NEW DELHI, 17 May 2004 — Italy has become “the flavor of the season” in New Delhi with text messages and newspapers yesterday poking fun at the Italian origin of Sonia Gandhi, tipped to be India’s first foreign-born prime minister.
The Times of India splashed a drawing of Gandhi rowing a Venetian-style boat with a map of Italy in the background under the headline, “The Fall and Rise of the Roman Empire.”
“Mamma Mia! Italy’s the flavor of the season and not just for the Ferraris and the Armanis. A land of turbulent history and magical art, Italy was once home to the woman who now stands at the threshold of being India’s next PM,” it said.
The daily carried a factfile of famous Italians and a story on Sonia, the widow of former Premier Rajiv Gandhi, entitled “Cinderella’s story comes good.”
“More than a slice of Italy for Delhi,” ran a headline in The Hindu newspaper referring to the mood in the Indian capital.
The Asian Age newspaper printed derisive mobile telephone messages about Sonia circulating since she led her late husband’s Congress party to a shock victory over Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s Hindu fundamentalists.
“Atal gone, Sonia in; pizza in, paratha (Indian bread) gone; India gone, Italy in,” said one message.
Political analyst B.G. Verghese, a former newspaper editor, said the issue of Sonia’s foreign birth was like “flogging a dead horse” with the election over.
“The media is playing to the gallery,” Verghese said. “It is trivialization of news.”
Anand Kumar, an analyst at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, noted the media focus on Sonia’s roots could fuel the issue.
“The media magnifies certain aspects that become the basis for people to react. The foreigner issue is an overkill,” Kumar said.
Bharati Vows to Stop Sonia
From Becoming PM
A right-wing firebrand yesterday vowed to do anything in her power to stop Sonia Gandhi from becoming prime minister.
Uma Bharati, a Hindu nun who leads the central state of Madhya Pradesh, said she would “go to any length” to prevent Sonia from getting the top job.
“It has been my lifelong fight to keep Gandhi away from the prime ministership,” Bharati told the Zee News channel.
“How can the Congress say people have given Gandhi the mandate when they voted for a group of parties?” she said, referring to the alliance headed by Sonia’s Congress party. “Did all the people who voted for various regional parties know they would get Gandhi as prime minister? The Congress did not say who their leader would be before the polls,” she said.
Sushma Swaraj, parliamentary affairs minister in the outgoing government, said Saturday she would resign from Parliament if Sonia became prime minister as she could not stomach calling the Congress leader “Madam Prime Minister.”
Pramod Mahajan, a key strategist in the campaign of the defeated Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said yesterday he was sympathetic to Swaraj’s threat to quit.
“There are many people inside and outside politics who can’t accept this idea,” he said of Sonia as prime minister.
But Laloo Prasad Yadav, an irrepressible political leader and Sonia-backer, took potshots at both Swaraj and Bharti.
“A woman can’t stand another woman. The beauty and virtue of other women rubs her the wrong way... It is nothing beyond that,” Laloo said.
