Despite her formal refusal to become involved in politics Rajiv Gandhi’s widow Sonia is being seen by an increasing number of members of India’s ruling Congress Party as the only person who can hold the party together Party members have long acted as though they were feudal retainers serving the Gandhi family They feel uncomfortable now that they have to serve P.V.Narasimha Rao who had little political stature while Rajiv was alive.

Can Sonia Gandhi be persuaded to come to the aid of the party? As an Italian born Christian would she anyway be the right choice for such a role? Many Congress politicians believe she can do it Dozens of them queue up at her house in Delhi. If admitted they try to impress on her the need for her to contest the Amethi parliamentary seat left vacant by her husband’s death.

Sonia’s close friends insist that the lady’s not for turning. She has never wanted to participate in politics. Her daughter Priyanka is said to have political ambitions She is only 19 too young to stand for parliament but doubtless willing to wait until she can inherit the Amethi seat. Sonia however believes that the price for becoming a Congress figurehead would be to become a target of assassins like her mother-in-law Indira Gandhi and her husband. Nevertheless even outside the party Sonia is a powerful figure. People close to her merely have to say that Sonia is interested in some project and it gets attended to with alacrity. Many party politicians are trying to ingratiate themselves with her by proposing schemes which they feel she will like.

The Indian budget last month provided for a grant of $40m over the next five years for the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation which Sonia heads. Opposition parties protested against public money being given to a private body that had not even decided what it should do. Congress members of parliament insisted that it was an appropriate tribute to Rajiv. Sonia ended the controversy by saying that the foundation did not want any government money.

Last week a minor party functionary telephoned the 330 Congress MPS asking them to meet Sonia at an evening function He refused to say who had arranged the function or what its purpose was and no one seemingly asked probing questions. In the end Sonia herself cancelled the meeting raising suspicions that somebody had been trying to use the event to try to persuade her to contest the Amethi seat.

The Sonia phenomenon can be blamed at least partly on the inadequacy of Prime Minister Rao. His weakness as a leader was demonstrated in a recent dispute between the southern slates of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu over sharing the waters of the Kaveri River. A tribunal gave an interim award favoring Tamil Nadu which is ruled by a regional party allied to Congress. But the Congress chief minister of Karnataka promptly had a local law passed nullifying the tribunal’s award. Rao should have disciplined the chief minister. He did not. He needs the votes of MPS from both States and sought a compromise by referring the issue to the Supreme Court. In disgust a cabinet minister from Tamil Nadu resigned saying only Sonia Gandhi could impose discipline on the party.

This week 33 Congress MPS refused to obey a party directive on the election of the deputy speaker. They objected to voting for the Bharatiya Janata Party’s candidate although by convention as the second largest party in parliament the BJP was entitled to the post. Again Rao failed to crack the whip

Still even he would probably be happy if Sonia contested the Amethi seat and gave him backbench support. Any rumor that Sonia approves his policies strengthens him. If she entered parliament none of his rivals would dare make a bid for the prime minister ship without her consent.

(Economist)

Article extracted from this publication >> September 6, 1991