Hats off to Sonia Gandhi

It needs extra ordinary moral courage, patriotism and strength of character to do what Sonia Gandhi of India has done recently. She has voluntarily declined the offer given to her by the people of India to ascend the throne of Delhi, the throne on which great rulers like Ashoka the Great, Babar, Akbar the Great and her own grand father-in-law Pandit Nehru, and many others, once sat with great honour, authority and power. After having led the Congress Party to victory Sonia had all the democratic, legal and moral right to occupy the chair of the prime minister of India. She was hardly inches away from that chair. The question is where from an ordinary mortal like us gets the moral courage, patriotism and strength of character to take the decision as Sonia did.

In my humble personal opinion it is the cultural and educational background, grooming in the family and, above all, the values of life learnt in the childhood from where a man or a woman gets these qualities. ‘Foreign born’ Sonia with a different religious and cultural background has proved herself more superior human being than the local born Indians like Shushma Swarajs, Uma Bharatis, Promod Mahajans and L.K. Advanis.

Here, I must say that Atal Bihari Vajpayee as the immediate past prime minister of India has miserably failed to rise to the occasion. He very shamelessly joined the Shiv Sena, RSS, Bajrang and their bandwagon by maintaining silence over Sonia’s ‘foreign origin’ issue before and after the election.

Sonia has left the throne of Delhi to save her party from the irritating pricks BJP would have otherwise caused to it. Above all, she did not want to see India divided on an issue which was too personal to her, and she could do nothing to solve the issue. How many Indians born in India could make such sacrifices for the sake of the unity of their country?

Hats off to Sonia Gandhi. Politicians in Bangladesh too have a lot to learn from her.

Syed Ashrafuzzaman