Why do we regard Kalpana Chawla, Sunita Williams and Priti Patel or even Akshay Kumar as Indians, when we still call Sonia Gandhi by her Italian name? This week, Antonia Maino made a comeback on Republic TV when Arnab Goswami opened a personal, no-holds-barred attack on the Congress president over a recent mob lynching incident in Maharashtra’s Palghar district.
BJP leaders and the party’s supporters relish calling Sonia Gandhi a foreigner. Some anchors running pro-BJP channels regularly target the Congress leader and raise her ‘Italian’ roots to paint the party and its supporters as people working against “national interest” — whatever that ‘interest’ entails in their head. And Arnab Goswami is the undeclared leader of this pack. The Pied Piper blurts out inanities and his dutiful followers…follow. Even during a national health crisis, when people, including children, are dying of hunger.
But while Arnab never answers, even those following him never ask: Why is Sonia Gandhi, the wife of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and president of India’s oldest political party, an “Italian”, a “foreigner”? After spending all her adult life in India, she is “not Indian” in some people’s eyes. But a Canadian Akshay Kumar is. Because when he is not acting in commercial, nationalist films, he is ‘interviewing’ Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the middle of a national election, offering him a plate of mango-questions to pick and choose from.
Also read: Arnab Goswami’s attack continues. Rahul, Priyanka, where’s your ‘enough is enough’ moment?
Obsession with ‘foreign’
The people who go after Sonia Gandhi and her ‘foreign’ roots also always cherish the achievements of ‘Indians’ and Indian-origin people who were born and raised in foreign countries or those who later took citizenship of other countries. Whether it’s Kalpana Chawla, Sunita Williams, V.S Naipaul, Tulsi Gabbard, Priti Patel, or Jhumpa Lahiri, their achievements are celebrated like those of an Indian.
The thing is, in a country where some people are obsessed with finding and establishing foreigners among them — such as through the National Register of Citizens — Sonia Gandhi’s Italian roots offer an easy route to target a political party that must be demonised and attacked perpetually so that Narendra Modi and his BJP can look good.
Even the argument that Indians are “emotional” about their country and associate birthplace with citizenship and citizenship with Indianness doesn’t hold water. If that was the case, then people hailing from the northeast states won’t be taunted and targeted as “Chinese” or “Japanese” or “Korean”. There have been several instances of people being attacked during the Covid crisis because, well, the virus’ geographic origin lies in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Northeast Indians are discriminated against based on their looks. Even people from the south are mocked; for a large populace of India, everyone in the south is still a “Madrasi”.
It would appear that this obsession with seeing other Indians as ‘not one of our own’ is mainly a Hindi heartland thing. The rampant discrimination has been a bane of Indian society, and continues to divide people along racial and sectarian lines. So, if you are from north India or look like one, you are by default an Indian. Others must show their birth proof, or chant Bharat Mata Ki Jai or be an unadulterated supporter of Modi and the BJP. Although, Sonia Gandhi would still be an “Italian”.
Also read: If Uddhav Thackeray bows before Arnab Goswami’s dare, he will only weaken himself before BJP
Insecurities due to the British past
An ‘Indian’ Sundar Pichai is the head of an American company Google; another ‘Indian’ Satya Nadella is the chief executive officer of Microsoft; Shantanu Narayen leads Adobe; Ajaypal Singh Banga is the CEO of Mastercard. Can we imagine such a scenario in India? How will Indians take it if an Indian company is led by a foreigner?
At the slightest hint of a foreign connection, such figures will be labelled a spy, traitor, Jaichand or anything that a certain group can come up with. To a large extent, most Indians have never really been comfortable with foreigners — even though most crave for their attention and hold their praise of any Indian (mostly Hindu) ritual or custom as the final validation.
The roots of this insecurity perhaps lie in the British past, and seems to have survived even today, with many desperate enough to shrug off the past memories of being ruled by foreigners through persistent dislike for anything or anyone “not Indian”. What they don’t want to acknowledge is that this distinction is not so simple. There were many foreigners who made immense contributions to India’s freedom struggle. Moreover, we are not living in the past. This is modern India. Any insecurity over someone’s place of birth, race or religion should not exist.
Sonia Gandhi denounced her Italian citizenship, learnt Hindi, wore saris all her life, led the country’s oldest political party but she is still an “Italian”. It’s time to ask: what could she possibly do to be regarded as an Indian like a Canadian Akshay Kumar?
Views are personal.
By abusing sonia gandhi, indias daughter in law,we are degrading our own image.indias image.if she has her faults point them out.Dont call her names,dont spoil her character by caling her bar girl or anything.if u people are so much into india why wasting such a huge amount on trumps welcome.Why any of u want to settle outside india and want those people/country to accept you.why anyone marry foreign girl?why u watch katrina kaif?why u like jacqueline?? Arent they foreigners too?? Or u can enjoy dance of these actresses? Clap for them but cant show an ounce of dignity for the widow of our former prime minister? This shows the so called sanskar of indian people?? In the end,i just hope no country grants citizenship to indian people.let them come took them as labour and when they were incapable of doing work..deport them.the people who judges others on the basis of indian/non indian.No country should hurt their prestigious ego by taking them as citizen.?
No one abused Antonia Maino till She and her party involved in all sort of Scandals and Corruption with astronomical figures . Just read how She ran Congress as her personal property and made money by indulging in shady deals . You will do yourself good by reading about how she took over National herald fraudulently and how her daughter forced yes bank owner to buy a painting ( which was gifter to Congress by MF husain ) at an astronomical price .She enjoyed the respect and love of whole countery when she get widowed . She was and still is president of the grand old party . But she can’t command the respect by indulging in corruption and let loose her party members to help themselves loot india . She got unlimited love from this country without doing a thing for country , and now her own actions earned her hate and scoff from countrymen , and her minions in The print and other media houses are howling .
By the way….during last 6 years, none of the so called Scams have been brought in front by the Modi Govt and what abt Black Money??
Whereas i find mylself ASHAMED as i voted for BJP:
BJP Party which got DEGRADED ITS VALUES DURING LAST 5 YEARS AND LOST ETHICAL PPLITICS OF ATAL JEE??
