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THE NATION: SONIA'S US TRIP

Visa Power

The visit provides the Congress chief legitimacy and exposure — by arrangement

By Lakshmi Iyer in Delhi and Lavina Melwani in New York

For the Indian Diaspora, she was an unknown entity, sighted more than a decade ago as wife of Rajiv Gandhi. Last week, Sonia Gandhi came into her own during a week's visit to the US-her first "official" overseas visit since her entry into politics. The visit generated the same excitement in the Indian diaspora that her political debut did at home in 1998.

The Congress president and Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha was smothered in adulation. While most of her meetings were closed to the press, the rousing reception hosted by the Indian National Overseas Congress (INOC) in New York demonstrated that the dynastic appeal had no national boundaries. The rally at which some 500 NRIs paid $50 (Rs 2,350) to see Sonia in person was an exercise in political positioning and comic flattery. She was lauded as the "perfect wife, perfect daughter-in-law" (a reference to Indira Gandhi's praise of Sonia) who had rescued the Congress when it "was directionless and mired in petty squabbles". She was billed as another Indira whose "nationality could never mar her commitment to India". What also drew thunderous applause was the slightly bizarre observation by INOC President Surinder S. Malhotra: "After President Kennedy's death, Jacqueline Kennedy became Mrs Onassis but our Sonia Gandhi is still Sonia Gandhi."

Sonia returned the compliments. "We take great pride in the achievements of the wonderfully gifted and talented Indian diaspora in the US," she said, much to the delight of the NRIs who are increasingly becoming an important factor in Indian politics. Partisan politics found only tangential mention, with Sonia stressing the Congress' commitment to secularism. "I would like to emphasise the word Indian in the Indian National Congress. There is no room for narrow parochialism of any kind as far as we are concerned."

Sonia played with a straight bat and adhered to the convention that the domestic discord shouldn't be exposed in foreign lands. She had good reason to walk the straight line of correctness. The Bush Administration extended Sonia the courtesy befitting a national leader of a great democracy. The White House and the State Department meticulously observed the protocol due to an opposition leader enjoying cabinet rank. In Washington, she was received by US Vice-President Richard Cheney with whom she spent a "cordial and friendly" 25 minutes deliberating on disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation. On ample display was the national consensus on foreign policy: Sonia reminded Cheney about Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee's invitation to Pakistan's President General Pervez Musharraf for the July summit, hoping it would yield positive results.

Not on display, however, was the groundwork by the Congress aides that facilitated this interaction. Washington had apparently been wary of engaging an opposition leader plainly hostile to the foreign and economic policies of the incumbent government. So on the eve of her visit, Sonia sufficiently diluted her hostility to these two crucial aspects of governance. She asked the 11 Congress chief ministers to undertake fiscal reforms and welcomed the forthcoming Indo-Pakistan summit in Agra. The Government reciprocated by quietly endorsing her tour and giving it an official tag. The Ministry of External Affairs gave her a briefing on Indo-US relations and disarmament; and the Indian Embassy in Washington facilitated her meetings with Cheney, US National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice and Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage. No wonder, at the lunch for Sonia hosted by Jim McDermott, the Democrat Co-chairman of the India Caucus, Republican Co-chairman Ed Royce said it was good to have an opportunity to meet the leader of India's "loyal Opposition".

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