman who made her husband’s home her own; the woman who joined politics reluctantly, several years after her husband was assassinated. The woman, who even after Rajiv Gandhi’s demise did not think of leaving India.In 1998, when Sonia Gandhi finally decided to take the plunge, she was accepted by the people as the undisputed leader of the Congress party — at least five of the presidents of the Indian National Congress, including Annie Beasant, were foreign born. The BJP lost no opportunity to dub her as inexperienced and incompetent. She lost no time in proving them wrong. The worth of a citizen in politics is the capacity to win an election. In 1999, she won both from Bellary in the south and Amethi in north, a feat no no leader in the BJP or any other party is capable of achieving. Her recent roadshows all over the country have once again proved her popularity.Despite having two doctorates from two prestigious foreign universities and high position in life, Ambedkar was the focus of much humiliation because he was born a Dalit. He, therefore, asserted that a human being should be judged not by birth but by worth. Sonia Gandhi has proved her worth. She represents the humane ethos of an Indian family: Bahu-beti ek saman—dono hain Bharat ki shan.
