Sonia Gandhi deserves praise for keeping her dignity after the Congress emerged as the single largest party post-election. But the eulogies and emotional outpouring from the media and politicians was a bit overdone. She was being compared to Ram, Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi! Outlook asked: 'Saint Sonia?'
Sonia herself said her decision was changed by her "inner voice"—which is what Mahatma Gandhi used to say. But the comparison ends there. The Mahatma remained an ordinary member without office even while exercising his enormous moral power.
Sonia's 'renunciation' was marred by her decision to change the Congress constitution and acquire in Parliament absolute power for herself. She wasted no time in using it too. After Manmohan Singh as PM sought the finance ministry, she foisted Chidambaram as FM, showing crudely who was boss. The PM now looks like a dummy.
Obviously, Sonia suffered from a paranoid sense of insecurity which led to the display of power. But if this is true, why did she not become PM herself?
Perhaps she never received an offer. In the beginning, she did not want to become PM. But something happened to change her mind. That is another story for another day. There is no report of the President offering her the post of PM. His letter clearly stated that as the leader of the single largest party and largest pre-poll alliance, he wanted a "discussion" with her.
Why should the President have held back? Is it because she could have been a security risk? And hence could not be given access to India's nuclear secrets—making her thereby untenable as PM?
On May 16, 1999, The Statesman carried a report by B. Raman, a retired high-ranking intelligence official attached to the cabinet secretariat. Raman recounted that when then PM Rajiv Gandhi tried to foist a training project by Italian intelligence for RAW officers, the idea had to be shelved. The Italian agent for the project was Walter Vinci, Sonia's brother-in-law, who was connected with Italian intelligence. RAW officers pointed out that Italy was a conduit for nuclear technology to Pakistan. The report was never contradicted. But the day after the Statesman report appeared, Sonia resigned as Congress president. The President could have discussed other security issues too.
Rashtrapati Bhawan denied that the President discussed Sonia's citizenship issue. But can one not be a security risk regardless of citizenship? And, did not the President discuss the security angle with Sonia? Will Rashtrapati Bhawan tell us?
(Puri can be reached at rajinderpuri2000@yahoo.com)
