Sonia-baiters bombard cellphones

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">PATNA: Seems pride of many has been hurt a great deal by the thought of having a person of foreign origin (read Sonia Gandhi) as PM. Ever since the Congress president''s prospects brightened, the cellphones in the city have not stopped beeping, announcing arrival of anti-Sonia messages.<br /><br />Take this: "<span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Ab to khush ho na Hindustani</span>? <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Raaj karegi</span> IMPORTED rani.217 <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">hizdo ne ek videshi ko di kamaan. Ab kabhi na kehna, MERA BHARAT MAHAN</span>." Or take this: "The situation was same when Robert Clive won India for British." Yet another message reads: "<span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Sau crore </span>Hindustani <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">ki ek</span> Italian Rani. Wah Hindustan! <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Kahan gaya tera abhimaan</span>?" And then there are a couple of words in an alien language and the message says, "this is ‘<span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Jai Hind</span>'' in Italian; get used to it".<br /><br />Some recipients felt the messages are being rained as part of BJP''s campaign against Sonia. Said Bihar legislative assembly Speaker Sadanand Singh, "The messages are being circulated by BJP which wants to infect the thoughts of people with its ideas." Sonia, he said, has adopted this country like her own and transformed herself according to the culture and traditions of this country. "People who speak negatively about her are humiliating a woman who belongs to a respectable family," he added.<br /><br />Gandhi Sangrahalaya director Razi Ahmed nods. "It''s disgusting... Speaking ill of a woman who was married and widowed here!" he said.<br /></div> </div><div class="section2"><div class="Normal"><br />Bihar NDA convener Nand Kishore Yadav however, disagrees. While denying that the BJP was behind these messages, he said it is the anger of the general people which is coming out through these messages. "Many are feeling uncomfortable... They cannot think of a foreigner as a prime minister," he said.<br /><br />"What uncomfortable? Sonia is a daughter-in-law of this country and going by our tradition, she belongs to us," said Daisy Narayan, a Patna Women''s College reader.<br /><br />However, there is no dearth of those who are not convinced. "Somewhere it pinches that a woman is becoming PM just by virtue of being married to someone who belonged to a political family. A PM should be someone who is a part of the country and has worked at the grassroots level," said Anunaya Chaubey, College of Arts and Crafts principal.<br /><br />An RJD leader would like Laloo, instead of Sonia, as PM. "But we are helpless. MPs won''t support him," he said, preferring anonymity.</div> </div>