Meet helps package Sonia for the world

Willing to don the new mantle of an international activist, Sonia proposed setting up a Global Civil Society Forum, which would have representatives from all continents and would “remain engaged for consultations on problems confronting the world today”.

“Albert Einstein said ‘generations to come would scarce believe that such a man ever walked the earth in flesh and blood’, but the conference helped remind the current generation of Mahatma Gandhi,” said the rapporteur general’s report by Mani Shankar Aiyar. But it was equally the positioning of Sonia as a leader with universal appeal.

Sonia’s eagerness with civil society initiatives is already known—she is advised by several activists on important issues—and she is expected to experiment it at an international level now. The proposed forum could be a platform for concerns raised in a declaration adapted at the conference.

The declaration rejected “unilateralism” and sought to expose the futility of “violent and coercive means” to resolve conflicts, emphasised the need for making territorial boundaries irrelevant where “cultural frontiers are in an inclusive and ever-expanding mode and where local values merge in the ocean of universal humanitarianism”. The declaration also pleaded to the UN to declare Mahatma Gandhi’s date of birth, October 2, the International Non-Violence Day.

Sonia said that if the history of the world could be rewritten through a collective effort of all nations, prejudices against each other could be done away with.

In a rather pragmatic note, she said that despite India’s commitment to nuclear disarmament, world situation is not allowing the country to move in that direction.

The endorsement she got from her Indian allies too was significant—Sharad Pawar along with daughter Supriya Sule, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Ramvilas Paswan, Sitaram Yechuri, A B Bardhan and D Raja were present at the conference. “Sonia is not just an Indian leader, her appeal is global,” said Lalu Prasad Yadav.