Citizenship Act, Sonia Gandhi & Dr. Subramaniam Swamy - Part 3

 Part 3 is being presented to deliberate on what possibly caused Sonia Gandhi to give up her claim to Prime Ministership. The question of Lacuna in our Citizenship Act 1955, Representation of People Act 1950 & 1951 apart, it does make me, and I believe many others, curious as to why then Sonia Gandhi, who remote controls the entire Govt., appointed herself Chief of NAC (which itself may be an extra-constitutional body in PMO) in order to interfere with the Governance & Law-making process of India, decided to not be the PM in 2004 or even in 2009? It is clear that Sonia Gandhi loves power. She freaks on it. But more than that she loves so much Power that she becomes unquestionable, unaccountable to People of India. So, as far as the Sacrifice Drama is concerned, it was clearly a fake drama, exposed by her behavior in later periods. Then, why did Sonia Gandhi not become the Prime Minister of India? This question cannot be answered without going back to May 2004. Things were moving slow as well as fast…it was a confusing period, caused especially by sudden death of NDA and a fairly indecisive vote of the people. So, while a lot of action & attempt at Govt formation was on, it wasn’t resulting into Govt formation. We’ll try to understand this from the chronology of events itself. Timeline of Events I have provided Link of the news wherever I could (it is primarily from Rediff.com & Press Information Bureau) Kindly do read the news on these links to know things yourself. April 20 & May 10, 2004 – General Elections were held May 11, 2004 – President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam consults experts to understand plan of action in case of a Hung Parliament (which was looking evident). http://m.rediff.com/election/2004/may/11kalam.htm May 12, 2004 – Sonia Gandhi met Harkishan Singh Surjeet, General Secretary of CPI(M). Surjeet agreed to support Congress with a rider that Manmohan Singh will be the Prime Minister of India. The news can be accessed here: http://www.rediff.com/election/2004/may/12espec1.htm/ May 13, 2004 – Election results are announced. Congress and allies are ahead of NDA. Congress gets 145 seats and along with their pre-poll allies, number stands at 217. Congress + needed 55 more to form Govt. May 13, 2004 (9pm) – Sharad Pawar doesn’t seem n favor of Sonia Gandhi as PM. He had afterall, left Congress to form NCP primarily on grounds of Sonia’s foreign origins. Wily politician that he is, he neither says Yes, nor No… http://m.rediff.com/election/2004/may/13sp11.htm May 13, 2004 (10.30pm) – CPI(M) stalwart Jyoti Basu makes it clear that a non-BJP Govt at the Centre is a must. Direction for Left’s support is set, with matters of Prime Minister pending. http://m.rediff.com/election/2004/may/13basu.htm May 14, 2004 (12 noon) – Sharad Pawar is still undecided. Meets Sonia, but gives no commitment. Says all other partners will meet in a day or two to finalise Prime Minister. http://m.rediff.com/election/2004/may/14sonia.htm & http://m.rediff.com/election/2004/may/14pawar.htm May 14, 2004 (12 noon) – Left Parties are still “discussing” election verdict, while clear that they will support a non-BJP Govt. They meet Mulayam Singh Yadav & VP Singh to discuss the same. http://m.rediff.com/election/2004/may/14left.htm May 15, 2004 (12 noon) – Sonia Gandhi is elected as Congress CPP Leader. http://m.rediff.com/election/2004/may/15cpp.htm May 15, 2004 (1.30pm) – Left parties are still undecided on their form of participation in the Govt. Not clear on joining Sonia’s Govt: http://m.rediff.com/election/2004/may/15cpim.htm May 15, 2004 (3pm) – The wily Ahmed Patel states that half the allies of Congress have issued Letters of Support. This doesn’t mean post-poll allies like Left Parties, but pre-poll allies of Congress. While it is proved later, as we’ll see, that Congress had no Letter, two days after Election Result letters of support from only half of pre-poll allies does look worrying. http://m.rediff.com/election/2004/may/15half.htm May 16, 2004 (9pm) – Manmohan Singh briefs media saying all allies, including Left have given Green Signal to Sonia to form Govt. However, even two days letter, we shall see, they had no Letters of Support to show to President for staking claim on Govt formation. http://m.rediff.com/election/2004/may/16sonia2.htm May 17, 2004 (10.30pm) – EC Constitutes 14th Lok Sabha, and submits the notification to the President of India at Rashtrapati Bhavan. http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=1716 & http://m.rediff.com/election/2004/may/17ec.htm May 17, 2004 (1.25pm) – Amar Singh of Samajwadi Party & Ajit Singh of Rashtriya Lok Dal meet President. Samajwadi Party submits Letter of Support for “Congress Party” and Rashtriya Lok Dal submits Letter of Support for Sonia Gandhi to President of India. http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=1716 May 17, 2004 (4pm) – Uma Bharti meets President of India to register her Protest against Sonia Gandhi’s possible appointment as Prime Minister due to her Foreign Origin. Dr. Swamy also met President the same day. http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=1716 & http://m.rediff.com/election/2004/may/17uma.htm May 17, 2004 (8.30pm) – President’s Secretariat issues Press Release mentioning above three events as well as issuance of a letter to Sonia Gandhi requesting her to meet the President either the same day or the next to discuss formation of the Govt. http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=1716 May 17, 2004 (10pm) – Sonia Gandhi holds 2nd round of sudden talks with her allies. Rumors are rife that Dr. Manmohan Singh might be declared Prime Ministerial candidate. In its public posture, Congress & some of its allies deny this. In all possibilities, I think Sonia Gandhi was desperate to