The Hindu : Voters can decide

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 02, 2002

Opinion

Opinion - Letters to the Editor

Voters can decide

Sir, — In an opinion piece, `Sonia Gandhi: The best bet' (Sept. 28), Archana Dalmia has taken exception to my opinion expressed in an Open Page article (Sept. 24). While she says, ``let us do a check on the more important abilities that I would like to see in the Prime Minister of India,'' she proceeds to ask, ``Who is V.K. Srinivasan to decide who is better'' as Prime Minister. I am just a retired civilian with a vote equal in value to Ms. Dalmia's and have not ``claimed any authority to decide'' who is better as Prime Minister. My opinion was addressed to the intelligent readers of The Hindu, and it is obvious that some officials of the AICC, devoted to Sonia Gandhi, are not able to understand my view even when it is that Sonia's foreign birth is not a Constitutional issue.

A reading of my view would clearly indicate that Ms. Dalmia is not correct in interpreting my views on Sonia's nativity or in importing as an issue fluency in Hindi as a requirement for Prime Ministership. While Ms. Dalmia has commended Sonia's fluency in Hindi in comparison with that of Deve Gowda, Jayalalithaa and Jaya Jaitley, Sonia's ability to speak French and Italian and her contribution to the unification of the Congress party and has drawn an analogy with multinationals permitted to operate in the country, she has rested her case without dealing with the specifics of the Maruti influence peddling case, antique smuggling case, Rajiv figuring as an accused in the Bofors chargesheet, and Sonia's charge of tardiness in the investigation of Rajiv's murder and Sonia's misleading claim of majority before the President.

The people of Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh can assess the level of unity in the Congress party. Whether the Congress returned to power in some States due to anti-incumbency and other local factors or Sonia's leadership is a matter for debate. Relevant enough is the fact that in U.P., the native State of Rajiv and adopted State of Sonia, the Congress could not come back to power.

V.K. Srinivasan,
Hyderabad

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