MRS.GANDHI REVIEWED

Sonia Gandhi is the daughter of Stefano Maino, a building contractor who lived in Orbassano near Turin in Northern Italy. The Mainos were an orthodox Catholic family and ardent admirer of Fascist Dictator Benito Mussolini. Paolo Maino was a proud mother who had three beautiful daughters, Antonio, Anoushka and Nadia. Antonio Sonia Maino was sent to England so that she could learn to speak English properly. She was one of those girls who were not students of Cambridge University but lived with families who kept young girls as household help in return for opportunity to interact with people who spoke English. These girls would accompany the boys from Cambridge University on weekends. In that boys group there was an Indian student from a good family who had an ambition of becoming a pilot, fell in love with Antonia. He happened to be the grandson of internationally respected Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru. When Antonia confessed with her parents about the man in her life, they were more than overjoyed as their daughter was getting married to the first family of India. By the time their marriage happened, Indira Gandhi had become the Prime Minister of India. Very few years after her marriage Sonia became a Director on the board of Sanjay Gandhi’s Maruti Technical services which allowed her to have a monthly salary and one percent of commission on profits.

          During the early years neither Rajiv nor Sonia showed interest in politics. A little discomfort prevailed in the family after Congress party was defeated in 1977 elections. Sonia had to live with a depressed mother-in-law, an unpleasant sister-in-law, Maneka Gandhi. This did not last long as Sanjay Gandhi died in an air crash and Maneka was ousted by combined efforts of Sonia and Indira Gandhi. This was the time Indira started grooming her elder son for dynasty rule. She had removed Antonia from Sonia’s name so that it doesn’t sound foreign. Rajiv Gandhi was nominated as the President of Congress party. The party won the elections with huge majority after Indira Gandhi’s assassination. During, Rajiv’s rule he faced lot of allegations. His family was flamed for taking 64 crore as payoff. Later, a huge disaster happened in the family. Rajiv Gandhi was brutally killed in 1991. Undoubtedly Sonia was in deep anguish. The closely held establishment of Nehru family in the Congress party fell on Sonia’s feet and offered her the leadership. Thus, Sonia became the President of Congress party. Through years it is evident that Sonia has been desperately to mould herself in the manner of her mother-in-law. It was clearly evident that she wanted to rule the country.

                 She had retained her Italian citizenship for fifteen years after her marriage. Only because of her political ambitions and her anxiousness to gain voting rights in India led her to apply Indian citizenship in 1983. Sonia’s quality of citizenship has always been a topic of public issue. Her eligibility to contest for MP elections has been questioned through years. Ironically, this question is raised only at the time of elections. In September 2001 the Supreme Court considered a challenge to Sonia Gandhi’s election as Member of Parliament. The main question raised was whether a plea questioning the citizenship of a candidate is entertainable by the High Court in spite of candidate holding a certificate of citizenship granted under section 5(1)(c ) of the citizenship act. The Supreme Court pronounced that the court had the jurisdiction to pronounce the validity of citizenship of an election candidate. But, the court neither approved nor disapproved Sonia Gandhi’s eligibility to be an MP.

        According to our constitution, the basic qualification to hold any of the offices under it is that he or she must be a citizen of India. The Citizenship Act of 1955 says that a person is considered as Indian citizen by his birth, descent, registration, naturalization, registration, incorporation of territory, and on the basis of reciprocity.  Sonia Gandhi belongs to the category of people who became citizens by registration. Registration is granted on application and is restricted to few categories only. Sonia got her citizenship under the criteria – persons who are or have been married to citizens of India and are ordinarily resident in India. Whereas, the recent citizenship Amendment Act (2004) says that an overseas citizen will be entitled only to the civil rights guaranteed under Article 19 of the constitution and not civic or political rights. This law once again made Sonia Gandhi’s ‘foreign origin’ a topic of debate. Sonia Gandhi was born a citizen of Italy. Under the Italian law, a natural born citizen of Italy can retain his/her citizenship even after acquiring citizenship of another country. The question is will a woman continue to be Italian citizen even after getting registered as Indian citizen by virtue of marriage. According to Article 5 of the Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination against woman, ‘Woman shall have the same rights as men to acquire, change or retain their nationality. Marriage to an alien shall not automatically affect the nationality of the wife either by rendering her stateless or by forcing upon her the nationality of the husband.’ Sonia Gandhi might have probably exercised this right.

