Rediff On The NeT - 1999

Kanchan Gupta on Sonia's eligibility for prime minister: "Where was Sonia when India was at war? And after Mrs Gandhi lost in 1977?"

Launching the Rediff Diary: "Any column that challenges or supports Rajiv Gandhi's widow is greeted by an avalanche of reader comment. Almost all of them are appalled that a foreigner could lead a country of a billion people soon. Most of them respond the way V S Naipaul did when I asked him what he thought of Sonia becoming prime minister. 'India is not an Italian village!' Sir Vidia growled on his last visit to India, clearly aghast at the possibility.

Sardar put the BJP's Sushma Swaraj in a spot, asking her if the BJP was against Sonia only because she was a woman and whether her party would accept his son, if he was born and brought up in the US, returning to India to become prime minister. Swaraj sputtered, and her unconvincing responses gave the BJP's game away and carried the audience Sonia's way. "

Sonia=Indian?: "The British captured Bengal in 1757 with abundant help from the Hindus. As all military historians know, the Battle of Plassey was hardly a battle, and British collaborators, who made possible the defeat of the Bengal nawab, included the well-known Hindus of Bengal."