by Sachi Sri Kantha; published May 19, 2004
Sonia Gandhi’s Slap to the Roof-top Barkers
As one could expect from India and Sri Lanka, quite a few hacks jumped the gun on what Sonia Gandhi would do, after the Congress Party led by her gained an electoral advantage in forming a new government. They began to churn out anti-Pirabhakaran drivels, only to be slapped a few days later by Sonia Gandhi. Their hastily-churned drivels now make interesting reading.
A
n anonymous hack to the Indo-Asian News Service (New Delhi) scribed an unsigned piece, dated May 17th. This particular piece was instantly republished by servile roof-top barkers (in the websites operated in Bangkok and Colombo) who service the stinking skunks in the Asian region. Kindly note that, as is typical in these skunk-generated news items, the quoted sources almost always remain unnamed. So, these nameless sources receive descriptions such as “a senior Indian official,”, or “Tamil sources.” For the benefit of those who had missed this IANS feature, here is an excerpt:
“With Congress president Sonia Gandhi set to become prime minister, the man who ordered the assassination of her husband, over a decade ago, will certainly be worried. Those who follow Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers closely, will know that by now its chief Velupillai Prabhakaran, wanted in India for the 1991 killing of Rajiv Gandhi, will be holding consultations with his aides to discuss the unexpected political upheaval in New Delhi. “There is no doubt he will be very, very concerned,” a senior Indian official said, referring to Mr Prabhakaran, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) chief. Significantly, the pro-LTTE media has made no comment on the dramatic election outcome that has catapulted Sonia Gandhi to power. A LTTE suicide-bomber blew up her husband at Sriperumpudur while he was on a comeback trail.
Tamil sources agree the LTTE would have even otherwise closely followed the election process in India, but Ms Gandhi’s dramatic victory would have certainly unnerved them. It may not have struck many, but the fact is that Mr Prabhakaran is the reason why Ms Gandhi is in politics today. Had he not killed her husband, she would have continued to be a housewife and would have remained at a safe distance from the hurly-burly of Indian politics…” [source: ‘Eye of the Tiger: LTTE may get that hunted feeling again’, IANS news service, May 17, 2004]
This ‘iffy’ extrapolation of this particular roof-top barker is good only for bar-room gossip. It implies that if not for Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, Sonia Gandhi wouldn’t have entered Indian politics. For argument sake, why attention should be tagged to an event which happened on May 21, 1991, whereas even Rajiv Gandhi wouldn’t have entered into politics, if not for his younger brother Sanjay Gandhi’s tragic death in an air-stunt in 1980. Sanjay, and not Rajiv, was being groomed as her successor by their mother, Indira Gandhi. Thus, Sonia Gandhi’s entry into Indian politics could be traced to Sanjay Gandhi’s tragic death in 1980. Furthermore, if Indira Gandhi had not been stealthily assassinated by her bodyguards in 1984, the chances are that she might still be the boss of the Congress Party in India. She would be 87 now, and going by her pronounced antagonism to the then J.R.Jayewardene government and her previous track record of splitting the neighboring Pakistan into two in 1971, Eelam could have been a reality by now. Let me return to Sonia again.
Sonia’s slap to the delirious editorialists
The Sinhalese editorialist of Sunday Times(Colombo) should also be feeling queer now, for jumping the gun on a decision which only Sonia Gandhi could make, and outlandishly prancing on about what the widow of Rajiv Gandhi would do to the LTTE in the near future. His pronouncement was nothing but anti-Tamil drivel. Excerpts:
“… The entry of Ms. Gandhi will see a new phase in Indo-Lanka relations. Though brother Mr. Anura Bandaranaike has already beaten her to it, President Chandrika Kumaratunga no doubt will re-kindle the flame of old family ties between the Gandhis and the Bandaranaikes and the similarities of two widows with two children, whose young husbands were assassinated by a Sri Lankan terror group should not be lost in the correspondence.
