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| Sunday, 16 May 2004 |
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Sonia named Indian PM From the News Desk Indian National Congress yesterday unanimously elected Sonia Gandhi as the Leader of the Party's parliamentary group. By tradition, she is certain to be elected the Prime Minister. Election results indicated that the BJP campaign against Sonia Gandhi on account of her Italian origin has been totally rejected by the electorate. The Left and several other parties have pledged their support to the Congress to form a secular coalition. They have stated that they have no reservations in accepting Sonia Gandhi as Prime Minister. Today Congress allies are expected to hand over letters of support to Sonia Gandhi to facilitate her becoming Premier. Congress and its allies winning 217 seats in the Lok Sabha beat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led National Democratic Alliance that won 185 seats only. The Left parties also strengthened their position by winning 62 seats, the highest ever. This makes the Congress dependent on the Left for its survival as the ruling party. Political analysts see the election verdict as a reaction of the multitude of the Indian poor and poorest of the poor against the economic reforms carried out by the BJP with the consultation of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and Western donors, which they consider to be "anti-people". P. Sainath writing in The Hindu says "the first thing the election results drive home is the sheer disconnect between the Indian elite and the Indian people." While the BJP rulers pinned their hopes on "India Shining", the Indian voters had very different issues in mind, he added. By preventing a landslide for the Congress and strengthening the Left, the Indian voters have ensured that the Congress cannot have its own way in pushing forward economic policies that go against the urban and rural poor. Congress and the Left are discussing a Common Minimum Program that could become the basis of their cooperation. "The new Government's policies will not be the policies of the Congress or ours. It has to be a common minimum program and it has to be worked out," says the General Secretary of the CPI. It is still not clear whether the Left will join a Congress led government or support it from outside. The highest decision making bodies of the CPI (M) and the CPI are meeting today to decide on the issue. The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex tumbled by 330 points to end at a 25-week low at 5069.87 on across-the-board sell-off by investors fearing policy changes at the center due to the influence of the Left parties, especially on disinvestments of Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs). However, this is considered a panic reaction as the government has not yet been formed and its policies not worked out yet. Profile Born into a family of modest means in an Italian village, 52 years ago, Sonia Maino, now Sonia Gandhi, has weaved a dramatic way to a place in history by becoming the President of India's century-old Congress party. Being the third woman of foreign origin to hold the prestigious post after Annie Beasant and Nelli Sengupta, Sonia also became the fifth from the Nehru family to take over the Congress reins. The other four were Motilal Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. She also is the eighth person of the foreign origin to be the Congress president. In a short span since she plunged into active politics before the February mid-term Lok Sabha elections, Sonia in fact, had wrought a political miracle by becoming the dual chief of the 113 year old Indian National Congress and its Parliamentary party. In the process, Sonia also emulated her husband, mother-in-law and grandfather-in-law-Rajiv, Indira and Nehru - who all held the two posts during their career. Sonia Gandhi, nee Maino, was born in a place called Ovassanjo, 80 km away from Turin, on Dec. 9, 1946. Married into India's best known family of Nehru-Gandhi in 1968, the 52-year-old Sonia Gandhi became a primary member of the Congress less than a year ago before the Calcutta Congress Plenary Session in August 1997. Since Rajiv's death, Sonia had led a life of near recluse for six years but for her appearances at a few official functions. Sonia hid her emotions behind a thick veil of secrecy keeping observers guessing about whether she nursed political intentions at all. After an excruciating spell of suspense, Sonia, who long remained something of an enigma to many, finally decided to campaign for the Congress in the just-concluded Lok Sabha electors and is credited by observers with preventing a doom for the party. Congress, which was forecast not to cross the double digit mark managed a tally of 141 seats, largely due to her charismatic presence during the campaign. Travelling the length and breadth of the country in a hurricane election tour, Sonia caught the imagination of the masses, by her emotional speeches in Hindi prepared in advance. Observers commented that Sonia successfully adopted her mother-in-law's mannerism and style in warming her way to large crowds which had turned up at her election rallies. (Courtesy:www.Soniagandhi.org) |
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