June 10, 2007
Only Centrist Democracy Suits India: Sonia
The Hague
Congress president Sonia Gandhi says India can "flourish only as a
centrist democracy", even as she unveiled her journey "from the
placid backwaters of a contented domestic life to the maelstrom of
public life", saying she had found both "fulfillment and a larger
sense of purpose".
"I am convinced that India can flourish only as a centrist
democracy. Over half a century of elections and democratic
governance have clearly demonstrated that no government can last if
it is seen to pursue narrow interests and is insensitive to the
concerns of all sections of our society," Gandhi said.
She was delivering a lecture on "Living Politics: What India Has
Taught Me" organized by the Nexus Institute at Tilburg
University here.
"India's many identities, languages, faiths and customs cannot
coexist peacefully if any one assumes dominance, or if the
collective will of the majority denies rights and space to any of
the minorities," Gandhi told a select gathering of leaders and
academics.
"There can be no doubt that India's tradition of tolerance,
synthesis and the ability to live with seeming contradictions has
provided fertile soil for democracy to take firm root."
Of her personal transition, Gandhi said: "My journey from the placid
backwaters of a contented domestic life to the maelstrom of public
life has not been an easy one. Despite its sorrows and difficulties,
I have found in my new existence both fulfillment and a larger sense
of purpose."
She said, "The family to which I first pledged my fidelity was in
the confines of a home. Today my loyalty embraces a wider family -
India, my country, whose people have so generously welcomed me to
become one of them."
Gandhi, in fact, said she joined active politics to defeat the
forces threatening the essence of India, though she did not name the
main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party.
"Democracy was making India much more egalitarian, but it was also
giving new power to some old forces - forces that sought to polarize
and mobilize communities along religious lines. They threatened the
very essence of India, the diversity of faiths and cultures,
languages and ways of life that have sprung from its soil and taken
root in it." Gandhi said after recounting how she, an Italian,
became a member of late prime minister Indira Gandhi's family.
"The Congress Party was being buffeted by these currents... It now
found itself in the midst of uncertainty and turmoil. In 1996 it
lost the national elections. Pressure began to build up from a large
number of Congress workers across the country urging me to emerge
from my seclusion and enter public life.
"Could I stand aside and watch as the forces of bigotry continued in
their campaigns to spread division and discord? Could I ignore my
own commitment to the values and principles of the family I had
married into, values and principles for which they lived and died?
Could I betray that legacy and turn away from it? I knew my own
limitations, but I could no longer stand aside. Such were the
circumstances under which the life of politics chose me."
She also answered those who criticize what they term the politics of
dynasty.
"At times people refer to the Nehru-Gandhi 'dynasty'. What this word
fails to signify is two crucial elements: one is the sovereignty of
the people. Through the democratic process, they have repeatedly
vested their expectations in one or another member, and equally on
other occasions, they have chosen to withdraw their support.
"The other essential factor, one that lies at the heart of this
relationship, is not the exercise of power but the affirmation of a
sacred trust. It is this love and faith that imposes its own
responsibility and obligations, that has inspired even a reluctant
politician such as myself to enter the public domain."
Talking about her decision not to accept the post of prime minister
after leading India's grand old party to victory in 2004 elections,
Gandhi said: "I have often been asked why I turned it down. In
trying to explain that choice to my colleagues in the party, I
described it as dictated by my 'inner voice'."
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