How would you feel if a foreign-born became head of state/govt in your country?

[Memnoch]

SOme of the more worldly among you may have been aware that the overwhelming victory of Sonia Gandhi's political party in the recent elections in India mean that very soon the world's largest democracy may have a foreign born, ethnically different person as their Prime Minister. For those who don't know, Sonia Gandhi is Italian-born, and she moved to India 40 years ago as the bride of former Indian PM Rajiv Gandhi, son of another former Indian PM, Indira Gandhi, of the Gandhi political dynasty in India. Both Indira and Rajiv were assassinated in the 80s and 90s respectively, and now Sonia appears to be the next Gandhi to take up the mantle of head of government, largely on the poor vote (which is a hell of a lot of people in India).

This has thrown India into considerable turmoil, because it seems almost certain that their next PM will be an Italian woman (albeit naturalised as an Indian in 1983). This is akin to Arnold Schwarzenegger becoming US President, or a foreign born MP becoming Prime Minister of Britain, or maybe an Arab Muslim becoming head of state in a European country. There are murmurs that only an Indian born and blooded should head India. The following article illustrates the common feeling among educated Indians:

Why Signora Sonia as PM? TAVLEEN SINGH You can count on the fingers of one hand columnists who have openly objected to India having an Italian prime minister. As one of them, may I make it clear that in my view the ascent of Sonia Gandhi is a matter of deep shame and not a tribute to our supposedly vibrant democracy. I am not the only Indian who feels this way. Those who believe that the question of her foreign origin is now a thing of the past are quite wrong. The questions will only now begin. There have been attempts by some of my more sycophantic colleagues in the media to portray Sonia¡¯s victory as a massive mandate for the return of the Gandhi dynasty but the truth is that if Congress had not won those 29 seats in Andhra Pradesh it would have not got many more seats than the 114 it got last time. Indian newspapers are replete with hacks of ¡®¡®secular¡¯¡¯ persuasion who have not stopped gushing about Rahul Gandhi¡¯s ¡®¡®youthful sincerity¡¯¡¯ and Priyanka Vadra¡¯s ¡®¡®gorgeous looks¡¯¡¯ and concluded that it was this dazzling combination that made the difference. One of our financial newspapers passed this off as political analysis. ¡®¡®The gerontocracy did not stand a chance. Charisma works absolutely. Mix it with a liberal dose of Rahul Gandhi¡¯s youthful sincerity and Priyanka Gandhi¡¯s gorgeous, fetching looks, and the choice was unambiguous.¡¯¡¯ Alas, if you analyse the results in less obsequious mode you discover that the Gandhi children did not make much difference even in the four Hindi belt states. Congress won nine seats in Uttar Pradesh, one in Bihar, four in Madhya Pradesh and four in Rajasthan. Not exactly a massive mandate but you would not know it from reading editorials in the Indian newspapers last week. Kowtowing, a timeless feature of the Gandhi durbar, has returned with such sickening speed that a leading Hindi newspaper had a front page editorial saying Rahul Gandhi was the sort of person India needs in public life because he is ¡®¡®polite¡¯¡¯. Personally, I have no objection to Mr Gandhi and Mrs Vadra. They are Indian and as entitled as any other son or daughter of a politician to inherit Daddy¡¯s jagir. My problem is that as an Indian it offends me to be represented by an Italian woman. It arouses in me the worst kind of chauvinistic nationalism and there are millions of Indians who feel as I do and who believe that if Sonia had even minimum respect (forget love) for India she would not have humiliated us by putting herself forward as prime minister. With even former prime ministers like Chandrashekhar and V P Singh assuring her that she is completely acceptable and surrounded as she is by a durbar, she may not notice in the euphoria of becoming prime minister of the world¡¯s largest democracy that the reaction to her victory has mostly been shock. Even people who voted Congress now say they would not have done if they had known she had half a chance of becoming prime minister. More dangerous still are the murmurings that you already hear from Hindutva nationalists. On the day of the election results, I happened to travel on a flight with a leading light of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. When I asked how he reacted to India having an Italian prime minister he spat out the word democracy as if it was poison. ¡®¡®This is what comes when you give illiterate, desperately poor people the vote.¡¯¡¯ And, from Pravin Togadia we already hear that it is because the BJP moved away from its Hindu nationalism that it was defeated. Those who think having Sonia as prime minister is insurance against the sort of ugly nationalism that men like Togadia represent need to think again. When the backlash begins, and it will not take long, you will see violent nationalism of a kind we have never seen before. Already, people have started talking about how embarrassed they are that when talks are next held with Pakistan (somehow Pakistan gets mentioned more than China) India will be represented by Signora Sonia. She can wear saris, tie puja threads on her wrist and plaster her forehead with tika but as India¡¯s prime minister what will stand out more than ever before is her foreignness. Her presence in Indian politics is dangerously divisive. During the campaign, wherever I travelled I asked people if they objected to having an Italian prime minister and everywhere there was a division on this issue, so inflammatory that the question would invariably provoke a shouting match. Those who said it was Indian tradition for a bahu to consider her husband¡¯s country her own usually lost to those who shouted them down for being sycophants and traitors. The divisions will grow, not lessen, with every decision she makes as Prime Minister because whatever she does will be questioned. Doubts about her motives and loyalties will become particularly unpleasant if there is a crisis like the Kargil war. But, even peace time decisions will be doubted and a wiser woman, less surrounded by courtiers, would have seen this a long time ago. But, here she is now. India¡¯s first Italian prime minister exalted to this position by Marxists who have always put India after internationalism. Please remember that they found the Indian freedom movement distasteful because it was not in keeping with the internationalism of their revolution. They have a truly international prime minister now but should remember ¡ª as should the others who support her government ¡ª that history is unlikely to forgive them for humiliating India in this way. As for me, for the first time in my life I feel ashamed to be Indian. http://www.indianexpress.com/full_st...ntent_id=47036

