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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
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WELCOME ABROAD: Sonia walked the straight line of correctness
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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."
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HOME AWAY FROM HOME: The rousing reception by the Indian National
Overseas Congress provided the much-needed boost to the Congress
chief's image
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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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