Opinion: Jayalalithaa must brush up her history

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s mentor MGR, an idol for millions of Tamils, was a Sri Lankan. Before raking up Sonia Gandhi’s nationality, Jayalalithaa and deputy prime minister L K Advani would have done well by brushing up on some history. It’s all the more important for Advani, given his hurry to become the prime minister.
Before going into the issue of Congress leadership, it is interesting to have a look at Indians who ruled foreign countries.Cheddi Jagan was the PM of Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago is being ruled by Basdeo Pandey, in Mauritius it was Seewoosagur Ramgoolam. Singapore’s president was Dewan Nair. Manmohan Adikhari was the premier of Nepal. Mahendra Chowdhury presided over Fiji.
The common thread running through them is Indianness. South Africa had five prime ministers of Indian origin. Mahatma Gandhi launched a struggle against apartheid in South Africa before returning home. V K Krishna Menon contested for the British parliament.
Sonia Gandhi is not the first person of foreign origin to serve as Congress president. There were others like George Yule, Sir William Wedderburn, Alfred Webb, Sir Henry Cotton, Annie Besant and Nelli Sengupta.
Politics apart, we are indebted to these foreigners for their invaluable contribution to our society. There was no other motivation for them except for a love for this country and a desire to do something for Indians. If they wanted to serve the people here, Indians at different periods of time served people elsewhere.
Four years after giving her letter of support to a Congress-led government, Jayalalithaa suddenly realises Sonia Gandhi is an Italian, so she is not eligible for the prime minister’s post. Has she forgotten the day when she could not attend Sonia Gandhi’s public meeting in Tamil Nadu as she was caught in a traffic jam?
Then she indulges in a lot of doublespeak. If it is for help to crawl out of her court cases she could have done it more honourably than subject herself to blackmail by Advani. He has to come clear on why he had been blackmailing Jayalalithaa to rake up Sonia Gandhi’s nationality. The chief minister has to tell her people with what she was threatened with.
The BJP’s frustrations are reaching ridiculous heights as the Congress continues to gain strength. And this is surprising as in 1997, Advani claimed that the Congress was losing base and felt sorry as he wanted to see the Congress stronger with the BJP at the other end of the political spectrum.
Now with the Congress emerging stronger, can’t he wait for his day to become the prime minister instead of blackmailing a woman? Advani and Jayalalithaa are not only damaging their own credibility, but are abusing the entire polity.