I AM WORRIED THAT BJP WILL LOSE THE NEXT LOKSABHA ELECTIONS ,IF THEY CONTINUE WITH DIRTY POLITICS ON VARIOUS INTERNAL MATTERS AND STATE MATTERS
is akshay kumar a politician and looted the country and made corruptions like 2 g scam, coal gate, cwg, bofors, adharsh, ………..?
moreover he given 25 crores of his hard earned money what about so called italians?
By abusing sonia gandhi, indias daughter in law,we are degrading our own image.indias image.if she has her faults point them out.Dont call her names,dont spoil her character by caling her bar girl or anything.if u people are so much into india why wasting such a huge amount on trumps welcome.Why any of u want to settle outside india and want those people/country to accept you.why anyone marry foreign girl?why u watch katrina kaif?why u like jacqueline?? Arent they foreigners too?? Or u can enjoy dance of these actresses? Clap for them but cant show an ounce of dignity for the widow of our former prime minister? This shows the so called sanskar of indian people??
This is a very boring news site. I am shocked at how this forum is writing articles on such stupid topics. It’s time for you to CUT YOUR CLUTTER…
some up minsters have claimed that many korean companies are in discussion to shift their base from china
Is there any comparision between two personalities…?
The writer had written baseless things for AK..and SG.
FAN CHAMCHA SPOTTED…
ITALIAN BARGIRL
Why do you celebrate sunny leone but cannot show respect to a former PMs wife?
Instead of you I don’t see anyone respecting sunny leone. Their is a difference between born in India and being born outside of India.
Indian Guy: What is the difference between being born in India and being born outside of India? Does being born in India make you inherently more loyal to India? A better person? Does being born outside India make you an enemy of India? Worse persons than Indians? What happens when you relinquish your Indian nationality and become Canadian, American or Italian? Or relinquish your Canadian, Italian, American nationality and become Indian?
What is your profession Sir?
Tera Baap: Ms Gandhi was no bargirl. But then, uncouth pimps who do not respect women cannot be expected to suddenly improve their vocabulary and argue cogently can they ?
Akshay Kumar has donated 25 crore to Indians for fighting against Corona virus… What miss Antonio Mayno (Sonia Gandhi) did? Just some tweets and foolish speeches against govt. ??? We are not fools idiot. We know who is right for nation who is wrong
She lost her husband, who sacrificed his life in the cause of the nation. To me, this sacrifice is priceless. I don’t know as to how the “andh bhakts” like you would evaluate this supreme sacrifice?
rahul gandhi as a fact was never interested in indian politics and he didnt sacrificed his life, he was assasinated just like other members od gandhi family libtard
The quote that applies to foul-mouthed individuals with obnoxious handles is:
“It’s better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than open it and remove all doubt”
It should be Rajiv Gandhi. Rahul is still alive.
Agree.
Mr Sambhav: Assuming that your claim that Ms Sonia Gandhi has not donated anything to fight the Corona virus is true, it still leaves unanswered the question:
“Is Indian citizenship maintained solely on the condition that you make charitable donations ?”
In other words, do you lose your citizenship if you do not make contributions to charities? Additionally, how the hell are you certain that Ms Gandhi did not make any charitable contributions ? After all, there are many, many philanthropic persons who prefer to contribute silently and anonymously.
And since you sing praises to Mr Akshay Kumar’s charitable donations, would you also be able to confirm that he pays his taxes to India ? Or is he like other members of the film fraternity one who has his money stashed away in foreign locales like Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai have done in Panama?
Are you sure that Akshay Kumar indulges in this charity solely for altruistic reasons and nothing else? When I contributed to the Kerala floods sometime ago, many of my friends in India wanted the money channelled through their accounts such that they could get a tax break on the donations they made. Likewise, isn’t Akshay Kumar not getting some tax and immense political mileage out of this highly publicised donation?
Mr Sambhav, you claim
“We are not fools idiot”
At least I know have an idea of who happens to be a fool and an idiot rolled into one !
We are not that fool. If she had made donation media would have given her some attention. I don’t have any grudges to Sonia gandhi or any other family. But
They are filled with scams that means you are not responsible enough. When you take more than what you earn. That is not responsible. Akshay earns khud kar and spents khud ka. He earns from movies and make it. What sonia do. Buy land at rupees 2 and selll it 2000000 rupees. Is this good policy ? It is not important what you do sometimes but it is very important how you do ?
Sunny leone is a porn star. Does that means whole country shall worship her. She has been told to be in limited attire and sense. And she is in that. That’s it. No one hates sonia gandhi. But when you go to some responsible Position act for it. Okay. That’s it. Not filling pockets of your son in law. Or listen every parents want ki mere bachche ka career set hi jaaye. But you won’t set career in the name of country and make country fool. Why 1.3 billion people have to go in there personal matter.
Here, she announced she will give ticket money to labourers. And we all know truth. What she did ? What her party workers did giving pamphlet to labour that ticket is paid by there sonia ji.
Print already sucks a lot.
I remembered the name Anamika, Kili joshiyar and Murtada.
O my god they are very laborious people in this comment section regarding defending Antonio Maino,?
Mr Devashish Kumar : Thank you for the “compliment “. Do you have any arguments to add or is that too demanding an intellectual activity for you Sir ?
AKASHAY KUMAR BORN AND BROUGHT UP IN INDIA AS A INDIAN .HE JUST HAVE CANADIAN CITIZENSHIP….HE IS INDIAN…DONT SPREAD ANY FAKE NEWS.. bar girl is not born in india as a indian.
Akshay is a canadian, just because he looks Indian does not make him Indian. He has voluntarily given up his Indian citizen. He is a professional actor, making a lot of money from India .
Why is it hard for people who celebrate sunny leone as their own, to show a little respect for a former prime ministers wife.
Excellent retort Mr Satchit !
The tone of this is already suppotive of her. And considering the long time they had india in their hands and the development during that time verses development of India and pr with other nations during the short period Modi has been in power. Clearly they haven’t done a decent job. Please answer this. Why is the pm relief fund not accessible to the pm without mainos signature. It belongs to the office and counter. It’s not supposed to be her personal fund.
Mr/Ms Ana: When the tone of Arnab Goswami’s rants can not only be vile and disrespectful but also downright vengeful when it comes to Ms Sonia Gandhi, is there anything wrong in other publications writing in a civilised manner and taking an opposing view ? Or has India come to a stage when the only thing the media is allowed to do is sing praises to Modi and shower abuses upon others who oppose PM Modi?