        Sonia Gandhi has been considered a Prime Minister candidate since 1999. She is ineligible for any higher office as her citizenship can be cancelled anytime if she violates the rules under citizenship Act, 1955. Moreover she is not a citizen by birth; she is a citizen by registration which means she doesn’t belong to citizen of first class. Like many other foreigners who have seeked Indian citizenship, many restrictions and conditions are imposed on her too. But, our law has many loopholes; there is a law which allows Italian citizens to enter certain public offices. It doesn’t specify whether such citizens can be PM contenders or not, but definitely allows people like Sonia Gandhi to display the temerity to aspire for PM office.

            There are lot of incidents which prove there is disconnect between her word and her action. Though she kept saying that she had no interest in politics and power; she physically threw Sitaram Kesari from the office. The poor fellow was in the toilet. His chair was empty. At that time few congress goons bolted the toilet door from outside and made Sonia occupy his chair. The elderly man literally wept. As people say this is how she became the Congress president. When media and opposition questioned her about her friend Quattrocchi being involved in Bofors scandal, she flatly refused it saying no one could be proved guilty unless there is sufficient evidence
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Bofors scandal: The Bofors scandal was a major political scandal that occurred between Sweden and India during the 1980's and 90's, initiated by Congress politicians and implicating the Indian Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi and several other members of the Swedish and Indian government who were accused of receiving kickbacks from Bofors AB for winning a bid to supply India's 155mm field howitzer.The scandal relates to illegal kickbacks paid in a US$1.4 billion deal between the Swedish arms manufacturer Bofors with the government of India for the sale of 410 field howitzer guns, and a supply contract almost twice that amount. It was the biggest arms deal ever in Sweden, and money marked for development projects was diverted to secure this contract at any cost. The investigations revealed flouting of rules and by passing of institutions. The scale of the corruption was far more worse that any that Sweden and India had seen before and directly led to elections. The Swedish company paid 9.4 million US$ in kickbacks to top Indian politicians and defense officials.
 Quattrocchi's role in this scandal, and his proximity to then Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi through his Italian wife Sonia Gandhi, is thought to have contributed to the defeat of Congress party in 1989 elections. In 1999 CBI named Quattrocchi in a charge sheet as the conduit for the Bofors bribe. The case against him was strengthened in June 2003, when Interpol revealed two bank accounts, 5A5151516M and 5A5151516L held by Quattrochi and his wife Maria, with the BSI AG bank, London, containing 3 million Euros and 1 million dollars, which was a curiously huge amount for a salaried executive. In January 2006, these frozen bank accounts were unexpectedly released by Indian Ministry of law, apparently without the consent of CBI which had asked for them to be frozen. On 6 February 2007, Ottavio Quattrocchi was detained in Argentina on the basis of Interpol warrant. The CBI came under attack for putting a half-hearten effort towards his extradition and India lost the case for his extradition as they failed to produce proper legal documents. Consequently, India was asked to pay Quattrocchi's legal expenses. 
          Apart from such scandals the most diabolical was her illegal entry to Indian voters list. It all began when the electrol rolls of the New Delhi parliament constituency were revised in 1980, with January 1 of that year as qualifying date. The revision enabled people to seek addition, deletion and changes in the list and among those who did so were members of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's household. The family resided at 1, Safdarjung road, and until then had four voters - Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Sanjay Gandhi and Maneka Gandhi. In 1980 there was an addition to the list - Sonia Gandhi. She was listed as voter at serial number 388 in polling station 145 of the constituency. This would have passed off as a routine addition, but for the fact that Sonia Gandhi was not at that time an Indian citizen, a fundamental qualification for anyone seeking entry to voters list. The fraudulent entry would have gone unnoticed but for Surya India, a news magazine edited by her estranged sister-in-law, which ranked up the issue. The magazine did a cover story on Sonia Gandhi in October 1982 and asked how a citizen of Italy could be a voter in India.

          Even now Congress sees her as saviour of once Gandhi led Centurion party; the Marxists saw in her the prospects of stopping BJP from marching to Delhi. Nevertheless, an Italian Indian is going around and telling how this nation should behave, how the BJP is communal, and how someone else is a castiest and how her family has suffered for the nation. While the Congress and our intellectuals call her Indian, her Italian colleagues see her only as Italian. And that is how the world too sees her.

my words

SHE.....

              It was 3.am in the morning. One of the most crowded places in Bangalore had the silence and stillness of a graveyard.In such silence, a roaring sound is heard, an auto rickshaw comes from no where, a drunken women in tacky clothes steps out with lot of baggage in her hand. Who was she? What was she doing in the city centre at such ungodly hour.

