Sonia Gandhi, the Real Mother India?

The expression 'Mother India' takes me back to the year 1957, although I was not born then. However, I had been hearing good old elders praising the movie for its touching narration of a strong story and above all a transfixing performance by Narghese Dutt as the lead in the movie. The movie did not fail the words of those men either, when I got to enjoy it almost a quarter of a century after its release. Anyone that saw the movie will absolutely not equivocate on one thing about it - the portrayal of Radha - played by Narghese - as Mother India; honestly, Narghese flows like an epic over an equally radiant narration.

Why Radha was deemed the epitome of Indian motherhood? Was it for the reason Radha had, braving the telling absence of her husband, toiled in the parched Indian fields to raise her kids? Was it for her enduring tragedies such has her husband's leaving them succumbing to the villagers' humiliation or the death of her youngest child in a storm that swept through the village? Was it for her leadership qualities which is evident in her exhorting the villagers starting to migrate after disrupted and disillusioned by the storm, back to the ways of withstanding and rebuilding? Or was it the ultimate sacrifice of executing an estranged son - role donned by Sunil Dutt - that had turned out to be a threat for the village?

What ever it be, the typical member of the Indian proletariat, who saw the ideal leader for them in anything or anyone that seemed excellent in certain domains - this trend is particularly intense in the South India - has always tend to be searching for that incarnation of the divine mother-figure, he had been hearing and reading about from the time of his birth. It is also worth reckoning that his search for the paragon of motherhood has progressed through epic characters such as Sita and Shakthi (unfortunately not through Draupadi - may be for the stigma of being polyandrous), political figures of yester-years such as Sarojini Naidu and Indira Gandhi to the ideal females of the recent times.

For the covetous position of the ideal Mother India, we have a few dignified and distinguished mothers of the country as contenders. For convenience let me zero in on Sushma Swaraj, the leader of the BJP, J. Jayalalitha the AIADMK premier, Brinda Karat, the feisty comrade of the CPI-M revolutionaries, Matha Amrinthanandamayi, the Godwoman and Sonia Gandhi, the final word in the Congress Party of India.

Among the lot, let us first rate the Godwoman, who is a prominent figure in the South Indian states with many hermitages in a number of locations across the world as well. Her popularity is so profound that a good part of the population of Kerala addresses her 'Amma'. The admirers of Matha Amrithanandamayi in the state even include a significant number of politicians operating in the state. She is obviously a strong contender for the enviable status with her vast charity network and other institutions of virtue. However, the facts that she had started from some sort of gimmickry that more looked like a fit of hysteria, which curiously attracted a number of people with specific requirements to her, with a view to meeting those and her not going through any considerable difficulties for proving her endurance have stood against her possibilities.

Matha Amrithanandamayi undoubtedly deserves a pat on her back for using the massive funds acquired by her - mainly through donations - for charity purposes such as building houses for victims of natural calamities, while many others of the kind have misused the favours extended to them by destiny to end up in grave troubles.

Brinda Karat is certainly one of the most respectable female exponents of the Indian political scenario, with her domain, to a great extent, limiting to West Bengal and Kerala. She did score some points by deciding to take the bull of ambiguity by its horns when she drew battle lines with the Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev alleging that the latter's Ayurvedic formulations contained traces of animal and human remains. In the end the politician typically lost the battle when it came to facing the decisive elections, for which they were required to go through an appeasing all campaign. Karat who has the looks of a Hollywood heroine, but somewhere tends to lack the quality of self-determination. She cannot be blamed here for she along with all other comrades of that system is stringently bound to the system, where questioning it can be equated with nothing less than blasphemy.

And Karat would definitely be the last woman to choose the path of a renegade. Moreover, Karat too has not gone through phases of considerable difficulties as some other Communist activists such as K R Gowriamma of Kerala had gone through. It is worth pondering over those famous words of Gowriamma that if a woman could be impregnated using lathis of the Police personnal, she would have delivered numerous lathi-babies. Finally, the spokesperson of a system that looks forward to subverting the whole governing system of the Union of India - starting from the very name of the country and the flag and emblem of it, to its people's living ways - should unfortunately fall short of the coveted destination.

