What renunciation?

The entire media cabal crowed in unison that Sonia Gandhi made a supreme sacrifice by abnegating the throne in 2004. Here are some samples of the effervescent praise she got:


Times of India:

letting go of the PM's chair will be inevitably seen as an act of unparalleled sacrifice [..]

Indian Express:

By choosing to 'humbly decline', she has played a masterstroke [..]
For one, it allows her to assume the high moral ground and signal that she was by no means enamoured of power for its own sake, but power for the principles she believes in

The Hindu:

The Hindu, which described Mrs Gandhi's decision a "stunning act of self denial and political renunciation", said she had "grown enormously in political and moral stature" after Tuesday.

"You have proven wrong all those critics who saw you as a power-hungry person," wrote the newspaper's commentator Harish Khare in an article 'Salute to Sonia'.

According to the BBC, most newspapers said Mrs Gandhi's decision was in the "true Indian tradition" of renunciation.

What am I getting at, you might ask. The fantastic sycophancy of the Indian media? Not quite.
I want to analyse how much renunciation Sonia Gandhi has really practiced over the past five years. It turns out that her decision was indeed a "masterstroke" - not for the reasons suggested by the Indian Express - but because it has allowed her an unparalleled reign of five years of power without accountability.

Here is a google search for the phrase "sonia to decide" (with the quotes). It throws up close to 6400 results. A search on "sonia to decide", without the quotes throws up 1,420,000 results. Here are some sample results:

'Sonia will decide my future' (State: Andhra Pradesh)

Sonia to decide nominees for 6 K'nataka seats (State: Karnataka)

Sonia to decide on axing Tytler, Sajjan Kumar (State:Delhi)

Sonia to decide on action against Alva (National)

Hamirpur by-election: Sonia to decide candidate (State: Himachal Pradesh)

It's for Sonia to decide: Amarinder (State: Punjab)

The Punjab Chief Minister, Amarinder Singh, said today any decision on whether or not he would continue in office was up to the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi,

Sonia to decide on Harayana CM (State: Harayana)

Sonia to decide on Rajasthan Chief ministership (State: Rajasthan)

Sonia Gandhi will decide next PM: Lalu Yadav (National)

DPCC leaves it to Sonia to decide candidates (State: Delhi)

Sonia to decide Madhya Pradesh Leader of Opposition (State: Madhya Pradesh)

CLP asks Sonia to decide fate of Rangasamy Govt. (State: Pondicherry)

Sonia will decide on polls: Dharam Singh (State: Karnataka)

AP CM wants Sonia to decide on Telangana issue soon (State: Andhra Pradesh)

Congress authorizes Sonia to decide presidential candidate (National)

Sonia to decide on South Goa bypoll candidate(State: Goa)

Sonia to decide on Congress Rajya Sabha candidate (State: Kerala)

Govinda says only Sonia Gandhi can decide his future (State: Maharashtra)

Sonia to name Chattisgarh CLP leader (State: Chattisgarh)

Sonia will decide nominees for 9 LS seats from state (State: Maharashtra)

'Sacrifice of power' did anyone say? Renunciation? Puh-leez! Self-denial? Phooey! The lady is having an orgasmic reign of power out there! She runs the country according to her whims and fancies, her likes and dislikes, and her personal preferences and opinions.


And she's not the PM. Quite scary.