And then, with regard to development, the economy that MMS bequeathed NaMo was in far better shape than what it is today. Much of today’s economic troubles, in particular jobless growth, rural distress, devastation of the informal sector, growing inequality etc. is manmade or rather Modi made. It all comes down to incompetence, distrust of economists, an over-reliance on RSS apparatchiks, centralisation of power in Delhi with one man and a dogmatic pursuit of Hindutva. This almost Trump like disdain of experts like Dr Raghuram Rajan reached its pinnacle with demonetisation – a foolish measure that devastated the informal sector where 82% of Indians work and brought the agricultural sector on its knees. And that folly was followed up by another other – GST.
I am no supporter of the Congress or an admirer of Ms Sonia Gandhi – far from it. But the fact remains that the gains made from liberalisation of the Indian economy under the Narasimha Rao government, continued onwards by the Vajpayee govt and then by UPA until 2014 ahve been thoroughly squandered by the Delhi University “graduate”.
Who is this killi joshiyar…she/he has defended a lot…so much free time she/he has
Weird submission. You mean to say just by having free time one can write as much as he wants. Don’t you require brains to do that? Aren’t his/her arguments valid and well supported?
Ms Soumya: Thank you for having taken notice of the musings of this humble clerk. Am indeed honoured that busy, and presumably highly educated intellectuals like the Soumyas of this world have so much free time on their hands that they read my posts. What more can yours truly, a simple and not so very well read chap in a corner office ask for?
Once again, thank you very much Ms Soumya !!
My own thinking
The other day I spent some time on finding out as to which language these words are from, and also what do they mean literally. I came to know that these are Malayalam words depicting the profession of a “parrot astrologer”. So you see he/she must be getting lot of free time in between the customers to chip in with his/her lengthy defences of an “Italian lady” (as per Arnab). To me, she is a naturalised Indian now, who could have been the Indian PM if astrology had favored her. Even now, there is a remote possibility of it; Advani ji was hopeful even after well into his eighties, but Modi ji- his disciple- spoilt his cart, instead of giving “guru dakshina” to him like Eklavya. By the way, “parrot astrology” seems to be the next best profession for the unemployed after “pakoda” selling. What do you think Ms/Mr Soumya?
Brilliant Mr Murtada !!!
Parrots are far more trustworthy than “patriots” like Arnab Goswami !
Kya Sonia Gandhi apke chacha ki ladki hai ya fufa ki. I think you are frustrated from your life. People who pick sides have no credibility and integrity so that makes you no different than Arnab Goswami, the difference is he has achieved far more than you will ever achieve in your lifetime. Think about it. Peace!
Achillies: Thank you for your concerns about my life and my possible frustrations. I am happy to report that I am not frustrated !
As regards your assessment of my “credibility” and “integrity”, well I don’t care two hoots. You know nothing about me, and what I may or may not have achieved. At least one achievement I can tout here is that you have not been able to muster a single argument to counter my many comments to this article.
Basic decency, listening to other viewpoints which I may not personally endorse and respect and courtesy for other human beings, regardless of their ethnic origins or religion are virtues that I strive to cultivate and hence, I am not in competition with Arnab Goswami. I have no intention of becoming Josef Goebbels 2.0 – that post has been taken by Arnab Goswami.
So go pour yourself a stiff peg of gomutra, sit on a charpoy with your gaurakshak buddies, indulge in the favourite male pastime in the Hindi belt viz. scratching your privates in public places and think about what I wrote. And yes peace as you suggest. So also advise your gaurakshak buddies to be peaceful and not indulge in any lynching !
Dear Jyoti Akshay Kumar (Rajiv Bhatia) has surrendered his honorary Canadian citizenship. So don’t bother him. Antonia Maino is an Italian by birth and it’s a fact, kindly don’t try to hide it
Mr Pinaki Routray: So Akshay Kumar, like India’s many “Aaya Ram, Gaya Ram” politicians wanders from being an Indian national to being a Canadian and then back to being an Indian national. So where do his loyalties lie? Or are such awakward questions about loyalty not asked of opportunistic BJP bhakths but only of minorities like Muslims and Christians?
Let Akshay, Sunita, Kalpana file appears for elections. We shall discuss about them. Till then, they are private citizens.
Now, as for Sonia, she filed and won elections. Hence debate about when, how and why she got the Indian citizenship, is relevant. When she got married to an Indian? When she filed for citizenship? When did she relinquish her Italian passport? Are her children too not Italian citizens? She became Indian, the moment she smelt a chance to loot and route Indian money abroad, worse than the Brits.
Now I strongly believe that Ms Sonia Gandhi’s decision to reject the offer of becoming the PM of India after her party’s impressive win in 2004 general elections was a grave mistake.
She never rejected PM position but at that time she was not surrender her Italian CitizenShip and even she was not accepted the Indian citizenship so because of that she was not eligible for PM.
this articles seems to have attracted bhakts and paid-bhakts like flies to a honey pot. have fun while you can because ‘sab yaad rakha jayega’…
Akshay is Indian and Sonia is not because Richard Gere is America and Imran Khan is not. Simple?
no your logic is not logical. gere has american passport and akshay has canedian passport. so that makes akshay a canedian.
Well said Ms Anamika !
your news source must be quite slow anamkia ji, as of December 2019 he has already applied for Indian citizenship, also btw akshay has always donated for various causes, the most recent case being his donation to fight covid-19, how much has sonia gandhi donated ???
Mr Vishal: Unlike Akshay Kumar, not all donors to charities make a media circus of their contributions. There are many who do so silently and anonymously. And since you claim that Ms Gandhi is not charitable, do you really have proof that she did not donate to charitable causes such as the current COVID crisis?
Additionally, in the case of a Bollywood star like Akshay Kumar, one can be rather sure that like other members of the film fraternity, he too has been dodging taxes. Maybe, like Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai, he too has a Panama Papers dossier and a cash stash outside the country ..
And then, isn’t there a quid pro quo of some sorts with the ruling BJP here? Maybe the BJP will go soft on his income tax problems in return for his participating in more scripted interviews with Modi ? Or perhaps he has political ambitions of his own? Any suggestions Mr Vishal ?
Bar lady has Italian passport and her kids too… they are Italians….?