Another Amma of the South, to be precise, for a large section of people of Tamil Nadu - no...not for Karunanidhi's DMK caders - J. Jayalalitha as well has not had much hardships to face on her way to the zenith of her political career. This Amma that was given a clean mandate by the people of Tamil Nadu overlooking Karunanidhi, a decade and a half back, was seen largely dissipating the initiative by foraying to the areas of appropriation of materials of earthly delight. Besides, there are great numbers of people in the country that think she maintains disproportionate greed when it came to the corridors of power.

If Jayalalitha cut a gaudy figure with the way she presented herself before the commoner, Sushma Swaraj with her flowers, sindoor and silk sari package cuts the impression of an upper middle-class mother. With Swaraj one does not expect the intellectual flare or the hidden volcano one might anticipate with Karat or Jayalalitha (respectively). Instead, we have here a cheerful personality that is very much bound to the subtle yet conspicuous disciplinary codes that rule BJP. Her greatest achievement is obviously her overtaking a host of senior and big-time leaders to emerge as the parliamentary party leader of the BJP. This is not at all a trivial point as she could be the future prime minister if BJP gets the people's mandate and more importantly if she wins the final group battle within her party.

Nevertheless, in spite of her assuming the post of the parliamentary party leader of BJP, she has not yet proved anything significantly to have a cakewalk to the throne of Mother India. Moreover, some of her hasty, premature and irresponsible acts such as the dramatic chasing of Sonia Gandhi to the constituency that she had chosen, bragging of her upper hand over her rival and finally boasting that she would defeat the Big Bahu at any constituency in the country emphatically speak against the lady's claims for the revered status.

On the other hand, Sonia Gandhi, the president of the Congress Party of India would had never expected her to be in such a position where she is at present, a couple of decades back. In fact, there were many sceptics in this part of the world that did not expect Sonia Gandhi to take the institution of marriage as seriously as it turned out later. It came as a pleasant surprise as she continued to adhere to her bond with the country's folkways dedicatedly even after the tragic demise of her husband. It is worth mentioning here that one cannot link extreme ambitiousness with a couple that waited in the queue in a famous New Delhi hospital for an appointment with the doctor, in spite of the fact that the couple were all about the then Prime Minister's son and daughter in law.

Furthermore, Sonia Gandhi's political desires were apparent when she rejected the reigns of the Congress Party and almost shunned politics from the lives of even her children following her husband's death. The most touching act came from the part of the Indian voter that wholeheartedly welcomed back someone from the Gandhi family after a long hiatus by giving her a chance to rule the country. Abnegating the chair of the Prime Minster for Dr Manmohan Singh only added to her sheen, to defile which the opposing parties including CPI M and BJP had synergistically pushed forward the foreign origin issue. Although, a good part of the population had fallen to the persistent carping form the Swaraj mothers initially, think their followers are falling like tenpins as Sonia was found to be sailing well clear of their main cause of apprehension - Sonia would tie India at the stables of Italy.

One of the striking features of the Sonia regime is the quick decision making. If the first tenure saw Congress Party being seriously intimidated by their allies - whatever is shown as the reason, Sonia can never repudiate the allegations such as the 2G spectrum auction controversy - Congress has been showing greater hold over things in the second episode. This is more than evident from the country raking in almost Rs 40000 crores from the 3G spectrum auction, the quick resignation by the chief minister of Maharashtra and his deputy in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror incident, and even a similar act from Shashi Tharoor following allegations pointing to the misuse of the ministerial post. And the most coruscating achievement of Sonia Gandhi is undoubtedly the implementation of the women's reservation legislation.

That says Sonia Gandhi has endured hardships more than any other in the group has, she has shown great resilience, an ascetic's life-style and perseverance in pushing ahead with a task. Sonia Gandhi has obviously scored heavily in the preliminary rounds although the real test for her austerity and sense of justice is yet to come. This refers to a political condition that is very much likely to evolve out in the future when the Congress Party single-handedly wins the people's mandate to form a government that cannot be blackmailed by the regional parties. This will be the real test for her when people will be curiously waiting to compare her with her mother-in-law, the remorseless post emergency Indira Gandhi. Coming out successful in this final test that would be a test for her longanimity as well, would make Sonia absolutely eligible for the throne of Mother India, which aptly suited Radha, the character played by Narghese in the milestone movie.

If the last frame of the movie showed Radha ceremoniously opening a canal to let red water rush in, today a substantial part of the country's population is viewing Sonia as the person that can open the floodgates of welfare for them.