| Published on 12-10-2007 In National | | Viewed 1238 times | | An Open Letter to Sonia Gandhi |
|
| Written by
N.R.Mohanty | 
The immediate provocation for writing this letter to you is your 'enemies of development' speech at Jhajjar in Haryana last Sunday. After your statesman-like address to a gathering in New York where you referred to the debate on the Indo-US nuclear deal in India as democratic churning, you brought yourself down to the level of run-of-the mill politicians, like Kapil Sibal, who consider themselves as the last word as to what constitutes our national interest.
You, in fact, went a step further. Your minions laid down the fault lines of India's nuclear roadmap. Even
Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister, who has all through his tenure acted like a mouse, roared like a tiger when he dared the Left to topple his government over the deal. It could not have been without your consent or promptings. Like an Empress, you gave the final battle cry: 'Those who are not with us are against us. Those who are against us are against development'.
Will you tell us Soniaji, what is your vision of development? Or, do you have a 'vision thing', like the semi-educated US president George Bush once said? When you refused to accept the office of the Prime Minister in 2004 and told the stunned world that you would instead work for the development of the country, many of us had felt that you would be the one who would carry forward the glorious legacy of your grandfather-in-law, Jawaharlal Nehru.
There was a feeling that you carry a special burden – that of not being an Indian by birth, in fact, you became an Indian citizen years after your marriage to Rajiv Gandhi – and, therefore, you will rise to the occasion to fulfill the expectations of a people and a system that catapulted you to the pre-eminent position in the country, which is perhaps unthinkable anywhere else in the world.
You showed signs of that special 'burden' to prove yourself. You brought together some of the finest people, in terms of their knowledge and activism, in an advisory council and took some exemplary steps like enactment of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and the Right to Information Act. With all their anomalies and shortcomings, they were a revolutionary step forward.
But after the initial burst of enthusiasm waned, you seem to be caught up in the worst shenanigans of the realpolitik, which has been the bane of India's politics. But perhaps you couldn't help it, as it runs in the ruling family of India of which you are the inheritor. Indira Gandhi had begun well as the messiah of the poor (remember her slogan of 'Garibi Hatao'), but she got derailed when she got busy in installing her son Sanjay as her successor.
After Sanjay's untimely death, your husband was groomed to step into her shoes. And he did when Indira fell to the bullets of her Sikh bodyguards. He made a disastrous start by justifying the retaliatory attack on the Sikhs with his notorious remark: When a big tree falls, smaller ones are likely to take a toll.
But soon he began to invest his energy for political, economic and technological reforms that India desperately needed. When he took the nation by storm with his myriad initiatives, there came a bolt from the blue – the Bofors scandal that destroyed all the credibility that he had garnered as the Prime Minister.
When you took over the reins of the Congress party, many of us expected that you would have learned from your husband's mistakes and start on a clean slate for a new development agenda for the country.
You also began well. But, it seems, like your mother-in-law, you have been overtaken by the obsession to see your son installed as the next Prime Minister if the UPA were to be voted to power again.
And every decision of the government seems to be geared to this objective. Look at the pathetic state of a lame duck Prime Minister who had to wait for the 'crown prince' to ask him to extend the National Rural Employment Programme to the whole country before he stirred.
Soniaji, you said that all those who oppose the nuclear deal are the enemies of development. Pray, tell us, what is your take on 'development'? To me, when the country's resources are optimally utilized for the benefit of the lowest rung of the society, that constitutes 'development'.
But for you, Soniaji, if the country's resources are systematically plundered to benefit select industrialists, politicians and power brokers and that constitutes development, then I have no argument with you. Then you are like thousands of politicians in this country who are parasites of the system.
You virtually dubbed the Left and the BJP, without naming them, as enemies of development as they are opposing the nuclear deal. Well, you have your justification for the deal and the BJP and the Left have their reasoning to stall it. Then the best option in a democracy would be to take a decision by a majority vote on the floor of Parliament that is supposed to reflect the sovereign will of the people.
Why should you shy away from Parliament under the sly pretext that foreign policy decisions did not need parliamentary approval? That was at a time when foreign policy decisions were based on larger political consensus. When the consensual frame no more exists, the Executive cannot take such a gargantuan decision, with enormous strategic, financial and security implications, on its own. After all, the all-powerful Bush administration is duty-bound to seek the approval of the American Congress. Why should Indian executive treat the legislature with such contempt?
If 'development' were your priority, Soniaji, you would have raised the issue of the siphoning off of subsidized wheat stocks from the PDS outlets. The Times of India reported that food grains worth Rs 31,000 crore were diverted into the black market, the state of West Bengal being the worst offender. You would have bearded the lion in its den by carrying the debate to the heart of the Left empire where they are ruling for last 30 years. And you would have been justified in accusing the Left of being the enemy of development.
In the case of the BJP, there is no dearth of development issues to make its leaders appear naked. Arun Shourie -- who had once a formidable reputation as an iconoclastic journalist but who has now stooped to become a pamphleteer for the BJP – told in a book release function last Sunday that Narendra Modi was the icon of development.
Soniaji, you could have carried the debate to the heartland of the BJP, Gujarat, and shown Modi what he actually is – a diabolic pursuer of power politics who has no love lost for the poor and the marginalized.
But you would not do it, because you seem to share with Modi the same perspective on development: pay lip service for the poor but do everything to benefit the rich and the privileged. That way, Modi keeps himself in power. And you get to install your son in power.
Amen!
With regards,
A humble citizen of India |
|
|
|
|
| Social Web |  |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
Processing please wait ...
Top Stories