              HER STORY:  "Around 4 in the morning when the weather outside is ice cold, the mother wraps her children with an extra blanket as it was time for the couple to leave. They Pick up the net, water bottle, tools before leaving. In few minutes they reach the river bank and get into the boat. It was their daily routine. Fishermen they were. They returned home only when the morning broke.
               The fisherman had three children; 2 daughters and a son. His eldest daughter was "Dharani"(14). Her life was normal like any other girl of her age; until she met him. He was 10 years older than her, he planted the seeds of love in her innocent mind. She thought he came as a boon, little did she know that he would turn out be a curse for lifetime. He became her addiction. She was now ready to leave her birthplace, parents and siblings, to go the fairy land he had promised.
                I was another ice cold morning, the same boat on the river bank, but this time it was Dharani who got onto the boat with her man. Her father came running behind her, but his limbs and heart alike misgave him. Within a couple of minutes the boat escaped in back waters of Alleppey. There was no regret on her face.
             His fairy land existed in polluted streets of Bangalore. They got married in a nearby temple. Thus, begins her second innings...
             Her life was beautiful, but the fairytale romance slowly started to end, as it was followed by a routine. He would leave early in the morning, returned late in night and took over her like a hungry beast. This continued until she gave birth to her first child. Later, it was no better. The person with whom she lived was a stranger, He was no the man whom she had met in  back waters of Alleppey.
             The money he earned as a rickshaw driver wasn't sufficient to him. He often got frustrated and blamed her saying that she ruined his life! He suggested her to start working. She disapproves it and says she will never do it. He gets furious, hits her black and blue, bangs her head to the wall, pushes her to the floor and starts kicking her abdomen, still she doesn't agree. But, what was the work he suggested? He asked to sell her flesh every night to strangers. No wonder she disapproved! He took her forcibly to different men. At the beginning she rebelled, but after a point of time she had accept her fate. There was no way for her to go, felt she. In few years she gave birth to her second child. She never let her children know her pain from past 10 years. The auto in which she arrived was her husband's, He had dropped her back after the night routine. This is the story of the women who was in city centre at an ungodly hour."

                    She had to sell her flesh to raise her children. Every night was a nightmare. The flower was crushed until it lost all it's petals. She consumed poison to reach the state of euphoria, so that her children never knew her pain. Her love who had promised her a secure life, had himself introduced her to the business of selling flesh. Though, she had all the pain the world, she never went to depression or committed suicide... For me she is the symbol of strength.

"Teacher & Student"

         A teacher-student relationship is the most sensitive bond. At times, students get extremely attached to their teachers. Usually, they are the kids who come from a disturbed family background or who don't get the required attention from their parents. They try to get that secured feeling from their teachers. And, of course many teachers are warm enough to show that care and comfort level. But, such relations at times leads to infatuation. We usually see such instances in high school or Pre-University colleges, where youngsters get attracted to teacher's intellectualism, maturity, caring words or at times just good looks Teachers with such qualities are compared with boys/girls of their age and they find the teacher more attractive. As I said, it's just infatuation, which doesn't last long, there are very few instances, where this is taken to a extreme level. 

               There is another unique kind of relationship, which we hardly see these days. The typical "Chandragupta-Chanakya" kind, which is influenced by the concept of "Guru Parampara" in ancient India. At present this concept is slightly changed, which is described below -

             We all come across many teachers in the education phase of our life. But, there will be 1 or 2 teachers in those 15-17 years, for whom we have great respect and are extremely fond of them.They become our mentors for life, whom we whole heartily consider as a "Guru". I personally believe that to be successful we need on "Chanakya" in our life. "At present, the world has become so narrow-minded that they even doubt, mock and tease the relationship between Chanakya and Chandragupta". Don't give a damn about it! If you feel he/she is the one, listen to them, those people who tease you or find you boring(as you always listen to the teacher) will stay where they are, whereas you keep reaching new heights in life. It's stupidity to say that we can succeed without help of any guru. Your bond with the teacher may lead to many emotions, just learn how to handle them. "Remember you need a 'king maker' to become a 'king' or may be even vice-verse." 

Cheese Sandwich On A Rainy Day

On a rainy day, when you are alone at home, don't you want to have a nice snack with tea. At that time am sure you'll prefer a simple recipe. Below is a simple recipe for all of you which can be prepared in 5 minutes.

