Anonymous leader

Editorial
The Economic Times
May 26, 1999

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Title: Anonymous leader
Author: Editorial
Publication: The Economic Times 
Date: May 26, 1999

Ms Sonia Gandhi's predictable withdrawal of her resignation as
Congress president has ended a week-long drama.  But sadly none of the
issues involved has been addressed.  It is ironic that in moving the
resolution thanking Ms Gandhi for agreeing to stay on as president, Mr
S C Jamir should have also called for inner party democracy.  For, the
manner in which Ms Gandhi herself and the Congress as a whole reacted
to the letter written by Mr Sharad Pawar, Mr P A Sangma and Mr Tariq
Anwar betrayed scant respect for democratic norms.  The party was, as
we have said earlier, right in rejecting the view that Ms Gandhi
should be disqualified from running for prime minister merely because
she was born an Italian.  However, that does not mean that Congressmen
were justified in dubbing anybody who raised the issue a traitor or in
manhandling Congress Working Committee members for suggesting milder
action against the dissident trio.  The right stance may have been
adopted on the issue of Ms Gandhi's foreign origin, but it would have
carried greater conviction if it had been arrived at after a debate
rather than by avoiding one.

Ms Gandhi would still do well to heed Mr Jamir's advice not to
surround herself with a coterie.  She would also be well advised to
recognise that anybody aspiring to leadership in a democratic polity
must be open to scrutiny by the people.  Whether the mystique that
surrounded Ms Gandhi for all these years after her widowhood was a
care-fully cultivated political image or just a personal trait is of
little consequence.  What must be recognised is that the mystique will
now have to be shed.  If India is being asked to accept Ms Gandhi as a
leader (even if not as prime minister yet), it is entitled to know
what she stands for.  Knowing her merely as Indira Gandhi's
daughter-in-law or Rajiv Gandhi's widow cannot suffice.  Ms Gandhi in
her speech to the AICC session has called upon Congressmen to stick by
principles.  Unexceptionable as this demand is, she must spell out
what those principles are.  The veil must be dropped.

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