Sonia Gandhi Woos Hindus in India's Political Battle
January 28, 1999 - 0:0
NEW DELHI Indian opposition leader Sonia Gandhi is shedding her Roman Catholic past and stressing Hindu values as she battles the country's ruling Hindu nationalists. The Italian-born widow of former premier Rajiv Gandhi is increasingly wooing the majority community after cultivating minorities over the past year in a bid to undermine the Hindu nationalists. Analysts say gandhi, 52, is desperate to broaden her personal appeal by showing she is just as comfortable with India's Hindu traditions as with its secular ones.
Gandhi's Congress Party, which has traditionally kept religion and politics apart, surprised observers about 10 days ago by attributing India's secular tradition to its vast Hindu majority. The move concerned some who saw a possible compromise with the narrow sectarian agenda pursued by the Congress' arch foes in Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, Indian People's Party). But unlike the nationalists, the Congress highlighted the eclectic face of Hinduism and its history of tolerance towards other faiths.
Two days before the congress passed its resolution, Gandhi accused the plethora of right-wing groups allied to the BJP of distorting Hinduism and fomenting sectarianism. And last week Gandhi travelled to a region ruled by a Hindu militant party and lashed out at Hindu zealots, branding them merchants of poison and hatred. Meanwhile, a Congress leader let it be known last week that Gandhi who led her party to a sweeping victory in key state elections only in November was no longer a practising Christian. Recent newspaper reports have even suggested that Gandhi, who is planning high-profile visits to well-known Hindu temples, could be a Hindu because of her marriage to Rajiv Gandhi. Gandhi's flirtation with Hinduism has not gone unnoticed.
A Congress Party strategist said she was trying to overcome years of propaganda that had painted her as a Catholic foreigner unsuitable to govern India. It is important for Sonia Gandhi to be seen by the majority as someone who is at home with the Hindu religion and philosophy, whether or not she is a Hindu by law, the strategist said.
Others see Gandhi's moves as a clear attempt to deny the Hindu nationalists their monopolistic claim over the Hindu majority a factor which has helped them grow rapidly in recent years. The (Congress) Party's latest stand suggests that it is finally finding its feet, the Hindustan Times said. The mass-circulation newspaper complimented the Congress India's oldest party for asserting that India's Hindu heritage constitutes the basis of the country's multi-cultural ethos.
In the recent past the party appeared to have forgotten the fundamentals of this policy. India Today magazine added: By stressing Hindu values, the Congress president is enhancing both personal acceptability and party appeal. Gandhi, who became an Indian citizen in 1986, took to active politics only last year. She became the Congress president in April, a month after Vajpayee became prime minister.
Gandhi wears Indian clothes and speaks Hindi, the country's main language. Two years ago she organized her daughter's marriage according to Hindu religious rites. And in September 1997, at the funeral of Mother Teresa in Calcutta, Gandhi quietly moved away from the front row of VIP mourners when a Roman Catholic priest came to give communion. (AFP)
Gandhi's Congress Party, which has traditionally kept religion and politics apart, surprised observers about 10 days ago by attributing India's secular tradition to its vast Hindu majority. The move concerned some who saw a possible compromise with the narrow sectarian agenda pursued by the Congress' arch foes in Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, Indian People's Party). But unlike the nationalists, the Congress highlighted the eclectic face of Hinduism and its history of tolerance towards other faiths.
Two days before the congress passed its resolution, Gandhi accused the plethora of right-wing groups allied to the BJP of distorting Hinduism and fomenting sectarianism. And last week Gandhi travelled to a region ruled by a Hindu militant party and lashed out at Hindu zealots, branding them merchants of poison and hatred. Meanwhile, a Congress leader let it be known last week that Gandhi who led her party to a sweeping victory in key state elections only in November was no longer a practising Christian. Recent newspaper reports have even suggested that Gandhi, who is planning high-profile visits to well-known Hindu temples, could be a Hindu because of her marriage to Rajiv Gandhi. Gandhi's flirtation with Hinduism has not gone unnoticed.
A Congress Party strategist said she was trying to overcome years of propaganda that had painted her as a Catholic foreigner unsuitable to govern India. It is important for Sonia Gandhi to be seen by the majority as someone who is at home with the Hindu religion and philosophy, whether or not she is a Hindu by law, the strategist said.
Others see Gandhi's moves as a clear attempt to deny the Hindu nationalists their monopolistic claim over the Hindu majority a factor which has helped them grow rapidly in recent years. The (Congress) Party's latest stand suggests that it is finally finding its feet, the Hindustan Times said. The mass-circulation newspaper complimented the Congress India's oldest party for asserting that India's Hindu heritage constitutes the basis of the country's multi-cultural ethos.
In the recent past the party appeared to have forgotten the fundamentals of this policy. India Today magazine added: By stressing Hindu values, the Congress president is enhancing both personal acceptability and party appeal. Gandhi, who became an Indian citizen in 1986, took to active politics only last year. She became the Congress president in April, a month after Vajpayee became prime minister.
Gandhi wears Indian clothes and speaks Hindi, the country's main language. Two years ago she organized her daughter's marriage according to Hindu religious rites. And in September 1997, at the funeral of Mother Teresa in Calcutta, Gandhi quietly moved away from the front row of VIP mourners when a Roman Catholic priest came to give communion. (AFP)