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Sonia bashing at NCP's first national convention

A Special Correspondent in Bombay

"To be India's prime minister, you have to be an Indian. Because you must understand the Indian mind and the Indian character. You must respond to the joys and emotions of Pongal, Onam, Kadva Chauth and Holi. You cannot access these emotions through sycophants-turned-speech-writers," said the newly appointed president of the Nationalist Congress Party, Sharad Pawar, at the party's first national convention in Bombay today.

In a packed two-floor auditorium of the Shanmukhananda Hall, all the three expelled Congress leaders -- Sharad Pawar, P A Sangma and Tariq Anwar -- launched a scathing attack on the Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

However, right from the beginning it looked like Pawar's show. And the Maratha strongman had come prepared for it. "I have a dream. I have a dream for this country to share with you. We need a political leadership and competent management to make things work, we need youthful idealism to motivate and push us forward into the 21st century. And this party will work towards this," he said stealing a line from Martin Luther King.

"We will be positioned far away from the BJP and the Sonia Congress to provide a secular, transparent, and progressive political forum for all Indians who wish to participate in the process of nation building," he added to a thunderous applause. Soon the hall was reverberating to the only slogan that was heard throughout: Desh Ka Neta Kaisa Ho, Sharad Pawar Jaisa Ho.

Interestingly, all the delegates were wearing Gandhi topis. Huge portraits of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi were displayed along with the tricolour with charkha as the emblem. That the three Congress rebels were in no hurry to bury their past was quite obvious.

The NCP in its manifesto has ensured that there will be equal participation of women at all levels and that the party would make every effort to empower them through reservations. The manifesto also says that the party would endeavour to provide support to minorities at every level and attempt would be made to bring them into the mainstream of the Indian polity.

On the economic front, Pawar said: "Our effort will be to make India investor-friendly again. We will try and minimise the role of the State in market-related activities.''

The Indian Congress Socialist Party led by former chief minister of Assam, Sharad Chandra Sinha, merged with the NCP on the occasion. The party's charkha symbol was later adopted as the new outfit's election symbol. Sinha also presented a small wooden charkha to Pawar.

"Charkha, which once symbolised the freedom movement, will now stand for our struggle against Sonia Congress which needs a foreigner to rule the country," said Sinha.

Quite a few people from North-East too were present. The hall was over occupied and many people had to stand as there was not enough chairs available. In fact, many people could not attend the meeting as the doors were closed because of non-availability of space.

Earlier in his address, Sangma asked the gathered audience: "Is it not weird that at the end of the 20th century, Bharat, which has a civilisation of 5000 years, should attempt to opt for a person of foreign origin to head its government? How can we, with any sense of dignity, conduct ourselves as if we are subjects of a Holy Roman Empire?''

Tariq Anwar said that the party decided to have it's first national convention in Bombay because it was in Bombay where the Indian National Congress was born in 1885 and from where the freedom struggle began. ''Now we will ensure that the country does not have a foreign prime minister."

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