She came, she saw but we are not sure if she conquered. Sonia, now Soniaji in chaste European English did, however, impress us in her capacity as Rajiv’s widow if not as the sole torch bearer of the Congress campaign. She took us all through a painful walk down the memory lane to 21 May 1991,
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These days history doesn’t take much time to repeat itself. The entry of Sonia Gandhi into the electoral fray and the continuation of TMC’s alliance with the DMK
‘I told you so’, says Karunanidhi. ‘There was never any doubt’, says Moopanar. Same team, same spirit, cries Karunanidhi. Amen, says the TMC leader. ‘Moopanar and I will discuss’ claims a relieved DMK chief. ‘Karunanidhi is the leader and so he alone will decide’, avers a subdued Moopanar.
It is a paradox indeed. Quite a few stalwarts and several warts left the Congress because Sonia wouldn’t lend a helping hand. It is now being touted that precisely because that exodus threatened to consign the party of her husband to oblivion,
It is my fervent hope that by the time this article appears in print Surla would be back in confinement. Not wholly misplaced optimism considering that our police are as good at nabbing culprits as they are at letting them slip through their grasp.
The only crowd that appears somewhat in a mood to cheer the birth of yet another year, is perhaps the Congress. The last three days of this outgoing year have more than compensated for 362 days of endless woes for the party. In a way, the Sonia-mania that has gripped the party and lifted its sagging spirits
Rationalists should forgive me, but the temptation to delve into mythology is so overpowering. Not that the rationalists? own world is devoid of myths, rather their very ideology itself is one.
That Congress is a sinking ship and is a fit case for desertion would be stating the obvious. Though, the exodus from this party of yore on a daily basis is a recent phenomenon, the erosion in its popular appeal had started long back. Having lost its stability slogan to the BJP and with too many claimants for the secular card biting away at its very roots, the party appears bankrupt in every way.
The forthcoming battle at the hustings is no Mahabaratha nor is India a Kurukshetra. There are no Pandavas though there is no dearth of Kauravas. The 1998 polls promises to be anything but a Dharmayudh, devoid of values or principles with the warring groups setting their sights on power and power alone.