Australian Radio Journalist John MacLithon on Sonia Gandhi-

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Sonia GandhiSonia Gandhi and the hidden trail



By John MacLithon

22 Dec 2010

The Indian media has begun even doubting Manmohan SinghManmohan Singh’s integrity — mental, at least — as he must have been knowing for nearly two years that the Indian exchequer was defrauded of `1.76 lakh crores. But so far, Sonia Gandhi has been spared.



Yet, if you are an observer of Indian politics, as I have been, since I landed back in India in the early ’Sixties, you have to come to the conclusion that most of the funds of scams end up in the coffers of political parties, particularly of the Congress.



Today the DMK is taking the brunt of the blame, but actually political parties have been forced to follow suit after the grand old party of India’s independence, began using percentages allotted by foreign companies on mega deals, military and otherwise, to secretly fund its election campaigns and give freebies to poor villagers. Of course, Bofors was the first one of the big scams to be uncovered.



I remember in the mid-Eighties a Swiss radio colleague of mine from Radio Suisse Romande, telling me that Amitabh BachchanAmitabh Bachchan’s brother, Ajitabh, (when the Bachchan family was still close to the Gandhis), was one of the first safe keepers of the kickbacks of the Swedish canon makers. Exposes of Swedish newspaper, Dagens Nhyeter further confirmed it, though Ajitabh went to court against them.



There is no doubt, further says my Swiss friend, that part of the Bofors money is still in Switzerland. Indeed, we are all waiting for the Swiss banks to reveal (under US pressure) the names of all the dictators, thieves, dishonest rulers of so many countries in the world, who have stashed their ill-gotten money in UBS bank or Credit Suisse.



Meanwhile, all roads seem to lead to Sonia Gandhi: she is the first Lady of India, although she is a simple MP like hundreds of others, the ultimate arbiter, and nothing of importance is decided without her caveat. The immense power she wields within the Congress cannot be only due to her charisma, of her having the Gandhi name or having brought cohesion in the Congress.



It is also, and perhaps mainly, because she holds the purse strings of tremendous amounts of money. These party funds are overt: all the foundations, Rajiv, Indira, Nehru, etc, which store thousands of crores; and covert, starting with the Bofors scam. Where are the secret bank accounts where the scam money is stored? Under whose names are they operated? How is the money brought back to India? Who will answer all these questions?



We know that Quattrochi, the man who could have spilt the beans, was shamelessly let off the hook, not only by the CBI which today is conducting — two years late — the investigation on the 2G scam, but also by the then law minister who is today the governor who pretends to be after corruption in Karnataka! Not only was Quattrochi

spared, but was allowed to take the money he had looted from India and which was frozen in British banks, so that he would not talk.

Will Raja talk, if he is arrested, as it is rumoured? Surely he knows a lot of secrets,as some of the 2G, Adarsh CWG money, and other unknown scams, must also have gone into the Congress coffers. That is the question that the Congress leadership should debate instead of going after ‘Hindu terror’, a misnomer if there is one.



If you look at statistics for the last 1,000 years, it is Hindus who have been at the receiving end of terror — millions of them have died, including in Kashmir in the late ’Eighties, when Benazir BhuttoBenazir Bhutto launched her ‘AzadAzad Kashmir’ movement (I was there).



Yet Sonia Gandhi remains a mystery for many of us, even for me who has known her for a long time.



I found her quite likable when she was just Rajiv GandhiRajiv Gandhi’s (the pilot) spouse, a loving wife, who had adopted the Indian way of life; a good daughter -in-law: Indira GandhiIndira Gandhi died on her lap on the way to the hospital, after being shot by her Sikh bodyguards; and more than everything, a good mother, who doted on her children and tried all her life to protect them.



I then knew that she had kept her Italian passport, even after taking the Indian nationality (India does not allow you to hold two passports), but I have met quite a few foreigners in Delhi who also retained their origin passports after having obtained the Indian one.



I myself toyed for some time with the idea of taking the Indian nationality, as I speak Hindi quite fluently, but it is too difficult to travel with an Indian passport. I do not mind also her remaining a Christian: after all, I am still one myself. Indeed, one of my Italian journalist friends told me that he prayed with her, along with Rajiv Gandhi, at a mass in Calicut with the bishop officiating — that is her private business.



