Sonia Gandhi - A Woman of Substance
The lady who was unknown to the masses till 1997-1998 become
so popular among the people that she led her party to two consecutive historic
win in the country many people believed not belonged to her. I am talking about
Sonia Gandhi the outgoing president of Indian National Congress. She has left her post for elevation of her son Rahul Gandhi as the Congress party president.
Her timing to enter politics collides with the time I
started following politics. It was the time Indian politics was in turmoil as
the country has faced three general elections in a period of four years. Her own
party which she refused to join after the death of her husband in 1991 was also
at breaking point with many fractions emerging from it as the opposition for
then party president Sitaram Kesri grew stronger. She joined the party after pressure from
senior Congress leaders and for some other reasons best known to her. Her
joining and elevation as party president resulted in Sharad Pawar, P.A.Sangma
and Tareeq Anwar leaving the party to form a new one on the issue of her
foreign origin. This issue remained burning topic during her first election and
after many more years after that. He enjoys backlashes on her foreign origin from
many even today when he completely left her country in 1983 and adorned the
Indian culture from her heart.
I have seen the time of her elevation from leader of
opposition against Atal Bihari Vajpayee government to the position of verge of
electing Prime Minister of the country. She humbly refused to be PM of the
country and gave Manmohan Singh the chance to become so who did it twice in
2004 & 2009. To step down from the post of becoming PM is her masterstroke
to silence all her critics who used to say that she joined the party for that
purpose. It also subside the issue of her foreign origin as the opposition
shouted against the PM of a person of foreign origin. She by sacrificing the PM
post silenced them for always.
She remained the powerful women of the country in all the
years she was active. Despite many allegations of corruption and slur of Bofors
and National Herald Case on her career she remained strong. She was behind the ideas of promoting MNREGA,
Food Security Act, Land Acquisition Bill, NSA, Foerst Act, Direct Benefit
Transfer, AADHAR and many other schemes and programs of Manmohan Singh era. She
feels now that it’s time for her to retire but her party wants her to remain
their guardian for as long as she can. She remain active or not but India and
Indian politics can never forget her contribution to the country in these 19
years she was active in politics. She was the part of change India experienced in these years. Love her, hate her but you can't ignore her.
Like it or not, Sonia Gandhi has played a significant part in Indian politics and led the Congress into two electoral victory. Of course, we can discuss or argue at length on her political career, highs and low not free from controversies but we cannot obscure facts that she learned the job on the floor.
ReplyDeleteIndeed Sonia had a tough time in politics. If she was not a strong woman she would have quit politics long ago.
ReplyDelete