May 16, 2004: The thought that made her PM is the issue, not Sonia  
 
"I would be hesitant to vote for a person of Indian origin if she were contesting for the post of prime minister in my country," "This can happen only in India," (NewIndPress) the Italian journalist said.
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The unthinkable has happened. The Italian-born Sonia Gandhi will be the Prime Minister. Many who have nothing to do with politics feared this for long. They have nothing against Ms Gandhi. For them the issue is India's identity, its pride. Will she add to India's pride as the Prime Minister? Never, they feel, and rightly. This is their pain. E-mails from hundreds of Indians living ten thousand miles away from their motherland, in the US, show how they are shocked and pained at a foreigner being the Prime Minster.

They feel it is an insult to the soul of India, and to their own souls. Millions and millions of Indians, otherwise apolitical, agonise as they have no one to articulate their inner feelings to. For them, it is no change of Government. It is a psychological conversion of India into a colony. Their unaddressed question is: Could we not find one man or one woman from over a billion Indians to lead India? The entire political class is silent. Nor has the intellectual class any answer. The media thinks raising the issue is narrow-mindedness. One needs guts to say today that only an Indian can head India. This adds to their pain.
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(this article may now be available in the Daily Pioneer archive of May 16, 2004)

The thought that made her PM is the issue, not Sonia
By S Gurumurthy, Pioneer