Mr Vijay: But Akshay, like millions of Indians in the West, ditched his Indian nationality and obtained a foreign one. On the other hand, Ms Gandhi surrendered her Italian nationality to become an Indian national – a route less travelled if I may say so.
And then we have the many thousands of Indians, affiliated with every – I re-iterate every – political party who stash away their wealth in overseas offshore accounts or even run simply away from their commitments to tax authorities in India. Vijay Mallya, Lalit Modi, Nirav Modi, Vijay Adani, Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai etc. dodge taxes in India. Some flee, whilst others – such as the Bachchan family – are so well connected that they needn’t flee. Are they Indian Mr Vijay? Did you see Akshay Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan stand in queues to deposit their demonetised notes Mr Vijay ?
lol.. connection kya hai.. how hard it is to think of Akshay as Indian and Sonia Gandhi as non-Indian? Secondly, there is also a virtue called deed – one guy has donated big monies in almost all natural calamities or terrorist attack while the other mostly seem to have played appeasement politics.. like I doubt anybody ever heard anything from her or her party on killing of Kamlesh Tiwari while you would see her or the party she heads standing first in the queue if someone like an Akhlaq gets killed.. so although the game has been going on for a while but people have become more aware and see things better now.
Worth less reading this article as I read only title..
But answer please how they all become gandhi while there is no real gandhi in the family..??
Indian: When Jawaharlal Nehru’s daughetr Indira Priyadrashini Nehru married Feroz Gandhi, she took on her husband’s surname.
What what took her 16 years after marriage to get Indian citizenship?
People are not fools.
The print is spreading venoms.
Where the print were when Antonio called prime minister as Scorpio?
Is there a law which states that you must take your citizenship ASAP ?
Well, that law is followed by most Indians in the West, including the many Modi bhakths who finance the BJP through dubious contributions. As soon as you are eligible to get Canadian, British, American, Australian or German nationality, virtually every Indian applies for his new nationality and flings his old Indian passport at the local Indian Embassy. At the very least, unlike 99% of Indian immigrants in the West, Ms Gandhi wnet the other way and renounced her Western passport for n Indian one. With all the inconveniences such a move entails.
Attack Ms Gandhi’s politics, but not her persona . But I undersatnd that Godse worshippers don’t get told that do they ?
Mr Kili
This is very barbaric way of defending Miss Antonia Maino alias Sonia fake ” Gandhi” Please do not mix up politics of India with economic migrants of India to Western Countries as if they are commiting a crime . Its shameful and sad to see that journalists like you happy to degrade and defame BJP supporters which has majority support of Indian electoral . So going by your logic those supporting BJP means worshippers of Godse then who support ” Congress” and Nehru dynasty means supporters of anti-Sikh riots 1984, imposing of national emergency and conducting mass sterilization, Bofors Scandals,Common Wealth scandals. Arnab questioned why Sonia was silent on Palghar lynching when they strongly opposed Aklaq killing . Nehru dynasty always did and still continuing muslim appeasement politics which is why they are loosing majority support of Indian electoral. Lastly , Mrs Sonia submitted her Italian citizenship only she could become Indian Prime Minister so her family and associates can loot India and not doing any favor to India in any way.
Mr Venkat: Thanks for your response ! Indeed a privilege for barbarians like me to be debating with highly civilised people like the Venkats of this world !
Some facts that seem to escape civilised men like you:
1. I am no journalist as you allege – just a simple clerk.
2. The BJP does not – I repeat does not – have the support of the majority of Indians as you suggest. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP received less than 38% of votes cast, ref: https://bit.ly/35nnWod But then, the terrible first-past-the-post electoral system that Indian and other former British colonies inherited ensures that there is no correlation between votes won and seats won.
3. Indian migrants, not only to the West but also to Muslim countries are primarily economic migrants – regardless of the type of work they do. And remittances and lobbying from the Indian diaspora often influence Indian politics. Indeed, in many instances, the diaspora has an outsize influence in the countries they leave. Thus, Irish immigrants in the US hold great sway in the politics of Ireland; many Sikh immigrants in the West supported and financed the Khalistan movement for secession from India; Sri Lankan Tamil emigrés were active in the secession movement in that country; Cuban emigrés in the US impact US politics towards Cuba and so on. Indeed, the BJP has taken it one step further and has tried to influence UK elections by extremely dubious methods. The hardline Hindu organisation Overseas Friends of the BJP (OFBJP) has attempted to influence elections in the UK by asking Hindus to turn their backs on the Labour party !!! Ref: https://cnn.it/3aSto3D
BOTTOMLINE: Indian migrants influence Indian politics back home home, usually by financing political parties and movements.
4. I watched the Arnab Goswami oral open defaecation show. Honestly, even an unquestioning Modi cult chap like you with a smidgen of deceny would admit that India’s Joseph Goebbels personified was shedding crocodile tears for the victims of the lynching – his main objective was vilification and indeed, below the belt, uncouth attacks on an Indian citizen. I am no fan of either Ms Gandhi or the man you choose to deify viz. Narendra Modi. But my humble submission is that they are both Indian citizens and one needs to criticise their policies and record. Not their ethnic origins, gender, religious affiliations, caste etc. For sure, the UPA and the Congress have been embroiled in scandals of all sorts – Bofors, 2G, Commonwealth Games etc. Just as the BJP has been embroiled in its own scandals – The Westend sting the Tehelka revealed, the Kargil coffin scams, the Rafale scam, the Godhra pogroms, NPAs, demonetisation that favoured the BJP but targetted the opposition and so on. Indeed, when the BJP is voted out of power, more scandals will be unearthed. Admittedly, with few press freedoms in India now, it is unlikely that any BJP transgressions will get revealed.
I will stop here. But my parting salvo to you is that there is utterly, I repeat utterly no difference between the Congress and the BJP. More so when you realise that many BJP politicians are scam tainted Congressmen escaping the long arm of the law by joining the BJP. Or, as Arun Shourie so brilliantly put it:
Congress + Cow = BJP.
Even a barely educated clerk like me understands that equation Mr Venkat !
Mother Teresa = Indian, Sister Nibedita = Indian, Amrita Sher-gil = Indian. So why not Sonia Gandhi?
Only narrow minded people who don’t understand the difference between nationalism and patriotism, those who think their narrow identities are more important than humanism; those who are Hindus first, Indians next and humans last – if at all, endlessly bring up the “Indian” question.
