Sonia’s UN address invites Indian protest

Sonia’s UN address invites Indian protest

Report by Narain Kataria

Under the banner of the Forum for Gandhi Heritage (“Forum”), a very powerful protest demonstration was successfully mounted in front of the United Nations in New York on October 2 by more than 400 passionate activists representing the Mahatma Gandhi International Foundation, the Indian American Intellectuals Forum, the Indo Caribbean Council, the Kashmiri Task Force, the Brahmin Samaj, and many other Indian community organisations.

The demonstration was organised to vocalise outrage and dismay at the nomination/selection/imposition of Mrs. Sonia Gandhi to deliver a speech at the United Nations as a representative of India. The spokesperson of the Forum, Dr. Naresh Sharma, and Satya Dosapati, one of the organisers said: “While we unanimously commend the declaration of Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday as International Non-Violence Day by United Nations at India’s request, we highly condemn the usurpation of this historic occasion by an unqualified politician (Sonia Gandhi) whose ethics, policies, programmes and values are the antithesis of everything that the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi stood for.”

In a booklet circulated widely to the public and press, the Forum argued that Mahatma Gandhi’s life represented truth, tolerance, non-violence, purity and resistance to injustice, while that of Sonia Gandhi (no relation to the Mahatma Gandhi) is riddled with lies, intrigue, scams, scandals, vindictiveness, corruption, and pro-terrorists policies. Sonia Gandhi has shown blatant disrespect for revered Hindu religious figures, encouraged falsification of India’s history, tacitly supported conversion of Hindus to Christianity by foreign missionaries through misrepresentation and money power, abetted the potential destruction of Ram Sethu, and smuggled Indian artifacts out of India, among other misdeeds.

The Forum states: “We firmly believe that this demeaning strategy is motivated by an underhanded and conniving mind to gain international legitimacy and political control of Indian governance, using the name of a world revered Indian (and global) icon—Mahatma Gandhi. The fact is that Sonia Gandhi has no relationship whatsoever, either by blood, or by ideals and deeds with the revered Father of the Nation of India. People, who do not know, here in the USA, at the United Nations and in the rest of the World will assume that Sonia Gandhi is a relative of Mahatma Gandhi. We want to demolish this myth forever and let everyone know that Sonia Gandhi has nothing to do with Mahatma Gandhi. She is an inappropriate person to represent Mahatma Gandhi at the U.N. She has deceitfully planned to hoodwink this august body and hijack this momentous juncture in the history of the United Nations.

When people from many community organisations in America who are admirers of Mahatma Gandhi heard that Sonia Gandhi was coming to New York to speak at the U.N., there was a spontaneous outpouring of disapproval and disenchantment. The people felt that a fraud was being perpetrated on the world stage. They decided not to take things lying down. In spite of their busy schedules, dozens of volunteers decided to take off from their office/business to express their disgust and resentment of the antics of the spurious Gandhi.

Even the organisers of the protest could not fathom the simmering discontent that took an explosive turn on October 2 as it brought in people from as far away as Atlanta, Chicago, Florida, Arizona and Boston to the protest meeting in front of the UN.

The demonstrators carried banners depicting: “Down with Sonia Gandhi”, “Sonia Gandhi Go Back”, “Sonia - Do Not Spread Communalism in India”. In addition to the demonstration, a fast was undertaken on October 1 and 2 from 10:00 a.m. to 06:00 p.m. by more than 30 persons at the statue of Mahatma Gandhi near Union Square.

In a full page advertisement in The New York Times, dated October 6, the Forum blamed Sonia Gandhi for her involvement in the UN Oil for Food Scam, offending sensibilities of 900 million Hindus by trying to blowing up Rama Sethu, an ancient Hindu heritage monument, and instigating anti-Sikh riots that burnt alive 3,000 Sikhs.