There is a greater need for Sri Lankan political leaders to recognise that the new Indian Prime Minister will surely take a hardline on the LTTE, especially for killing her husband. This has been acknowledged to some extent by Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar’s remarks in Washington this week that he expects the new Indian Government to press for the extradition of the elusive LTTE leader….”[‘Indian impact on Lanka, Sunday Times, May 16, 2004]
In her message to the Indians, Sonia Gandhi has specifically stated, “There is no threat to me from anywhere” [source: ‘Sonia Gandhi turns down PM post’, BBC News, May 18, 2004]. This would have tasted like castor oil down their throats to the roof-top barkers who were delirious in dreaming a non-existent LTTE threat to Rajiv Gandhi’s widow.
Sonia on that 1987 humiliation in Colombo
While highlighting the notion that the LTTE killed Sonia’s husband, as is convenient for Sinhalese journalists, the roof-top barkers never reflect on the near-assassination of Rajiv Gandhi on July 30th 1987 in Colombo. But, let us review what Sonia Gandhi (an eyewitness herself) had recorded in her reminiscences on the humiliation faced by her prime minister husband at the hands of naval rating Vijithamuni Rohana de Silva, with JVP ties. To quote,
“The [Indo-Sri Lanka] Agreement aroused resentment among a section of the Sinhala community. On 30 July in Colombo, when Rajiv was inspecting a farewell Guard of Honour, a naval rating stepped out and struck him with his rifle butt. Rajiv sensed the blow and ducked. It barely missed his head but he took its full force on his left shoulder.
It all happened so suddenly that few people present were aware of what had occurred. Rajiv continued with the ceremonial function (the formal photograph was taken minutes later), and was attended to only when we were air-borne. For a very long time after he could not move the shoulder freely or sleep on his left side.” [Sonia Gandhi, in Rajiv, 1992]
The then Sri Lankan president J.R.Jayewardene added insult to the injury by blurting to the news media immediately that Rajiv suffered a heat stroke, rather than a serious assassination attempt.
Simple Common Sense
While saluting Sonia Gandhi’s pragmatic decision of not accepting the prime ministership of India when opportunity presented itself, it is foolish to exaggerate her deed, as the Hindu newspaper’s editorialist captioned as ‘Stunning Political Sacrifice’ [May 19, 2004]. Come on! Only sycophants or semi-literates of the English language could write like this; at the Hindu news establishment in Chennai, both varieties may not be difficult to grab.
If Sonia had plunged into the funeral pyre of her husband in 1991, like thousands of Hindu widows in India had done in the past centuries, then one could term that deed as a ‘stunning political sacrifice.’ But, what she has decided now, is nothing but simple common sense and Sonia Gandhi – among the current political breed in India – seems to have been blessed with common sense. Whatever the likes and designs are of the sycophants and fart catchers of the Congress Party she leads now, Sonia Gandhi in India has realized that she belongs to a minority within a minority within a minority [that is, minority to the cube-root]. In a nation of more than billion heads, Sonia is nominally a Christian; Sonia is a foreigner by birth; and Sonia is white. In this, though living in India for nearly 35 years, Sonia seems to retain her Italian heritage.
For an interesting take on Italians’ innate common sense, I present a delightful paragraph I enjoyed from film director John Huston’s autobiography. I’m currently re-reading it, after 20 years – when I enjoyed for the first time his masterpieces like The Treasure of Sierre Madre and The African Queen. For those who are modesty-minded, I add that the swear F-word appears in the original, and the punchline is centered on that word. The setting was before the end of the Second World War, when Italy was at the receiving end of Allied Army attacks. Huston was then a member of an American battalion. To quote,
“the Italians have an innate gaiety, an ability to laugh at themselves at dark moments. I remember going through the narrow streets of Mignano after we had taken it. The kids had already picked up choice words from our troops, and they ran alongside our jeep shouting, ‘F— the Germans!’. Our driver, who had a timely sense of humor, said, ‘F— the Americans!’ The kids couldn’t believe we were saying this about ourselves. They looked confounded and said, ‘No, no! F— the Germans!’ Again the driver shouted, ‘No! F— the Americans!’ And then one of the kids got it. He grinned and said, ‘F— the Italianos!’ and everybody roared with laughter.” [in John Huston, An Open Book, 1980, pp.113-114]
This incident would have happened a couple of years before Sonia Gandhi was born. One wonders what would Sonia’s “inner voice” (which she emphatically acknowledged in her renunciation speech of May 18th in New Delhi) have said to her. It couldn’t be different from ‘F— the Indian fart catchers!’.