Utterly Atal
Editorial
The Times of India
May 3, 1999
Title: Utterly Atal
Author: Editorial
Publication: The Times of India
Date: May 3, 1999
For a public inured to the slander and vilification which pass for
politics in this country, the recent remarks made by Prime Minister
Atal Behari Vajpayee in an interview to a weekly magazine come as a
breath of fresh air. Summoning all the wisdom of his long years in
public life, Mr Vajpayee went out of his way to dissociate himself
from the allegations some, of his party colleagues have levelled
against President; K R Narayanan in the light of the latter's actions
during the past few weeks of political uncertainty. The suggestion has
been made that the President unduly favoured the Congress and did his
utmost to prevent the BJP from returning to power. The Prime Minister
emphasised that he had no problem with the way Mr Narayanan has
discharged his duties and added that even if the BJP had been invited
by Rashtrapati Bhavan to try and form a government for the second
time, he would have refused the invitation. By helping to clear the
air in this manner, Mr Vajpayee is not just upholding the dignity of
the office of the President; his remarks are also an act of political
astuteness. For in shunning rancour and taking a principled view of
the constraints under which the President has had to operate, the BJP
leader has buttressed his reputation as a statesman capable of
transcending narrow, partisan concerns.
In similar vein, Mr Vajpayee has also stated that the foreign origins
of Congress leader Sonia Gandhi should not be the subject of debate
and negative political propaganda during the forthcoming elections.
These columns can only heartily endorse the Prime Minister's wise
words. In the past few weeks several senior leaders from Mr Vajpayee's
coalition have made unseemly remarks about the fact that Mrs Sonia
Gandhi - as Indian a citizen as any if we go by the Constitution - was
born in Italy. Defence minister George Fernandes, who should know
better than to inflict a racial definition of citizenship on the
nation, seems particularly exercised by the fact that Mrs Gandhi is of
Italian extraction. Politicians who normally rave and rant against the
United States have suddenly started clamouring for India to imitate
that country's ban on foreign-born citizens becoming head of
government. Leaving aside the possibility that a xenophobic political
campaign against Mrs Gandhi might actually rebound on those who wage
it, propriety demands that the Congress's foes counter the party
politically The Election Commission should also make it clear that
negative references to the Congress leader's race or national origin
would violate its code of conduct. Ironically, there is no dearth of
issues Mrs Gandhi's detractors can legitimately raise. Apart from a
possible link with the Bofors seam, there is the question of her
political inexperience and her inability to hold forth on vital
economic, political and social issues without the crutch of advisers
and prompting cards. In a democracy, political parties have every
right to go for the jugular but they must not overstep the bounds of
decency. The Prime Minister has done well to indicate that he is not
in favour of making an issue of the "Italian connection". What he must
do now is ensure that his party - and especially its fringe elements -
show the same degree of maturity and restraint.
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