Cong back on its knees: Sonia is Durga, history’s chosen one too

Rising Indo-Pak tensions may have robbed the daylong meet of a post-Guwahati fizz, but they certainly didn’t cloud the focus of Congress leaders. They were unashamedly sycophantic as one by one, they annointed Sonia as the undisputed head of the party and the next Prime Minister of India.

‘Durga’ is the title Delhi chief Subhash Chopra conferred on her, placing her on the same pedestal to which Indira Gandhi was elevated after the 1971 war against Pakistan. ‘‘Durga Ma Sonia Gandhi will kill the demons of terrorism and communalism,’’ he fawned.

Today’s AICC session was in stark contrast to the last one held at Talkatora Stadium in New Delhi. That was a special session called in May 1999 in the wake of the leadership challenge Sharad Pawar and P A Sangma mounted on the question of Sonia’s foreign origins. She was shaky, unsure and deeply emotional then as she first resigned and then withdrew her resignation from the post of Congress president.

Today, with slogans of ‘‘Sonia lao, desh bachao’’ ringing in her ears, she was confident enough to acknowledge that she alone cannot perform miracles. ‘‘It needs teamwork. We must put aside personal differences and our own self-importance to strengthen the party organisation and work as a team,’’ she told the delegates.

Arjun Singh set the ball rolling when he announced while moving the political resolution that the people of the country had accepted Sonia as their leader. There was Vasant Sathe who declared that he wanted to see Sonia as PM before he died. Ironically, the reply to that came from the BJP’s former strongman in Gujarat, ex-Chief Minister Shankar Sinh Vaghela. He told Sathe that he didn’t have long to wait, just three years till the next LS polls.

A little known party worker from MP, Satwant Kaur, showed she was equal to the stalwarts when it came to showering praise on the leader. ‘‘When you look at her, you see a Hindu, a Christian and a Muslim. She is secular,’’ she declared. Sonia clapped appreciatively.