archive: Sonia is unfit to become PM, says sis-in-law Maneka
Sonia is unfit to become PM, says sis-in-law Maneka
UNI
Rediff
September 11, 1999
Title: Sonia is unfit to become PM, says sis-in-law Maneka
Author: UNI
Publication: Rediff
Date: September 11, 1999
Union Social Justice Minister Maneka Gandhi today said
Congress president Sonia Gandhi is unfit to be India's
prime minister because she lacks experience.
"It is true that she is a foreigner. But more than that,
she has never done any social work and does not have any
training. We are not born politicians, but you learn,
study, and most important, you feel that something
should be done," Maneka Gandhi, widow of Rajiv Gandhi's
younger brother Sanjay, said in a television programme,
to be aired on Sunday.
On Sonia Gandhi's role as wife of the late prime
minister Rajiv Gandhi, she said: "Did she look at files
or give orders? The wife of an MP does social work in
her constituency. All over the world there is a
tradition of wives of presidents and prime ministers
doing some work, be it planting trees, caring about the
environment or animals. But can anyone talk of anything
that she may have done as wife of the prime minister?"
Admitting that she had benefited from the Gandhi family
name, Maneka said: "There are benefits to a certain
extent since you have connections. One knows who is who.
You know other families and political people. That is
the limit. There are no other benefits."
Sonia Gandhi will also gain from past political
connections. "She has gained, hasn't she? Lots of people
have come, not only from our family. Many children have
joined politics after their parents and many women have
joined politics after their husbands. But they have not
held steady because life gives one chance only and then
you are on your own."
She said life had, however, given Sonia Gandhi many
chances and now she was on her own. It was now up to her
to show what she could do.
Maneka Gandhi said contesting the by-election from
Amethi as Sanjay's widow was a mistake she now wishes
she had never made.
Asked whether she should have contested against Sonia
Gandhi in Bellary and Amethi, she replied: "Had I gone
to Bellary, we would have become objects of mockery.
Right now I am not ready to leave Pilibhit."
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