VIJAYA: The Congress has been milking this sacrifice story for so long, that I am surprised you've thought it fit to pull out this stale, cliche-ridden Bollywood drama of 'Kurbani -wali Bahu'. Let's see. A middle-class Italian of limited means comes to England. There she spies her main chance, son of the Indian Prime Minister, no less. Marriage brings her to India. Another ambitious impetuous bahu loses her husband, and as so happens with widows in India, loses her place in the Prime Minister's household. The middle-class signora now takes over. Even if she had inhibitions about Indian politics, she sheds them gradually after her husband's demise. Oh, incidentally, her middle-class family, the Mainos now come into a fair amount of wealth. And one stereo-typical Italian joker, Qattrochi, rules the roost in India. To an extent that he actually picks up the rax phone from PRIME MINISTER Rajiv Gandhi's desk for his personal use, in his absence. Recall, while Narasimha Rao was Prime Minister, the coterie of Mani Shankar, Ahluwalia, and others took extra efforts to project Sonia Gandhi as the royal widow? So, every time a foreign dignitary came to India, these worthies ensured this dignitary was compelled to pay a courtesy/condolence call on Signora Sonia. And the papers dutifully carried it on the front page. It was a role played to perfection. Do you seriously expect us to believe that Manmohan Singh is PM, a man of independent thought, and not a puppet run by Signora Sonia?
