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| Headlines Vol. 2 Issue7-8 | June 22- July 6 , 1999 |
“Questioning Sonia's foreign origin dangerous” The Sikkim Pradesh Congress Committee (SPCC) finds the whole idea of questioning the foreign origin of party President Sonia Gandhi as “alarming and dangerous”. “It is like opening a Pandora's box,” said SPCC president Karma Topden. Mr. Topden along with the All India Congress Committee (AICC) observer for Sikkim and outgoing member of the 12th Lok Sabha from Assam, Mani Kumar Subba, addressing a news conference to announce Mrs. Gandhi's maiden visit to the Himalayan State, said: “We find the idea of Indians of foreign origin being barred from holding exulted posts in the country as ridiculous as well as very offensive.” “Today they say that Indian citizens of foreign origin cannot hold exulted posts. Tomorrow they will say Christians, the next day Muslims will be debarred till finally only those believing in and subscribing to the Hindutva philosophy can only hold such posts.” He opined that by the same definition that Indians of foreign origin cannot hold these posts, people of Sikkim cannot aspire for these posts as “We are Indian citizens of foreign origin”. He argued “that prior to the erstwhile Himalayan kingdom's merger with the Indian Union in 1975, we were an international entity and had such a status as we were the subjects of the erstwhile Chogyal of Sikkim. And by that very definition we are Indians of foreign origin. The people of an entire state merged with India and now you tell us that we are second class citizens”. |
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