RIP Logic. Worst article ever written on this earth.
Mr Amit Shrivastava: 2 sentences and 9 words is all you are able to spit out.
Puzzlingly, the presumably very logical and extensively well-read Amit Shrivastava is utterly unable to marshal a single argument to clarify why he thinks:
a) the article lacks logic
b) why it is the worst ever article written on this earth.
RIP: Debate in India. I don’t know whether this is the worst ever comment written on this earth.
Your first sentence itself is a bit of a giveaway and your logic is poor. Since akshay was born in India and acquired Canadian citizenship, we still consider him indian. Sonia was born in Italy and acquired indian citizenship well into her marriage to an Indian. And yes, that’s why we consider her Italian. So no contradiction there.
The dumbest guy who came from a Dumb world.
Stupidity can never surpass this guy’s “Stupidity”.
The article itself seems to have been politically motivated!! Absolute crap!!
The article itself seems to have been politically motivated!! Absolute crap!!
The conclusion should have been as to what should we do for the loudmouth Arnab to learn Indianness/mannerisms rather than asking what Ms Gandhi should do to appear as an Indian to some crooks in India.
Agree with that one Mr Murtada.
Arnab comes out less Indian and more like a Nazi in a suit à là Hitler’s propaganda Minister Josef Goebbels. Ms Gandhi is far more Indian than this rabid pitbull who poisons the minds of ordinary Indians and make the already xenophobic, intolerant bhakth into an attack dog like himself.
She is the real crook. She has quite literally looted Indians, and continues to be out on bail in many cases. The real question is what will it take for Indians like you to get out of the “Foreign subservience” mentality?
The “foreign subservience” of about a lakh of bhakts like you was pretty much visible on Motera stands who were foolishly waiting to listen the beautiful word “Namaste” get dishonored by its pronouncement in a weird accent by a weird/zombie president who turned ungrateful enough within a few days of that event to threaten India with dire consequences if the ban on export of covid medicine facilitating US supplies was not lifted. As to the alleged looting by Ms Sonia/Congress party, the law of the land should have taken its course by now.!She should have been jailed. Why carrying out of her character assassination in this manner? And if you think that the PM-HM duo is engaged in filling the national coffers today for the public good, then you are in the deep slumber. Never in the history of governance in India, had the public coffers been so ruthlessly spent on personal image building and on the party consolidation through indulgence in all types of heinous and deceitful exercises of buying loyalties, creating and running dishonest media, executing plans to create religious divide in the society and what not. Never in the history, public funds were generated in so dubious and in-transparent manner, and in such enormity. And finally, keeping the entire system in a state of perpetual fear with no one at the helm of any institutions belonging to the four pillars of democracy showing courage to stand up against the authority, it is very easy to keep one’s white shirt spotless or acquire clean chits for himself, but the matter does not end there. There is a bigger judiciary which does not err. Please go on with your “andh bhakti” till that strikes, and strikes very hard.
Mr Frank Kannadiga: In your glaring inability and impotence to formulate a cogent reply to Mr Murtada above, you resort to the usual, tired tactic of name calling – “foreign subservience mentality” in this instance. All that Mr Murtada above asks is that Arnab Goswami behaves like the Indian he purports to be. Indeed, Ms Gandhi looks and behaves more like an Indian than this loudmouthed BJP pitbull.
Perhaps, like Mr Gandhi who always wears a spotless white sari, Mr Arnab Goswami could demonstrate his Indianness by turning up for his braying competitions in a dhoti and kurta !
Is Ms Sonia Gandhi ruling the country. The Indians are ruling the country. Why can’t the Indians take action. The 2 Hindu Sadhus are lynched by 70% belonging to the bjp as is given in the news. People are arrested and under investigation. 2 police are suspended, why they are not under investigation.
The state government is investigating the case in consultation of Home minister amit shah.
Is Ms Sonia Gandhi ruling the country. The Indians are ruling the country. Why can’t the Indians take action. The 2 Hindu Sadhus are lynched by 70% belonging to the bjp as is given in the news. People are arrested and under investigation. 2 police are suspended, why they are not under investigation.
The state government is investigating the case in consultation of Home minister amit shah.
What a dumb report …Is Akshay kumar in public life to be compared to Antonio Maino ???
Mr Hari: Yes he is. Whenever the BJP needs a publicity stunt to be done or when PM Modi needs to be seen as someone accessible to the media, useful idiots like Akshay Kumar get roped in to do the party’s bidding.
In anc case, is there a law which states that naturalised Indians cannot participate in public life? And haven’t you forgotten that people of Indian origins have made it to prominent positions in the UK, Canada, Australia etc.? Should these naturalised Indians have been barred from public life in their new countries of residence?
What is your definition of public life?
Read and find that we need deeper introspection on the subject.If a person is found guilty he should be legally punished with proof.If a person is working against the Country. he must be arrested under relevant laws with proof and with no loop holes for any reliefnThe government may invoke NSA and Sedition Laws We can not accuse others without proof.
The Congress “Family”, STILL, even after his CLEARLY winning TWO successive elections, views Modi as an usurper, a ‘Gatecrasher’ and an interloper in THEIR very OWN, divinely ordained New Delhi and the PM”s Office. If that is OK by you, then there is nothing wrong with the BJP’.s thinking.
From Kalpana Charla to Akshy Kumar all always seen in public to love India and be proud of being an Indian but Sonia Gandhi only loves power to rule India and never seen in public expressing her loves for India and her proudness as an Indian.
From Anita Williams to Akshya Kumar all loves India and feels proud to be an Indian but Sonia Gandhi only loves only power to rule India and never seen in public expressing her proudness of being an Indian.
Mr Om: So the famous “Om test of Indianness” entails standing in front of the public and saying that you are proud to be an Indian? Is that all ? I am sure your friends Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, Vijay Adani etc. have all done. Hence, please send them a testimonial attesting to their having passed the “Om test of Indianness ” !!!!
Why don’t you also mention Sonia’s Gandhi’s party being major stakeholders in some of the biggest scams in modern Indian history? Augusta, 2G, Coal just to name a few. I guess that does not fit with the narrative you’re re trying to peddle.
Mr Frank Kannadiga: Thanks for your response !
