The Ayatollah of National Congress



Even Indira Gandhi never had it so good: What his daughter-in-law is enjoying is much greater freedom, arguably much bigger power and inarguably with much less responsibility. Just when the Telengana problem is threatening to burst the seams of an already a fragile India, when the central government has shot itself in the foot by caving to the TRS blackmail, and as buses burn, shops shut, Andhra assembly in a standstill, Sonia Gandhi is amazingly absent. What is even more intriguing is that it is not even been felt conspicuous.

Compare this to the BJP regime: Every time the government was in crisis, be it a murder of a Christian missionery, a coordinated pogram against Muslims, or even an attack on a card shop, the media wanted to know what Vajpayee felt about it. What he quoted or misquoted or refused to quote were furiously discussed in the cosy comforts of 24/7 studios.

Strangely, none of this seems to happen for Sonia. Be it things as trivial as Azhagiri or as big as Spectrum or Telengana, no one really knows what is Sonia's stand. And the media doesn't bother either.

Yes, Manmohan who is the Prime Minister and Chidambaram is the Home Minister. But it is hard to believe that they would have taken the Telengana decision without consulting Madam. And she is conveniently out of the picture. Where there are garlands, Mamam is present and where brickbats, she is MIA.

It is working extremely well for Sonia that she is not a Prime Minister. Indira Gandhi had to take responsibility for all the bad things that happened to India during her tenure. Vajpayee is still being accused for Gujarat riots. But Telengana and Spectrum are going to the Manmohan Singh's file. Sonia: she is a clean, tall leader guiding the country and her party to a glorious future. Like an Ayatollah of Iran.

Even Obama can't boast of such a luxury.