                                    Cheese Sandwich
Ingredients:
                 Bread - 4
                 Cheese slices - 2
                  Egg - 2 or White flour batter(for vegetarians)
                  Seasoning - Salt & Pepper
                  Butter/Olive oil - 2tsp

Procedure: Beat 2 eggs with salt and pepper powder. Vegetarians do the same with white flour batter. Place the cheese slice between two breads. Dip in the egg mix/flour mix, put a spoon of olive oil/butter on the frying pan, shallow fry the bread until it turns golden brown. And, your delicious cheese sandwich is ready to be served with tea.

THE NAMO FACTOR

              India, has witnessed 16 parliamentary elections. But, the last 2014 elections had created a huge wave worldwide. Whole world was waiting for it's results. The main reason for this was, the prime minister candidate, "Mr. Narendra Modi". What made NAMO different from other politicians? Did countries like China, U.S.A fear his leadership?




Narendra Modi became a very prominent face in Indian politics, after he was appointed(not elected) as CM of Gujarat on 7 Th October 2001. In the first four months He involved himself in providing relief to the devastated reigns of the massive earthquake that hit Gujarat earlier. His job was commendable. Then 'Godra' happened. Modi ordered his top cops to escort returning Hajji pilgrims safely to their homes. He writes letters to neighbouring states to assist him with police cadre. When things went out of control, he ordered shoot at sight orders. Almost 300 Hindus were killed. Very few people know that Modi had never stood an election till then. He became BJP's most powerful leader when he got BJP to power after the godhra riots in 2002 election. Modi's idea of government revolved around privatisation and small government which stood as odds with what journalists described as the "anti-privatisation and anti-globalisation position" of RSS.


Modi emerged as a hard working leader with terrific organisational and administrative ability. Modi's rise is unlike other variety of politicians with no vision, no skills, no organisational capability, or even intelligence, yet they are in fray because of bloodline like the Neharuvian's, Sindhi's, Yadav's or Gowda's. The morch politicians like Mamatha Baneerji, Bal Tackrey, George Fernandes and now Mr.Kejriwal represent a degree of anarchy than good governance solution.


But, Why are countries like U.S.A, China or Pakistan afraid of him? How would his victory affect them?


Narendra Modi, Assumes the highest executive office.There were a series of statements by local BJP officials that appeared deliberately aimed at exploiting tensions between specific communities. There were also more assertive statements directed at neighbours Pakistan – with which India has fought four wars – and China – with which India has had one conflict – and a promise that Modi in power would create an India that no one could talk down to on the international stage. There was even an apparent threat to revise India's "no first strike" nuclear weapons policy .All came together in the slogan "India First".
Rivalling the relationship with Pakistan for complexity and potential for misunderstanding is that with the US. As protocol demands, Barack Obama called the Indian prime minister elect over the weekend to express his hope that his win would help "fulfil the extraordinary promise of the US-India strategic partnership". Crucially, and here no one would have missed the significance, "the president invited Narendra Modi to visit Washington at a mutually agreeable time to further strengthen our bilateral relationship," said a government spokesperson. This could occur as soon as the UN General Assembly in New York in September, when Modi could also visit Washington. The visit is likely to be an extraordinary event with Modi – a teetotal, celibate, ascetic outsider who has shunned the sophisticated salons of India's power elite – suddenly pushed on to the world stage, and into a gruelling round of diplomatic engagements. Perhaps the biggest challenge for Modi on the world stage will be China. Few in India, where annual economic growth has dropped to less than 5% in recent years, now talk of catching up their neighbour. Indeed, for Modi, China may appear to be less a rival than an opportunity. He has been there four times on official visits – more than any other country – and, aides say, admires what has been achieved in the country


From an international perspective, Modi’s entry to the Prime Minister’s office raises two questions. Will India adopt a more harsh and aggressive foreign policy than it did under Manmohan Singh, an Ox bridge-educated economist, and his Congress party? And will the new government succeed in rebooting India’s economic miracle which has sputtered in recent years? Indians and people the world over will be watching to see how far Modi goes in the direction of liberalisation. Reforming India, which has many powerful states and innumerable vested interests, is much harder than reforming an individual state like Gujarat. And while Modi has obtained a historic mandate for his economic agenda-the B.J.P. will be the first party in thirty years to have an outright majority in Parliament-there are still widespread concerns that the fruits of economic progress are not being spread widely enough, concerns that more business-friendly reforms are unlikely to alleviate.