My comment restricts itself to this disgusting tendency of name-calling of Ms Gandhi solely because of her ethnic origins. And making her an automatic target of suspicion because she is of Italian extraction. Not for a moment do I defend the scams conducted during various UPA and Congress regimes. But those scams make their way through the courts of the country and Indian law applies to the defendants regardless of their previous citizenship. They are not relevant to the current discussion i.e the tendency to regard non-Hindus, especially Muslims and Christians with suspicion. After all your buddy Arnab Goswami doesn’t question the thousands of Indians who have indulged in far greater scams and tax evasion schemes under both Congress and BJP regimes does he ?
And then Mr Frank Kannadiga, staying close to the land of the Kannadigas, do you have any idea of the amount of money stolen from the Karnataka exchequer by your beloved BJP CM Mr Yeddiyurappa ? And doesn’t this Hindutva touting thief continue to steal from Kannadigas like you ? Or do you, as a Kannadiga, prefer to get your pockets picked by a fellow Kannadiga ?
The writer must be a Congress **””licker? Shameless paid writer?
It is difficult to say if the writer is a paid blogger, but you are a creepy paid commenter, for sure.
Mr Sampathlal: If anybody who writes an article critical of the BJP is a Congress **”””” licker, well applying your impeccable logic leads me to conclude:
“Mr Sampathlal must be BJP **”””” licker.
It remains to be seen whether Mr Sampathlal is also an Arnab Goswami **”””” licker, given that he seems to be intoxicated on the hot air that Mr Goswami expels through his various orifices.
There are many here who question Ms Sonia Gandhi’s loyalty to India because of her Italian origins. Arnab Goswami, the vile, rabid pitbull and BJP’s equivalent of Nazi propaganda Minister Joseg Goebbels screams loudest of all the saffronistas. There are many who claim that Ms Gandhi steals from India, works for Italian interests, for the Vatican and what not. And going by the many comments here supporting this loudmouth’s virulent fascism and racism, one wonders if Indians and the BJP have forgotten that many of Indian origins serve in the governments of foreign countries in high positions. And few raise eyebrows about that in the West – they have after all, been elected to power.
Some examples:
The UK cabinet today has 2 Ministers of Indian extraction, Rishi Sunak & Priti Patel. Should voters in the UK have rejected these Indian origin politicians fearing that their loyalties lie with India and that they work for Golwalkar they might run off to India ?
Harjit Sajjan, a turban-wearing Sikh from Hoshiarpur, Punjab is the Defence Minister of Canada ? Any dangers to Canadian defence dear bhakths ? Would Harjit Sajjan do a Rafale type scam with some Ambani or an Ambani clone, pocket a lot of money and seek refuge in Hoshiarpur?
The problem with guttermouths like Arnab Goswami and his BJP financiers is that they seem to forget that most theft and treachery takes place in very sophisticated ways and most of the culprits are locals and often from majority communities or immigrants. Politicians like Congo’s Mobutu, Philippines’ Ferdinand Marcos, Haiti’s Jean-Claude Duvalier etc. were locals, not foreigners. Likewise, Lalit Modi, Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya, Vijay Adani, Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, BJP politician Ravindra Kishore Sinha and the 400 + other tax evaders are very much Indian. Wonder why Aranab Goswami’s ire is not directed at these not so patriotic Indians. Scapegoating people who are different either because of ethnic origins, race, caste or religion as the BJP does through the likes of thugs masquerading as journalists is a surefire way to weaken the very fragile bonds that hold this fractious country together.
I am no admirer of the Congress or the BJP and I am certainly not enamoured by Ms Sonia Gandhi’s attempts to foist her useless, unpredictable son on the nation. But Ms Gandhi is an Indian and deserves to be treated with the same respect accorded to all Indians. Criticise her politics and policies as much as you want but not her race, origins or personal beliefs. But then, civil discourse is something neither the BJP nor its evil loudspeaker are capable of right ?
But none of Indian origin ministers are owner of ruling party in any foreign country.
This cunning Italian lady even submitted her fake degree of Cambridge University to Parliament, eventually that truth was unfolded by Mr Subramanian Swamy with proof.
Which Indian origin minister submits any fake degree and gets ministerial seat in foreign countries?
And this pseudo liberal propagandist racist rhetoric so called racism won’t be working in India.yes we Indians are sceptical of foreigners because we were subjugated by foreigners for more than 200 years,we can’t trust this lady.she is a scourge of India
what complete lies! when did Sonia Gandhi ever pretend to fake degrees? That was Mamata Didi, (Manu)Smriti-(i)rani, and out dear Feku PM who still can’t show his supposed master degree.And Ireland is currently lead by a person of Indian origin if you did not notice!
Mr Ram Prakash Shukla: Let me venture a more domestic and perhaps more relevant answer to your question:
“Which Indian origin minister submits any fake degree and gets ministerial seat in foreign countries?”
You seem to have forgotten that the highest post in India is held by Narendra Modi, a man who claims to be a graduate of Delhi University.
If you go by his track record of bizarre and utterly hare-brained measures like demonetisation, a botched GST implementation, notions such as Ganesha being proof that plastic surgery was performed in ancient India, crony capitalism favouring Gujaratis, an unplanned lockdown that callously threw millions of migrant labourers into the grip of starvation and so forth, one must conclude that the PM of India is nothing more than the graduate of an RSS shakha.
Ms Sonia Gandhi’s graduation from Cambridge is irrelevant to the current debate – at best of marginal relevance. She is not the PM of the country. More probing questions should be asked of the PM, not an opposition leader who you may dislike, given your xenophobic bent of mind. So go ask the PM to produce his graduation certificate from Delhi University.
I have to agree with you to not criticize sonia gandhi’s past nationality.
But i do hate her politics.
And what about burkha and rajnath.. the dogs of sonia? Utilisinv every occassion to badmouth hindus?
At the end of the article, write “no homo” – suddenly means you aren’t homosexual?
Writing a poetry on Sonia Gandhi and at the end saying she shouldn’t be criticised based on the fact that she isn’t Indian born? That person wouldn’t have been criticised if she hadn’t loot India, if she hadn’t doomed congress party (by strictly adhering to family politics), had allowed Manmohan singh ji to work freely.
Common indian. Like me want development.