But after her husband was blown to pieces by the LTTE, I observed a drastic change in her: she did not seem to trust anybody anymore, became aloof and suspicious. I also watched with dismay how the Congress leaders, some of them men and women of substance, whom I knew personally, applied pressure on her to enter politics for years.



Furthermore, I thought that in her fortress of Janpath, surrounded twenty-four hours by security, she gradually lost touch with the reality of India. Despite the fact that I met her a few times after Rajiv’s death, I thus took discreetly my distances with her. It is then that I came up with my famous phrase on Sonia, for which she never forgave me:
“the moribund and leaderless Congress party has latched on to Sonia Gandhi who is Italian by birth and Roman Catholic by baptism”.


Australian Radio Journalist John MacLithon on Sonia Gandhi- now and then[/img]
 

prithvi.k

on off on off......
Re: Australian Radio Journalist John MacLithon on Sonia Gand

Sonia GandhiSonia Gandhi and the hidden trail

The Indian media has begun even doubting Manmohan SinghManmohan Singh’s integrity — mental, at least — as he must have been knowing for nearly two years that the Indian exchequer was defrauded of `1.76 lakh crores. But so far, Sonia Gandhi has been spared.

Yet, if you are an observer of Indian politics, as I have been, since I landed back in India in the early ’Sixties, you have to come to the conclusion that most of the funds of scams end up in the coffers of political parties, particularly of the Congress

Furthermore, I thought that in her fortress of Janpath, surrounded twenty-four hours by security, she gradually lost touch with the reality of India. Despite the fact that I met her a few times after Rajiv’s death, I thus took discreetly my distances with her. It is then that I came up with my famous phrase on Sonia, for which she never forgave me:
“the moribund and leaderless Congress party has latched on to Sonia Gandhi who is Italian by birth and Roman Catholic by baptism”.


Australian Radio Journalist John MacLithon on Sonia Gandhi- now and then


Nice share... thanks

now something from my side---

Why Sonia declined the PM position.
The REAL STORY...

The President (APJ Abdul Kalam) is said to have informed her that according to Section 5 of the Citizenship Act of 1955, she has no right to assume the office of the Prime Minister of India and that he was seeking the advice of the Supreme Court on this issue. Section 5 of the Citizenship Act of 1955 clearly says the rights and privileges allowed to foreigners who become citizens by application (not by birth) will only be those as are granted to Indians in the country of the concerned person's origin (in this case Italy). Which means that since an Indian cannot be the PM of Italy, even if he is granted Italian citizenship, then Indian law says that an Italian who is granted Indian citizenship cannot be PM of India. Period. The Citizenship Act, 1955 The President reportedly told Sonia that he had to ascertain the legal position in this matter as there was no confirmation that all the rights and privileges granted to persons of Italian origin are reciprocated by Italy in the case of Indians who become citizens of that country.
Sonia is said to have decided not to take the risk after the President's briefing. It should also be noted that the President, in his letter, invited her only to discuss assuming the post of Prime Minister, and not to assume office.

That was the reason why Sonia made such a "huge sacrifice" after "listening to her inner voice." or the voice of APJ Abdul Kalam ......

And may be because of this they (congress) not choosen/voted Mr abdul kalam again as President of india..and that bhudi dumb Pratibha Patil who help her murderer brother has been maded president by congress

<<<On June 22, 2007, Rajni Patil, a professor of Marathi in a Jalgaon college, and the widow of murdered Jalgaon congressman Vishram G Patil in an NDA facilitated press conference claimed that her husband was murdered by Pratibha Patil's brother G. N.Patil. She accused Pratibha Patil of shielding her brother. She further said that she had written to Sonia Gandhi and President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam giving details about the allegation.
On 13 July, 2007 Rajani Patil moved the Bombay High Court demanding that the CBI "interrogate" UPA's presidential candidate Pratibha Patil and her brother in connection with the case before the presidential poll.Rajni Patil's petition stated that the CBI, which was directed by the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court to probe the case in February, must question Pratibha before July 19, the date for the presidential election because she might get "presidential immunity" if she wins the poll.>>>
 
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