Foreign origin PIL on May 26

As a five-year-old PIL against Sonia Gandhi8217;s foreign origin sprang to life today with the Delhi High Court advancing its hearing from ...

As a five-year-old PIL against Sonia Gandhi8217;s foreign origin sprang to life today with the Delhi High Court advancing its hearing from July 20 to May 26, the NDA Government8217;s affidavit in that case makes it clear: Constitutionally and legally, there is no bar on Sonia becoming the Prime Minister of India.

The 18-page affidavit was submitted by Arun Jaitley8217;s Law Ministry in 2001 in response to the petition filed by the Rashtriya Mukti Morcha when Sonia staked claim for the first time in 1999 after a vote of no-confidence had been passed against the Vajpayee Government by a margin of a single vote.

The NDA8217;s affidavit, sharply at odds with its political rhetoric, said: 8226; 8216;8216;There is only one class of citizens in India and once a citizenship is acquired 8230; there is no distinction in the citizens thereafter either under the Constitution or under the Citizenship Act 1955.8217;8217; 8226; The law does not discriminate between a citizen by birth and citizen by registration. 8226; Sonia Gandhi was registered as a citizen in 1983 because she was found to have fulfilled two criteria: she was married to an Indian citizen and had been living in India for at least five years. 8226; The Vajpayee Government also demolished the petitioner8217;s attempt8212;echoed by BJP leaders now8212;to draw strength from the US Constitution which expressly bars a citizen not born in that country from becoming its President.

The fact that the Indian Constitution contains no such distinction shows 8216;8216;a conscious effort8217;8217; on the part of the founding fathers 8216;8216;not to make a distinction between the single class of citizens,8217;8217; the affidavit said.

A bench comprising Chief Justice B C Patel and Justice B D Ahmed advanced the hearing today after RMM8217;s counsel P N Lekhi argued that the case be heard early on account of the 8216;8216;fresh possibility of Sonia Gandhi becoming Prime Minister.8217;8217;