HEY RAM, SAVE US FROM SONIA FIRST!

There is something in you that snaps everytime
you behold her -- either on the TV or on the front
pages of the national, not always nationalist, dailies
-- resplendent in wholly Indian attire and mouthing
wholly Indian issues. The unnaturalness of this
naturalised 'citizen' that betrays her motives strikes
at your core, numbs your soul and shocks your senses,
that is assuming you are sensitive ...and sensible
too. The feeling is indescribable beyond a point but
the revulsion is real. It is not a contrived or cooked
up emotion but a natural welling up of a cocktail of
sentiments composed of anger, shame and most of all,
helplessness. Even as our indignation peaks, the
depression hits the bottom. And torn between the two
extremes, one blurts out: Who is she? What is she
doing in our land? Why is she, a foreigner, lecturing
to us, the sons and daughters of the soil? Is it true
that she wants to lord over us? How can the
Congressmen inflict her upon the country? ...and more!


Of course, there is a more elementary question
one can ask. The question has to be addressed to
Signora Sonia Maino Antonia etc etc and lest I forget,
Gandhi, herself. How can she lead herself into
believing that she is fit to rule India, legally or
morally or whatever? So what if the Congressmen want
her? What else will they say, given their disdain for
sitting in the opposition? Should she not have
strained her conscience a little bit and done some
soul-searching, before taking the plunge? Aah, well,
asking her to answer these is a wasted effort! Of
course, she wants to head this country. Quite stupid
of us to expect her not to. The problem is with her --
her overwhelming ambition and her strong belief that
the PM's chair is family heirloom . And it is this
presumptuousness about her own 'entitlement' that is
extremely hurting; and her assumption that this is a
country of suckers, that is most insulting.

Little wonder that she has the temerity to
appeal to Lord Ram. Our Ram. Says she: Hey Ram, please
save this country from such bhaktas who are destroying
your values. You can be pardoned if you heard it as
'Hai, Ram'. But that is a matter of her lisp. Our real
concern is her lip service to 'our' heritage and
invoking it against 'our own' brethren. But madam, our
Ram bhaktas are only trying to recover a small piece
of land that medieval marauders took away from them
and which they genuinley believe to be the birth place
of their lord. But here you are, trying to usurp this
entire land of ours that is pervaded by Ram, by wholly
'democratic' methods, no doubt but eminently unethical
all the same. Indeed, it is we, all the countrymen and
women, excluding of course, the Congressmen, who
should be petitioning Lord Ram for his saving grace to
deliver us from the disgrace of having a foreigner, a
very mediocre one at that, at the helm.

And what audacity on her part to complain to
Ram about the bhaktas destroying our values? Then what
about the bhaktas of other faiths who have
consistently been destroying not only 'our' values,
but also all symbols and structures that represent
those values? Now, why not she in the same vein,
appeal to Allah to save this country from such of His
faithful also? Or to Christ and bring to His attention
all the misdemeanours of His trespassing sheep? Why
only Ram and his bhaktas? Should she not get a bit
secular and send her appeal in triplicate to all the
aforementioned gods so that they can arrive at a
consensus before answering her prayer? Or is it her
stand that only Ram bhaktas, be it just a few of them
on the fringe, are harming this country while the
hardened bhaktas of the other gods who in fact form
the core in their respective faiths, pose no danger?
Are the faithful of other religions in India upholding
the maryada of their mentors? Or may be she thinks she
must be cautious, out of 'respect for the sentiments
of the minorities', and refrain from naming them? But
then, don't Ram bhaktas who form the bulk of the
populace, have sentiments too that should not be
trampled upon? We would like to know from the Signora
why she signed off prematurely. Of course, we can
understand and grant her time if she wished to consult
her script-writer!

While Sonia has no inhibitions in parading her
ambitions and even telling Ram to rein in his own
bhaktas, those of us at the receiving end of her
insults and innuendos seem to be restrained by
unwarranted courtesies, misplaced hospitality and an
unnecessary sense of guilt.The intelligentsia
particularly do not want to be seen as less liberal,
intolerant or prejudiced. Do we
need enemies? So what if opposing Sonia as PM is seen
as a bias? After all self-respect itself is a bias
towards one's self, national honour is a bias in
favour of a population's prestige and above all
patriotism is the highest form of bias, that one shows
towards one's country, above everything else. Now, are
all these feelings unwanted mental appendages? Sonia
has shown scant regard for
such feelings of us, Indians, and has in fact made her
bid for power only on the assumption that those do not
exist! Should we continue to be shackled by these
imaginary chains and prove her right?

But alas, it appears that Friends, countrymen,
Congressmen and of course, Romans have all conspired
and come together to bury the nation's collective
self-respect and honour as they did Caesar aeons ago.
Sonia's candidature to a high office of the land is a
clear challenge to national prestige that has so far
proceeded unhindered. The self-obsessed Congmen, to
her glee, are playing into her hands. And she is only
hoping that the entire country too would emulate the
Congmen! Not that she has overestimated her own
acceptability to the masses. But she seems quite
confident that, come elections, enough smokescreens
like secularism, Ayodhya, corruption et al could be
thrown up to hide her own inadequacies and then she
can quitely slip into Race Course Road in the ensuing
political melee. Quite a possibility, unfortunately.
Unless, 'someone' with conviction in the sanctity of
this land and an overwhelming sense of indignation and
shame stemming from self- honour musters the courage
and political will to stop Sonia in her tracks, here
and now!