I suggest Arnab please utilised your energy for uplift ment of this country. Akshay Kumar is Canadian citizen and Sonia Gandhi is Indian. How does it matter. Please Arnab ask Government questions about the economy. After Demonetisation and GST economy fails. Poor are more poor. Sonia Gandhi is past. Now We have voted other party. So ruling party show us your report card. I don’t know the citizens ship of Sonia. I need hospitals, school. Now Please Arnab ask Government about the schools and hospitals.
Common indian. Like me want development.
I suggest Arnab please utilised your energy for uplift ment of this country. Akshay Kumar is Canadian citizen and Sonia Gandhi is Indian. How does it matter. Please Arnab ask Government questions about the economy. After Demonetisation and GST economy fails. Poor are more poor. Sonia Gandhi is past. Now We have voted other party. So ruling party show us your report card. I don’t know the citizens ship of Sonia. I need hospitals, school. Now Please Arnab ask Government about the schools and hospitals.
Excellent article. Raised a good question and provided the right answer. Let us spell this out again – Indian are those with Indian passport, swearing allegiance to India. Foreign are those who do NOT have an Indian passport and do not pay taxes in India. If there is a problem abroad, they will ask their own embassy for help – not India, and if they excel in a sport, they will compete under another flag, not the Indian one. Super simple!
Ms Anamika: You list out a number of criteria to determine whether someone is Indian. Let us apply the “Anamika test” to some cases. For instance, one element of the test according to you is:
“Indian are those with Indian passport, swearing allegiance to India. Foreign are those who do NOT have an Indian passport and do not pay taxes in India”
1. Are Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya, Lalit Modi etc. Indians? They hold Indian passports but do not pay taxes in India and have moved out of India. Doubtful if they still swear allegiance to India.
2. Are Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwariya Rai and the other 800 odd Indians in the infamous Panama Papers list Indians ? Applying the Anamika test will reveal that they hold Indian passports but funnel away the bulk of their income to offshore locations and illegally reduce / avoid paying taxes to india. Doubtful if they swear allegiance to India.
3. Ms Sonia Gandhi has an Indian passport, pays taxes to India and swears allegiance to India. She has even mentioned that she wants to die in India and have her last rites done in India. So isn’t she a full-fledged Indian ?
Fact is, a lot more Christians, Muslims, Parsis and Sikhs are loyal to India than what BJP propaganda indicates. And what that rabid pitbull Arnab Goswami claims in his screaming sessions.
Ms Anamika: You list out a number of criteria to determine whether someone is Indian. Let us apply the “Anamika test” to some cases. For instance, one element of the test according to you is:
“Indian are those with Indian passport, swearing allegiance to India. Foreign are those who do NOT have an Indian passport and do not pay taxes in India”
1. Are Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya, Lalit Modi etc. Indians? They hold Indian passports but do not pay taxes in India and have moved out of India. Doubtful if they still swear allegiance to India.
2. Are Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwariya Rai and the other 800 odd Indians in the infamous Panama Papers list Indians ? Applying the Anamika test will reveal that they hold Indian passports but funnel away the bulk of their income to offshore locations and illegally reduce / avoid paying taxes to india. Doubtful if they swear allegiance to India.
3. Ms Sonia Gandhi has an Indian passport, pays taxes to India and swears allegiance to India. She has even mentioned that she wants to die in India and have her last rites done in India. So isn’t she a full-fledged Indian ?
Fact is, a lot more Christians, Muslims, Parsis and Sikhs are loyal to India than what BJP propaganda insinuates. And what that rabid pitbull Arnab Goswami claims in his screaming sessions.
About time people called this bluff.
sure. i think we are on the same side of the argument… i should have been clearer: Sonia Gandhi = clearly Indian; Akshay Kumar = clearly not.
“Fact is, a lot more Christians, Muslims, Parsis and Sikhs are loyal to India than what BJP propaganda insinuates. And what that rabid pitbull Arnab Goswami claims in his screaming sessions.”
totally agree!
Mr/Mrs Kili
You must be a lawyer. Your cooment/answer is perfect.
Do you think whatever Arnab said about Sonia is that an issue that congress ruled maharashtra government should interrogate him for 12 hours? Do you think there is freedom of speech in India?
Thank you
Mr Hemant: Thanks for the response.
No, I am not a practising lawyer although I do hold a law degree and specialise in trade law. I am just a simple clerk in a corner office in a forgotten corner of the world Sir !
I do not know if the Maharashtra government interrogated AG for 12 hours due to his comments about Ms Gandhi. From a cursory analysis of his programme, I would conclude that he did not break any laws per se. However, many of his unsubstantiated claims, wild allegations without proof and character assassinations are defamatory in nature and could attract civil litigation should Ms Gandhi decide to go that route. Besides being unethical, unsavoury and disrespectful.
In any case, the one thing that is worrying in India is that press freedoms are circumscribed by whichever political party happens to be in power regionally and at the Centre. So had AG operated out of Uttar Pradesh, he might not have faced any questioning. Thus, it is not the Constitutionally guaranteed freedom of the Press that matters but its partisan interpretation by political parties. Do you think that Arnab Goswami would have had the guts to use the same language that he had used against Ms Gandhi on PM Modi, Mohan Bhagwat or Adityanath ? The answer is a NO. The press in India today, more so than in the past has become a mouthpiece for political parties. After all, India pioneered the concept of paid media didn’t it ?
As regards your question about whether India still has freedom of speech, which I choose to interpret as press freedoms, my answer is: NO. Sadly, India is at about the same level as Pakistan. Reporters Without Borders (rsg.org) produces an annual Press Freedom Index Report that you can access at rsf.org/en/ranking_table
Highlights from the 2020 report:
– 180 countries were ranked
– Norway is ranked at # 1 whilst North Korea is ranked at # 180
– India is ranked at # 142 whilst Pakistan is at # 145
– In comparison to 2019, India has fallen 2 notches.
Thus, what the mullahs and the military did to press freedoms in Pakistan, has been done by the RSS and the BJP did in India.
I think you are either cong(Kang) bias or yellow media fowler. I don’t want argu with you until you are object oriented person to that you have to prove yourself.. is that ok to you. If so tell me the Antonio Maino blunt mistakes.
Green chillies have squeezed into Congress men’s bump deep inside and they are unable to bare the effectiveness caused by those chillies !
