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Teluguhero Side Hero Username: Teluguhero Post Number: 2834 Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 76.106.197.158 Rating: N/A |
http://www.opindia.com/2018/08/why-nobody-is-allowed-to-crit icize-sonia-gandhi/ Why nobody is allowed to criticize Sonia Gandhi Take a deep breath and reflect who you are not allowed to criticize in India. I could think of no other than Sonia Gandhi, former Congress and UPA chairperson. Run the entire gamut, pour over the worksheet of honchos of Indian media, Shekhar Gupta, Barkha Dutt, Vir Sanghvi, Rajdeep Sardesai, Sagarika Ghose etc. Google as you might. Dive into the archives of Lutyens Media like Hindustan Times, Times of India, Indian Express, The Hindu â Sonia Gandhi, much like Caesarâs wife, has been above reproach. Thatâs astounding considering nobody has been the president of 134-year-old Congress longer than her (19 years). She got her party two consecutive Lok Sabha victories with a whole lot of scams were unearthed and yet not a word against her. I mean yes, BJP and its bete noire Dr Subramaniam Swamy keep pelting her windows but thatâs par for course for any opposition. But what accounts for no âblack sheepâ within Congress bleating ever? No media house opening its edit pages for trenchant views; no historian/academician offering critiques? No scholarly paper in JNU? No diagnosis on a person out on bail? I do recall two embarrassing Sonia interviews, that is for any self-respecting journalist, by Rajdeep Sardesai (he kept saying âfought like a tigress,â both in 2005 and 2016), as it was for Aroon Purie on another occasion, coy and adolescent. Yes Shekhar Gupta (âshe keeps a formidable dynasty on her slender shoulders,â), Barkha Dutt (âshe has made a public commitment to Womenâs Reservation Billâ) have also interviewed her; Vir Sanghvi has been profound in âNobody-in-Nehru-Gandhi-Family-Has-Given-Kind-of-Authority -she-has-to Manmohan-Singh,â echoed by a gushing Sagarika Ghose (âShe never undermined Manmohan Singh, always backed him upâ). Both Sanghvi and Ghose donât touch upon how another Prime Minister, PV Narasimha Rao, was humiliated, even in death. And these clowns happily go toting about âbhaktsâ to everyone else. Phew. Two books on Sonia immediately come to my mind. One is a pathetic account by a sycophant and another is âRed Sariâ which was unofficially banned in India for six years due to machinations by Abhishek Sanghvi, as alleged by its author. There was though one voice of dissent which was muzzled without much ado by this âdeep stateâ in India. Margaret Alva, a former Union minister of state and Governor, was quite scathing in her autobiography: âCourage and Commitment:â Excerpts: âWhile Pilot, Prasada and Scindia got all the honours due to them as Congress leadersâwith shamianas erected at the AICC to receive their remains before the last ritesâPV Narasimha Rao, the tallest of them all, was denied a state funeral in Delhi. His body was not even let into the AICC compound; instead, the gun carriage carrying the former Prime Minister and Congress President was parked on the pavement outside the gates, with chairs lined for party leaders. I was shockedâ¦ever since, I have regretted not protesting and walking away.ââ On PV Narasimha Raoâs death in 2004 Alva details that she played a peacebroker between Sonia and Rao: the latter falling out probably for deciding to appeal against the Delhi High Courtâs decision to quash a complaint against the Bofors case. Sonia Gandhi once retorted to Alva: âWhat does the Prime Minister want to do? Send me to jail?â Alvaâs outburst about the unfair ticket distribution in Karnataka led to her ouster. She was asked to resign from the post of All-India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary in 2009. In her resignation, Alva wrote thus: âTimes have changed and for the first time, I have come to feel like a misfit in an organization that I considered as precious as my own home. A look at our recent candidates lists show a distinct patter of patronages to the wealthy and rich lobbies like mining, education and real-estateâ¦â Just reflect on the above in line of recent Karnataka assembly elections and ponder why no newspaper or media celebrity ever brought this book out of the shelves to examine Congressâ candidates in 2018? Why Congressâ demise in the state is not looked through the prism which Alva afforded us? As per one reviewer of the book: âAlvaâs book offers an amazing insight into the maneuverings of 10 Janpathâthe home of Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Without being too harsh, Alva clearly indicts Gandhi for lacking transparency in her manner of functioning, her penchant for surrounding herself with a handful of loyalistsâ¦â. Alva was made to leave Delhi, appointed as she was governor of Uttarakhand. In her words: âOnce I had made the mistake of saying: `The Alvas are the only political family to have a member in Parliament without a break for almost half a century.â This statement sealed our fate.â (As an aside, Alva was Governor of Rajasthan when Narendra Modi came to power in 2014. Alva describes her meeting with Modi thus: âI told him I had come to pay my respects, not plead for an extension, adding `I am not prepared to quit anytime.â âThere is no question,â He (Modi) replied. âYou are doing a good job please continue where you are.â She was subsequently given additional charge of Goa and Gujarat!). |