Book Review: Sonia-In the perception of a Nationalist

This book is a collection of articles written by Sri Gurumurthy,Co-convenor for Swadesh Jargran Manch. This book discusses in-detail the background of Antonia Maino(also known as Sonia).

Whenever I raise objection about having a foreigner for the highest office in the nation. There is always some one who asks me in response "Why not?", "What's wrong?", "After all she is also a citizen of this country",etc. If I had come across this book earlier, I would have certainly asked them to read it or atleast would have answered them better.
For me, the only fact that she is a foreigner is sufficient to reject her.
But, It's not just her foreign origin that is the problem. The deeper problem is her loyalty towards this nation.

Among the various facts discussed in this book,you have to know the following about this lady.

1. She remained as foreign citizen for 15 years after entering this county as the wife of Rajiv. Even after giving birth to 2 children in this country, she has renewed her foreigner status twice.That means that for 15 years she did not want to be even called as Indian after living in the home of the then Indian Prime Minister Mrs. Indira.

2. Even after 15 years,her Indian Citizenship application had her Italian name "Antonia Maino". She did not accept the name "Sonia" given to her by her mother-in-law.

3. She fled the nation and took refuge in Italy during the India-Pakistan war in 1971 along with her family. i.e. Rajiv-then commecial pilot also left the country. (During war times the commercial pilots are not allowed to leave the country for obvious strategic reasons).

4.Again in 1977, after the Congress party was defeated in elections after emergency, she took refuge in Italian Embassy. Sanjay & Indira Gandhi went pesonally pleaded and brought her home. (For us, this Nation is our Mother land. But for her, its Mother-In-Law's land. What do we expect from her!).

5.Our RAW Agency was not interested in having liason with the Italian Spies. They thought we dont have common interests and it was waste of time. But under Rajiv's pressure they had to agree for liason. A meeting between Italian spies and RAW was arranged. Guess, who arranged for the meeting from the Italian side. It was none other than our Sonia Antonia Maino. Yes, she had contact with the Italian spies.If you are one among those people who believed that she was just a simple housewife before entering politics. It's time you change that opinion.

6.She never trusted the Indian Agencies for Security. She depended Italian Agencies to arrange for security whenever Rahul / Priyanka were travelling abroad. This happened even when her own sweet husband Rajiv was Prime Minister. The relevant Indian RAW offcials were not even informed. At times, they later found it on their own to their embarassment.

7.The Quatorocchi the prime accused in the Bofors scam case is her family friend. Narasimha rao government just let him escape from India. He has been absconding since then.

This book was published about 3 years ago and it is still more relevant even today. Because Sonia is still in politics and Quatorocchi is still roaming free some where in Argentina.