India and Italy: where's the connection? (1 Viewer)

gray

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Apr 22, 2003
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#24
The full story:

Gandhi says she will not become prime minister
By Christopher Kremmer in New Delhi and agencies
May 19, 2004


Sonia Gandhi announced yesterday she will not become prime minister of India.

"The post of prime minister has not been my aim," Mrs Gandhi said in parliament. "I would follow my inner voice. Today it tells me that I must humbly decline this post."

Supporters interrupted her with shouts of disappointment, briefly stopping her from speaking.

"My aim has always been to protect the secular foundations of our nation," Mrs Gandhi continued. "We have waged a successful battle but we have not won the war. That is a long and arduous struggle and I will continue it with full determination."

"I request you to accept my decision and I will not revert. There is no question. It is my inner voice, it is my conscience."

Earlier in the day, Mrs Gandhi met the President, Abdul Kalam, with a Congress party official, Manmohan Singh, but did not, as widely expected, leave with the President's approval to form a minority government. She put forward Mr Singh, the architect of the country's economic reforms, for the prime ministership and said she would meet Mr Kalam again today, New Delhi TV news reported.

The Italian-born Mrs Gandhi faced intense "Quit India" agitation after Congress's unexpected victory in the election, as critics claimed her foreign origins threatened the country's security.

Opposition Hindu nationalist MPs threatened to boycott a presidential swearing in ceremony for Mrs Gandhi, with only the ousted prime minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, representing his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Stung by their shock defeat, the Hindu nationalists wanted to deny the new government political legitimacy with a campaign evoking the spirit of the "Quit India" movement that ended British rule in 1947.

The BJP chief minister of Madhya Pradesh state, Uma Bharti, met President Kalam on Monday to warn him that Mrs Gandhi would be a danger as prime minister, "as a foreigner will be privy to all top secret documents pertaining to the nation".

A senior BJP figure, Sushma Swaraj, declared that she would not sit in the same parliament as Mrs Gandhi, and would shave her head and wear the white sari of a widow when she was sworn in.

One of the formidable figures backing the agitation against her was Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS), a nationwide Hindu-supremacist outfit. It was an RSS supporter who assassinated the independence leader, Mahatma Gandhi, blaming him for giving the subcontinent's Muslims the independent homeland of Pakistan.

Somnath Chatterjee, an MP for the Communist Party of India (Marxist), a Congress ally, said: "There are rumours that her children are against her becoming prime minister, maybe because of security reasons."

Mrs Gandhi's husband was assassinated by a Tamil suicide bomber in 1991.
Her mother-in-law, Indira Gandhi, the then prime minister, died in her arms after being shot by her Sikh bodyguards in 1984.
 
OP
baggio

baggio

Senior Member
Jun 3, 2003
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  • Thread Starter #28
    Guys, now that the situation has been resolved. Sonia has pulled of a masterstroke. Shes shut the opposition up, becoz now they cant go on nagging the Congress for Sonia's foreign origin. As it cant be an issue now that shes declined the post. But more importantly, its going to be 5 years before the next general election takes place, and shes going to pull the strings behind the scenes, and set the stage for her son Rahul to take over in that time. Its pure genius. And having said that, all the opposition are behaving like bad losers, with respectable ppl talking shit. So here we have it: Dr. Manmohan Singh, who has been handpicked by Sonia to be PM, will be sworn in tomorrow at 530 pm. Everyone knows that she only trusts him, and hes been loyal to her all these years, so she knows he will step down and make way for Rahul if and when his time comes.
     

    gray

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    Moderator
    Apr 22, 2003
    30,260
    #30
    ++ [ originally posted by baggio ] ++
    Guys, now that the situation has been resolved. Sonia has pulled of a masterstroke. Shes shut the opposition up, becoz now they cant go on nagging the Congress for Sonia's foreign origin. As it cant be an issue now that shes declined the post. But more importantly, its going to be 5 years before the next general election takes place, and shes going to pull the strings behind the scenes, and set the stage for her son Rahul to take over in that time. Its pure genius. And having said that, all the opposition are behaving like bad losers, with respectable ppl talking shit. So here we have it: Dr. Manmohan Singh, who has been handpicked by Sonia to be PM, will be sworn in tomorrow at 530 pm. Everyone knows that she only trusts him, and hes been loyal to her all these years, so she knows he will step down and make way for Rahul if and when his time comes.
    That's actually quite a bloody brilliant plan :D
     
    OP
    baggio

    baggio

    Senior Member
    Jun 3, 2003
    19,250
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread Starter #32
    Yea, awesome move. Coz now the whole country is just looking at her and saying: no she dint want to be PM, and she wasnt hungry for power. Shes done whatevers good for the country. And what makes it all so much more creditible is, she has been to the length and breadth of the country, to see what the problems of villagers have been. And after doing all that, not taking up the post, its very creditible. Although, there also seems to be this undercurrent, she also did fear for her life a little bit. But at the end of the day Sonia has brought the once mighty Congress back to power, and shes done it single handedly, with only a surname to bank on. Although Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who will turn 80 this year, almost had the Bjp winning a 2nd consecutive election, its sad, its ending this way for him. Coz i doubt he will be Pm again even though he is the undisputed best, his party has lost this election, becoz of their priorities, which dint seem to have much for the poor.
     

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