Editorial

A Shining Symbol of Service

Smt. Sonia Gandhi has made history. Never before in the annals of history either in India or elsewhere has anyone given up such high political position as Prime Minister, especially after fighting for it untiringly. She was not born Indian, but she imbibed the essence of Indian Sanskar more than many. Her exemplary act which stunned the world reflected the spirit of the ancient Indian tradition of parityag. In her hour of glory, she chose to decline power and pelf voluntarily honouring her inner voice. For those who kept harping that all that she cared for and wanted was the post of Prime Minister, her abdication was like a thunderbolt. Smt. Gandhi has set a noble standard for politicians who take to politics not for service but for selfish ends. To say she had taken a last-minute decision was to dishonour the truth itself. Throughout her career since she joined politics in 1998, Smt. Gandhi has been making it clear from time to time that her aim was not power, but service to the nation. She has lived up to her words. In doing so she has become shining symbol of integrity and service.

Congress Redeems Its Pledge

The Congress Party has won a historic battle of the ballot. Although every election has its own significance, Lok Sabha election _ 2004 will go down in Indian history as a watershed, a unique event and a do-or-die struggle between forces bent on turning the clock back to medieval times on the one hand and progressive forces representing the true ethos of the nation on the other. For the one billion plus Indians in general and 68 crore voters the confrontation that raged throughout the length and breadth of this vast nation was indeed a dharma yudh. The real issues before the people were clear right from the beginning. While the Congress Party under the spirited leadership of Smt. Sonia Gandhi declared that the fight was between two fundamental principles _ composite culture on one side and partisan path on the other. In every speech she exhorted the voters to make a clear choice. Logging as many as 70,000 km during her innumerable padayatras, Smt. Gandhi placed before the nation her party's agenda which varied both in content and contour from that of the BJP. For her and the Congress Party it was an uphill task _ fighting a band of people obsessed with their own preposterous concepts and convictions.

Under her leadership the party went about campaigning with confidence despite several odds and paucity of funds. They drew their strength from the people who thronged the meetings. The overwhelming response to Smt. Sonia Gandhi's padayatras showed that the people were with her and that they rejected the BJP's vicious campaign against her foreign origin _ which eventually turned out to be the only issue for the saffron brigade. The BJP's over publicized `India Shining' campaign also proved to be a damp squib.

Despite an aggressive multi-media publicity drive, that cost the exchequer hundreds of crores of rupees, and launched with a Titanic fanfare fizzled out due to lack of takers. The `stability' plank the BJP quickly picked up was too fragile to last a whole campaign. Left with no viable issue to face the people, the BJP fell back on its old foreign origin slogan. When this too seemed failing, it opted for a direct one-to-one attack declaring the Lok Sabha _ 2004 election was between Smt. Sonia Gandhi and Atal Behari Vajpayee. The Congress Party and Smt. Sonia Gandhi who believed in action and not reaction continued their campaign on principles that concerned the nation's progress, social and cultural equilibrium, equity and rule of law. Even while campaigning without respite, Smt. Gandhi had made it clear that her objective was not acquiring power for herself. Her aim was to stop the BJP from further damaging the nation and undermining its time-tested values. Recognising the historic necessity for this do-or-die battle she gave a call to all like-minded parties, forces and elements to forge unity to ensure victory of progressive forces.

She went out of her way to forge an alliance in all the four regions of the nation. That was a historic step in the sense that it was for the first time that the Congress Party opted in principle to form a coalition at the Centre. What was equally important was that every non-BJP-NDA party was willing to be an alliance partner. There was of course a few obstacles , but they were minor in nature. When the bell for the election process rang, the political scene in the country was broadly divided into anti-BJP and pro-BJP parties. And as the battle lines were drawn, the ideological demarcation was absolutely clear. The Congress, Left Parties, DMK and others on the one side and the BJP and its NDA allies on the other.

The five-phase voting had given the voters enough time to reflect and vote with conviction. Through this historic verdict, the voters have also conveyed their opinion that like-minded parties should desist from splitting the vote and must work together. This latent message will surely impact on the United Progressive Alliance comprising Congress, Left, DMK, NCP and others. By her sacrifice of PM post, Smt. Gandhi has acquired a high moral stature that she can guide and reshape the Indian political panorama and the destiny of India. In nominating Dr. Manmohan Singh as the leader of the CPP and PM, Smt. Gandhi has taken the right step at the right time, when India's focus is on development, to fulfil the dream of Rajiv Gandhi.

Right Man in Right Job at Right Time

Smt. Sonia Gandhi has made the right choice in nominating Dr. Manmohan Singh as the 13^th Prime Minister of India. While he will be the leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party, Smt. Gandhi will be chairperson of the CPP and Congress Party President. This is an excellent arrangement in which both the party and the government are given adequate attention. As the architect of economic reforms in the Congress government during 1991-96, Dr. Singh restructured the economy to suit the future needs of the nation. It was a great challenge he faced successfully and admirably. His first task was to quickly set the economy in order to avert bankruptcy. Left with foreign exchange reserves for just two weeks, Dr. Singh had to virtually perform a miracle to save the nation from being embarrassed in the comity of nations. He did it and never looked back. Today too, he faces an equally difficult and complicated task of again setting the economy in order and fine tuning the policies of the United Progressive Alliance partners and at the same time ensure justice to the neglected sectors. The Common Minimum Programme formulated by the UPA has already set the line of action. Within the parameters set by the CMP, Dr. Singh can be safely expected to steer the ship of Indian economy towards the targets set by the UPA. Given the commandership among the UPA partners and their collective and individual commitment to the people, success of the first-ever coalition of non-BJP parties at the Centre is guaranteed.