We Indians are the biggest bigots and racists that this planet has ever seen. We call the people from the NE as chinki, people of African origin as well as our own people who have a darker skin as Kalia! As rightly stated everyone from the south aee madrasis and people from the north are bhaiyaas. People from the state of Gujrat and Rajasthan are both addressed as gujratis. We make jokes on the people from the Sikh community! All the men from West Bengal are babu moshais.. I’m sure the list can be endless with the tags that we have given to the people of our country that has a huge diversity.
Well said Iceman!
Indians abroad are the loudest to complain about racism at any perceived slight, never mind the fact that they do not respect African Americans or Africans or even darker skinned Indians. Indeed, there was a time in the 70s when Bal Thackeray and his thugs would go around roughing up South Indians in Bombay and screaming that the “kaala madrasi” had to leave Bombay.
For all her faults – real and imagined – Ms Sonia Gandhi is an Indian national and needs to be respected as an Indian. Not vilified and treated with disrespect as the Arnab Goswami and his backers in the BJP do.
The article in a national newspaper (actually, news sellers and narrative makers) is constructed on a unrelated, misplaced set of arguments. People of foreign origin can always work in India if they follows our laws. Do we have foreign CEOs? May be less, since many would fail to understand Indian market. Do we accept foreign CEOs? We do. It’s not a elected post to be accepted by citizen. Can the journalist point out anyone who came to India for education/employment and settled here, and failed to become CEO just because of his/her origins? At least a campaign against some one?
One popular CEO, we all can remember is Warren Anderson, the infamous CEO of Union Carbide India during Bhopal Gas tragedy. We all know what he did and how he escaped the Indian law.
Regarding politics, India still continues to nominate British origin Indians to parliament. Even, Antonio Maino is a long serving Parliamentarian. No problems. At the same time, Indians do have a choice of whom to elect and whom not to. If Antonio Maino, in your opinion, is a competent lady, please go and vote for her. You have a right.
You just cannot make opinions by peddling fake, misconstrued narratives.
Please change your way of reporting. Maximum Indians has recognised Print is an anti national platform. Issue of no commenting by Antonio Mario on Palghar mob lynching you are not raising, instead question raising on Arnav Goswami. Please stop this type of journalism. Sonia known person is taking bail in Palghar area you are not commenting . Now Antonio Mario and her full family has exposed in front of country. You the print try to become nationalist in place of chatukar.
Mr/Ms PKC: How does The Print’s criticism of a gutter-mouthed, rabble-rousing, rabid pitbull called Arnab Goswami and his paymasters viz. a political party called the BJP which swears by fascism amount to the newspaper becimg anti-national Sir ? Or are you too one of those unemployed gaurakshaks intent in creating another storm in your gomutra lota ?
If you have all the evidence in the world showing BJP funding to Arnab Goswami, why are you not going to court? Would that not be a serious conflict of interest (Compromising the integrity of the media). I do not like Arnab’s style of debating but that does not allow me the right to go about rumor-mongering without evidence. BTW, you are quite clearly a Hinduphobe, given the language you have used in your comment. Maybe, just maybe that’s not the best way to have a civilized exchange of views and get people to open up to your views.
I would rather support Adnan Sami for his honesty in taking Indian citizenship after long waiting. Sonia… honesty?… Period.
We Indians will not be fooled so easily by congress propaganda anymore. People who changed their surname for political gains can never be compared with Modi. wish as much as you want but false gandhi family happy hours are gone.
Mr/Ms Abhi: When you pontificate:
“People who changed their surname for political gains can never be compared with Modi”
Wonder if Dalits, Muslims, lower caste Hindus, South Indians, Nagalanders, Manipuris, Kashmiris, Sikhs, Tripurans etc. buy that line of thinking Mr/Ms Abhi. Any clarifications ?
Arnab Goswami is crazy man
What kind of people who have to write shit article . People who are head of google and Microsoft have that leadership and professional quality to lead the company but not the country. Companys works on profitability. And in every field it’s the same. Actor like akshay was born in India. Lived all his life in India. Sonia credential is only because she is married to Gandhi dynasty. I think even in print media we have sycophants. This kind of people does not see politics and their benifits then India.
Cheap! Where is any substantiation for BJP calling Sonia Italian in a denigrating manner, or relishing someone calling her? A tweet blown into 1,000 words is not an article. In a journalistic work, every statement should be backed with facts and data. This is simply throwing mud at someone. Very cheap.
What about Sonia calling Modi “Mauth Ka Saudagar”. Care to explain how that was not defamatory? Remember this was after the supreme court had cleared him after almost 12 years of political witch-hunt.
Akki is donating money for covid and madam j ji has a record of making money of innocent people of india, that’s different.
Do you like reply? Funny.
Well ,if the views are personal ,how it is on your paper? In other way you agree with writer. It is your choice , keep it up!
Seems that the editor has got it all wrong , I won’t waste my time arguing on this one.. he is bankrupt,out of ideas ?
The reason for disliking Sonia Gandhi INTENSELY is not her Italian background, but the fact that she, her dead husband, her dead mother-in-law, her dead mother-in-law’s father, her kids, and her son-in-law have all treated India (and continue to treat India) like their personal ATM. They are by default anti-national persons, it has nothing to do with their genetics. Nehru onward this country has been in the death-grip of the corrupt Congress. We’ll be glad to see it go. You lot who keep defending Congress have one thing in common – you’re doing everything in life to get a pat on the head from your white massa.
Rainy: The people of India voted for the Congress and the leaders that the Congress fronted didn’t they ? And honestly, is the BJP any different from the Congress ? They are both 2 sdies of the same coin. Just as Indira Gandhi ruled – I reiterate ruled – through a coterie of sycophants and yes men, so does Narendra Modi. Although, to Ms Gandhi’s credit, one might say that she didn’t run pogroms of the kind that Narendra Modi did. And she was not afraid of answering the press – unlike the graduate of Delhi University.
What are you talking about? She declared emergency just to hold onto power.
I don’t. Understand why is. Jyothi Yadav all behind Akshay Kumar AND ONLY BJP. why no news about Mamatha Banerjee, Nothing about Capt Amrinder singh, nothing about ashok Gehlot. Journalism means to be unbaised. But I have always seen The Print and it’s journalists find Congress as Ram and others as Ravan. ? After going through the Funds for print, I am disappointed and details who are handling the Print has made me that this is not Journalism. It is just a Hate against BJP, HINDUS AND developing India.
this is a bit rich even by usual paid bjp-it-cell standards!