Author: Sandhya Jain
Publication: Organiser
Date: January 16, 2005
New Delhi is agog with the probable
political fallout of a possible decision by the Election Commission, nullifying
Sonia Gandhi's election to the Lok Sabha from Rae Bareilly in 2004. In
a move reminiscent of the Allahabad High Court's decision to set aside
the election of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, former Union Minister
Subramaniam Swamy has challenged the legality of the Congress Party president's
election and may well succeed in having it declared null and void.
Temperatures have risen with a decision
likely soon, as Swamy claims he has an open-and-shut case and will move
the courts if he fails to secure a favourable verdict. The unseating of
Sonia Gandhi from the Lok Sabha will trigger a turmoil and can reopen the
question of whether she qualifies for Indian citizen in the first place.
After all, it is as a citizen of India that she contested elections.
Given the gravity of the matter,
it may be worth examining some of the issues involved. To begin with, there
are disparities between what Sonia Gandhi says about herself and known
facts. For instance, the birth certificate sent by the Italian embassy
to the Indian Home Ministry in 1983 (when she applied for Indian citizenship)
gave her name as Antonia and not Sonia. Her place of birth was listed as
Luciana, and not Orbassano, which is listed in the Lok Sabha's Who's Who.
Sonia Gandhi's year of birth is given as 1944. Some reports also state
that her father, Signor Stefano Maino, was a prisoner-of-war in Russia
allegedly from 1942 till Italy surrendered to the Allies in 1945.
The controversy now is about her
academic qualifications. It is alleged that while filling her Lok Sabha
candidacy form in 2004, she claimed on a sworn affidavit before a magistrate
that she had a certificate in English from the University of Cambridge.
But the university denied it and Dr Swamy has presented this to the EC.
A false declaration is a criminal offence under the IPC. Yet this was not
the first controversy on this matter. She made this claim in the 1999-2004
Lok Sabha Who's Who as well, and claimed it was a "typing mistake" when
the Speaker asked her to answer a complaint in this regard.
There is thus a mystery about what
Sonia Gandhi did in London between 1963 and 1968.
This brings us to the question of
Gandhi's citizenship under the registration clause of the Citizenship Act
of 1955. Such citizenship is in principle revocable by law. And this makes
her credentials to be Prime Minister tenuous and fragile. Indeed, this
was precisely as recounted in some quarters then that President Abdul Kalam
rejected her claim, though denied later. Media reports, then said the Congress
president wrote to the President staking claim to form the Government and
received an appointment for 5 pm on May 17, when she expected to receive
a formal invitation. A list of 340 MPs proposing her name accompanied her
letter.
But a few hours before this, Dr.
Subramaniam Swamy called on the President and acquainted him with the reciprocity
proviso in the Citizenship Act, which debars Sonia Gandhi from becoming
Prime Minister unless a naturalized India-born citizen of Italy is qualified
to hold similar office in that country. Dr. Kalam then reportedly sent
her a letter at 3.30 pm asking her to cancel the 5 pm appointment and come
on 18 May to discuss government formation. Though the letter was kept secret,
its contents can be inferred from the fact that Sonia Gandhi suddenly renounced
her desire to become PM and appointed Dr. Manmohan Singh to the post.
There are other reasons why many
Indians have reservations about Sonia Gandhi's high eminence in the political
arena. The most obvious is that though she married Rajiv Gandhi in 1968
and qualified for Indian citizenship in 1973, she only sought and accepted
Indian citizenship on April 30, 1983, when it was clear that her husband
was heir-designate of his mother. Indira Gandhi was assassinated in October
1984 and Rajiv Gandhi became Prime Minister immediately thereafter.
Yet doubts persist about the legality
of the Indian citizenship. Sonia claims she gave her Italian passport to
the Indian government while taking Indian citizenship, but refuses to say
if she surrendered her Italian passport to the Italian government. Under
Roman law, both she and her descendants can eternally claim Italian citizenship,
hence the question arises whether she has legally renounced her Italian
citizenship for herself and her children?
