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

[John D Harris]

Originally posted by johnny: quote: Originally posted by John D Harris: In it's current form the U.S. Constitution forbids Forgein borns, from being the President. Unless there is a legal change to the U.S.Constitution It wouldn't bother me at all if a forgein born was President, because I'd be dead, my side having lost the war. [img]smile.gif[/img]

You never know. A few changes here and there, and before you know it you have a president named Schwarzenegger. would that be a problem for you ? [/QUOTE]If there is a legal change(as stated in the U.S. Constitution) then I got no problem. Absent a legal change to the U.S. Constitution It will be over my cold dead body, in which case it won't bother me at all, I'll have moved on.

[Timber Loftis]

LOL -- So John D's only okay with it if 2/3 of the Senate and 2/3 of the states can come to a consensus. That's simply called being outvoted -- and I think every American will submit to that.

[Timber Loftis]

May 18, 2004
Gandhi Says She 'Must Humbly Decline' to Be India's Premier
By AMY WALDMAN

NEW DELHI, May 18 — Sonia Gandhi, who led the Indian National Congress to unexpected triumph in India's elections, told her party's legislators tonight that she would "humbly decline" the post of prime minister.

In the six years since she had reluctantly entered politics, she told party members gathered in the central hall of Parliament, "one thing has always been clear to me and that is — as I have often stated — that the post of prime minister has not been my aim."

She had always vowed, she said, that were this situation ever before her, "I would follow my inner voice."

Mrs. Gandhi, the Italian-born widow of a former prime minister, added: "Today that voice tells me I must humbly decline this post."

She had been under "tremendous pressure" to reconsider, she said, "but I must follow my voice." She was not, she said, tempted by power.

She appealed to her party's legislators to respect her decision and recognize its strength, but there was no sign they would do so. The hall erupted as she spoke, and legislators began impassioned speeches begging her to reconsider.

"You cannot betray the people of India," said Mani Shankar Aiyar, a member of Parliament's lower house. "The inner voice of the people of India says that you have to become the prime minister of India."

Another member, Kapil Sibal, said, "Unless you are there our inspiration will not be there."

News reports said she would support Dr. Manmohan Singh, a former finance minister, as prime minister. A Sikh, he would be India's first minority prime minister.

The Congress is the largest party in India's new Parliament and is poised to form its government. Campaigning tirelessly across the country, Mrs. Gandhi had led the party and its allies to a dramatic upset over the Hindu nationalist-led coalition that had governed the party for the past six years.

Rajiv Desai, a longtime adviser to the Gandhi family, said Mrs. Gandhi had never wanted to be prime minister. Rather, she had wanted to revive the Congress party and defeat the Hindu nationalists, whom she saw as a threat to India's secular identity as it had been defined by her husband's grandfather, Jawaharlal Nehru.

On Monday night, she told senior party members and allies that she did not want to be prime minister, but had been pressured to change her mind, Mr. Desai said. Today she changed it back.

"She was pushed, pushed, pushed, pushed, pushed — now it's come to shove and she's saying no thanks," Mr. Desai said. Her act, he said, was "almost Mahatma Gandhian in scope — the idea of renunciation — the idea of spurning power when you have it in your grasp." Mrs. Gandhi is no relation to Mohandas K. Gandhi, the leader of India's freedom movement.

Before her announcement in Parliament, hundreds of party members flocked to her home at 10 Janpath to try to persuade her to change her mind, signing letters to her in blood and threatening to commit suicide. The frenzied scenes were matched by anguished comments from senior party members and allies, who said they would try to make her relent. It was not clear if they would accept her substitution of Dr. Singh without protest.

Mani Shankar Aiyar, a Congress member of Parliament, said Mrs. Gandhi's reluctance toward a political life had always been well known. "Once she took the decision I thought there was going to be this grit that would enable her to do it," he said.

She resisted her husband's entry into politics, saw first her mother-in-law and then her husband assassinated, then resisted for seven years her party's pleas to take over for him. When she finally relented, it was because she saw her family's legacy in trouble, with the Congress increasingly moribund. She was also distressed by the growing strength of Hindu nationalists.

In an interview this year with New Delhi Television, Mrs. Gandhi, 57, said her goal was to "work with others to see that this government disappears," a reference to the Hindu nationalist-led government that has just been voted out. Asked if she wanted power herself, she said, "That is not a priority for me."

It is still possible that this will not be the final word. In 1999, Mrs. Gandhi resigned as leader of the Congress party after some leaders challenged her foreign origins and political inexperience. After pleas from party members, she relented and rejoined.

After it became clear that Mrs. Gandhi would become prime minister, Hindu nationalists began an agitation against her foreign origins, saying that her leading the country would be a "national shame."

Jyoti Basu, a leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and a member of the Congress-led coalition, said Mrs. Gandhi's children, Rahul and Priyanka, feared for their mother's life if she became prime minister. "Now the children are opposing — they said we have lost our father, now we don't want to lose our mother," he said. Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in 1991; his mother, Indira Gandhi, was assassinated in 1984.

Today's developments came after the country's stock market recorded a huge single-day fall on Monday, amid concerns over the new government's approach to economic reforms. Investors feared that economic reforms could be slowed or halted because of pressure from the left.

The Communist parties allied with Mrs. Gandhi's party said they would support the new government, but not join it, which could make policy consensus more difficult.

The Communist parties, for example, have voiced opposition to the privatization of state-owned companies.

The Bombay stock exchange's benchmark index dropped 20 percent at one point on Monday — the biggest fall ever — before recovering to close down 11 percent, the steepest drop since 1992.

[Memnoch]

Realistically, her stepping aside serves her party's goals more than her becoming PM, because:

1. it avoids the divisiveness and xenophobia associated with a Caucasian leading the second-most populous (Asian) nation in the world

2. she will come across looking honourable and self-sacrificing by stepping aside

3. she will still have a say behind the scenes

It's was probably the pragmatic decision to make. Though the pressure that certain groups brought to bear on her (threats to life, assassination, etc) are disgraceful to say the least.

[John D Harris]

Originally posted by Timber Loftis: LOL -- So John D's only okay with it if 2/3 of the Senate and 2/3 of the states can come to a consensus. That's simply called being outvoted -- and I think every American will submit to that.

Well T.L. Until I become EMPEROR I hasta go along with the U.S. Constitution, But the day I accend or is that assend There'll be lots of changes [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Yorick]

A European leading India would raise all sorts of Imperialist ghosts from the past wouldn't it. I can understand the feelings.

Historically, Hitler (an Austrian ruling Germany) and Stalin (a Georgian ruling Russia) committed their famous abuses on their own? people.

Who knows. She won the election. People surely weren't so silly that they didn't realise this BEFORE the election were they?

I can never become Pres of the USA. Not particularly bummed about it though.

[Timber Loftis]

Me either, Yorick. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

*runs*

[Donut]

I can't say I blame her. It would be like painting a big bullseye on her back.

[Yorick]

The mandate aspect is very significant. Voters, millions of voters want her to lead, as does her party.

Where is democracy?

[Timber Loftis]

Democracy is out there shouting a big "Oooooops, we screwed up" if I'm reading this correctly (i.e. she was elected by a majority, but now the majority does not want her in the office). Democracy, of course, works best in hindsight.