What I want to know is: how would YOU feel if your country was put in the same situation, with a foreign born, but naturalised, head of state/government? Would you accept it? Or would there be that little part of you inside that says, it would never happen in your country?

[johnny]

If he/she is fair, i see no problems with it.

[Timber Loftis]

ARNIE FOR PRESIDENT!!!! [img]graemlins/heee.gif[/img]

(I mean it.)

[Memnoch]

Really? What if you had a former American Army General who used to be in charge of NATO's Strategic Nuclear Forces, naturalised as a Dutchman, become your head of state, Johnny? Could you accept it? You wouldn't be unhappy at all?

[johnny]

Originally posted by Memnoch: Really? What if you had a former American Army General who used to be in charge of NATO's Strategic Nuclear Forces, naturalised as a Dutchman, become your head of state, Johnny? Could you accept it? You wouldn't be unhappy at all?

Like i said, if he's better for the job than anyone else at that time, why not give it a shot ? Why would i object, because he's not Dutch ?

[Memnoch]

No worries, I just wanted to know, because a lot of my Indian friends said the same thing earlier - but now that Sonia Maino Gandhi is about to become PM, they're all backtracking...

[johnny]

Originally posted by Memnoch: No worries, I just wanted to know, because a lot of my Indian friends said the same thing earlier - but now that Sonia Maino Gandhi is about to become PM, they're all backtracking...

Yeah, i read about that. Personally i don't see what the problem would be. If the person in question doesn't have a questionable background, it's fine with me. So an Idi Amin-like character would be out of the question, but any other honest and capable Ugandan.... why not ?

That's just an example of course, and i doubt i speak for the whole nation, but i honestly wouldn't know why someone like that couldn't do a decent job.

[Donut]

There is no ban on people born in foreign countries from becoming Prime Minister. Half the bloody cabinet aren't English!!!

[Memnoch]

Donut, that's an interesting point. I checked up on the British "Quasi-Constitution" (interesting since you lot apparently don't have one) and apparently the only qualification you need to vote or hold public office in Britain is to be a citizen of the Commonwealth. So conceivably you could have an OZ running your show.

In any case, I'm not talking about whether people are LEGALLY ENTITLED to become PM or not. I am asking you HOW YOU WOULD FEEL if a foreign born politician became your head of state. So quit beating around the bush and tell me straight, you snapperheads. Start with "I would feel..."

[ 05-17-2004, 10:46 AM: Message edited by: Memnoch ]

[Donut]

it depends on who it was. The fact that he was born abroad irrelevant to me Just because you are born in a stable ot don't make you a donkey.

What about Australia - is wellard baned?