Author: S. Gurumurthy
Publication: The New Indian Express
Date: March 19, 2004
Jayalalithaa has charged Sonia on
two counts. First, not just on her Italian origin, but, as Jaya pointed
out, on Sonia insisting on remaining Italian on the Indian soil for 15
years after she married Rajiv Gandhi. Citing Sonia's extreme reticence
to take Indian citizenship for 15 long years, Jaya has attacked that Antonia
Maino, that is, Sonia, lacks 'deshbhakti'. Second, on the way Sonia U-turned
and gave character certificate to the DMK, suspected by Jain Commission
of harbouring the LTTE which extinguished her husband Rajiv Gandhi, for
just votes and seats now. Sonia lacks 'pathibhakti' also, charged Jaya.
Of course strong charges but it perfectly fits the personality of Jaya.
What Jayalalithaa spoke on the streets
of Tamilnadu in different places is actually in print in the AIADMK election
manifesto. On some one's complaint that it constitutes personal attack,
the media says Election Commission has promised to look into it. Some 'seculars'
for whom Sonia still holds out the promise to save the nation from the
not-so-secular BJP, also are shedding tears that the election campaign
was becoming dirty and personal. The Prime Minister's appeal for dignified
campaign is also interpreted to imply that he had the remarks against Sonia
in mind.
But is what Jaya spoke about Sonia,
or what the AIADMK manifesto says about Sonia, just personal? That Sonia
remained an Italian for 15 years after she married into in India and was
explicitly shy and reluctant to become an Indian citizen may be a private
affair so long as Sonia chose to remain just a private citizen. Even here
that she was part of the PM's household would definitely bring it within
the domain of public concern. But undoubtedly the moment Sonia decided
to step out of her house and join the race for the highest office in the
country these questions assume public character. The nation has the right
to ask why she was shy and reluctant to become an Indian national. She
cannot claim that it is her personal life which no one can pry into. Nor
can any one including the Election Commission or the secular media plead
it is just her personal affair.
Again, Sonia pulled down the United
Front government headed by Inder Gujral explicitly on the ground that it
comprised the DMK suspected of connections with LTTE which bombed out her
husband Rajiv Gandhi. If her party could finish off a government and impose
an election on the country because of the government's LTTE connections
via the DMK obviously she was acting out of public concern, not just wreaking
vengeance on the DMK as a hurt wife. Now with her need for DMK's alliance,
she has U-turned. That the man assassinated, Rajiv Gandhi, was Sonia's
husband, may give her the private right to pardon both the DMK and the
LTTE. But it does not give her, as the aspiring candidate for the highest
office in India, the right to give a public certificate to DMK.
For, the office of the Prime Minister
of India is no personal affair. The seeker of such office has to stand
all questions about his or her past. Even strictly private issues may at
times be publicly scrutinised. Remember Senator Gary Hart who stayed with
a woman through a night, but lied he did not, had to quit the race for
US Presidency. Had he been just an ordinary American, not aspiring for
something big like the US presidency, no one would have asked him even
if he had stayed with, not one, but ten of them. Gary Hart could not claim
that it was his personal affair. Even in a country like the US with flexible
morals, Gary Hart's private behaviour ruined his public career. So even
the private lives of people in public life cannot be regarded as purely
private should the private life have implicit public concerns. For, seekers
of the highest office of the country cannot be equated to fallible private
individuals. Where their private life ends and public life begins is not
marked precisely.
Obviously, the reluctance of Antonia
Maino, a seeker of the highest public office in India, to become Indian
citizen for 15 years on the Indian soil raises the issue whether she is
a good citizen even if she is a legal citizen. So is whether Sonia who
U-turned on the DMK for striking an opportunistic political deal with the
party whom the other day she accused of being connected to the assassins
of her husband can be entrusted with the high office. So, there is nothing
personal about it, gentlemen.