get Letters of Support for her meeting with Kalam the next day. http://m.rediff.com/election/2004/may/17sonia2.htm May 18, 2004 (12.15pm) – Sonia Gandhi meets President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, along with Dr. Manmohan Singh for about 20 minutes. She has no Letters of Support to show to the President. Rather President informs her of the Letters of Support he had received from SP & RLD. Sonia tells President she’ll meet him again with the Letters on May 19, 2004. . http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=1719 & http://m.rediff.com/election/2004/may/18cong.htm May 18, 2004 (throughout the day) – Speculation is rife that Sonia Gandhi will step down and Manmohan Singh will be appointed Prime Minister. Allies drop all pretense and make it as clear. NCP issues a tongue in cheek statement that Leadership is Congress’ internal issue. http://m.rediff.com/election/2004/may/18ncp.htm , http://m.rediff.com/election/2004/may/18man.htm , http://m.rediff.com/election/2004/may/18yech.htm May 18, 2004 (6.30pm) – President Secretariat discloses that Sushma Swaraj & Govindacharya met the President to express their strong reservations about Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin and that she should not be sworn in as Prime Minister. He also makes it clear that he has “only” heard them. BSP members meet the President too with an issue based Letter of Support for new coalition Govt headed by Sonia Gandhi. http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=1723 May 18, 2004 (around 8-8.30pm) – Sonia Gandhi, knowing that apart from verbal commitment, Letters of Support are not coming, decides to resign herself to save embarrassment, appoints Manmohan Singh as her replacement, for whom since May 12, other Parties were pressurizing Congress. Of course, the public drama is about Sacrifice, about higher values, so on and so forth. For many of us, after 5 -6 days of intense lobbying with other Parties for support, when a Person steps down, it is not called Sacrifice. Thanks for the Drama, aunty. http://m.rediff.com/election/2004/may/18sonia2.htm May 19, 2004 (around 5.30pm) – President’s Secretariat clarifies that all rumors about Citizenship Issue being discussed by President with Sonia Gandhi are false and that this matter didn’t even figure in the discussion. http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=1730 May 19, 2004 – Various Leaders call on the President of India extending Letters of Support to UPA. All of a sudden, as Dr. Manmohan Singh’s name became formal, Letters of Support were pouting in without difficulty. http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=1733 May 19, 2004 (Midnight) – President’s Secretariat issues Press Release informing about the meeting held with Dr. Manmohan Singh & Sonia Gandhi, who met the President this time “with” Letters of Support from various Parties. Upo satisfaction on Majority, President invites new CPP Leader, Dr. Manmohan Singh as the Prime Minister of India. http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=1734 This entire chronology makes it more or less clear that while Law didn’t have necessary provisions for stopping an Indian Citizen of foreign origin from voting, getting elected or becoming Prime Minister, the resistance of various Political Parties from accepting a Foreign origin Indian Citizen as Prime Minister, turned things around for better. These allies may not have been vocal, lest they be seen as allying with BJP, in order to get a non-BJP Govt without Sonia Gandhi, they do seem to have not issued Letters of Support to Sonia Gandhi, despite verbal assurances. Sonia’s Sacrifice Drama Of course it was all a drama. A person lobbying hard with various political parties to get their support to become Prime Minister of India for almost a week (May 12, 2004 - May 18, 2004) doesn’t suddenly become a saint and give-up the desire for the position. Only an inability to become the Prime Minister stopped Sonia Gandhi from becoming a Prime Minister. Sonia Gandhi in later years – Power without Accountability The fact that in later years Sonia Gandhi formed an NAC, appointed herself the Chief, started interfering with Policy making as well as Law making process of the Government, makes it amply clear that she was dying to be in power. But the inability in 2004, made this ambitious woman find the way to Power without Accountability. There couldn’t have been a bigger gain for Sonia Gandhi and bigger loss for India, than what is going on presently. Role of Dr. Subramanian Swamy Where did you find his role in this entire thing? I find none. Some people mistake that I have an agenda against Dr. Swamy. Some think it is due to my liking for Atal Behari Vajpayee (Dr. Swamy despises Vajpayee). They are wrong. That is all I can say. Lacuna in our Laws It is about removing all the clutter Dr. Swamy has created for self-goals, and letting the nation know that there is a Lacuna in our Laws with respect to appointment of Indian Citizens of Foreign-origin to the position of even a Prime Minister of the country. India will be in grave danger. Our geo-politics doesn’t give us the luxury of lax laws. Imagine if a Pakistani origin Citizens becomes Indian Citizen, votes in India, fights election in India or becomes Prime Minister of India, where could things go? Our Laws must be prudent and should account for all possibilities. For Dr. Swamy’s Frenzied Forces I wrote first on this subject on Jaunary 31, 2012. Its 5 months, and there is no serious, clear answers from Dr. Swamy or any of his frenzied supporters. If they believe their silence on facts and explanations will make their falsehood convert to Truth, I am sorry, that will not be the case. Dr. Swamy is known to encourage people to demand accountability from Sonia Gandhi, Atal Behari Vajpayee etc…I demand accountability from Dr. Swamy.