Tarun Vijay has a great essay in the Times of India in which he compares Bobby Jindal’s successful run as the Governor of Louisiana to Sonia Gandhi’s successful ascension into Indian Politics. He argues the point that Bobby Jindal represents the American dream because he adapted to American society by espousing his values and by yes, even converting to Christianity. However, he argues that Sonia Gandhi doesn’t represent the Indian dream because she has never had to become truly “Indian” and has never come to respect and to understand Indian sensibilities. Sugary excerpt:
While being happy seeing Bobby Jindal working so completely to realize an American dream, see homeward and feel how ecstatic the Italians must have felt seeing their daughter reigning supreme in an ancient land of a great civilisation making decisions affecting a billion citizens with many of their leaders prostrating before her for material gains and political space. She is a Roman Catholic of an Italian origin, yet ruling over majority Hindus and gets support from her party and media with a big chunk of Hindu editors, workers, ministers and voters. To understand the importance of it fully, it's like an Indian Hindu lady, sporting a big bindi, born in Bhopal who never had a graduation degree, becoming chief of the ruling Republicans in Washington through dynastic route in such a manner that NYT would write-she is the super President and not the one who has been nominated by her to occupy White House!!
That's what India has done and look what she has done to Indians. Does she represent an Indian dream?
She could get away doing a favour to Ottavio Quattrocchi and pushing the button to demolish Ram Setu, a bridge so deeply revered by the majority and have no remorse on seeing her colleague questioning the identity of Ram in the land where Ram symbolizes the nation and the all inclusiveness and abysmal plurality of the Ram Bhakta Hindus allowed her to come on top through a family Para- drop.
In the land of Statue de la Liberté Bobby can't even dream to do that to any Indian caught in his state for violating US laws or sanction a plan to defile places related to Jesus or George Washington while aligning with Communists, the fountainhead of anti-American hate. He has to prove, at every step, that he is a better person to honour and protect American sensitivities and dreams than those who are 'Americans of American origin'!
That's the difference between a powerful nation and her awakened, conscious people and a weak society living in self-denial so painfully visible from Kashmir to Kohima.
Observing things from a distance, I think that the rise of Sonia Gandhi showed on the contrary that India was even more tolerant than any Western country could be. After all, Sonia Gandhi could never have had the political career that she has had anywhere else without having to wrap herself in the flag and having to espouse very nationalistic views to erase her Italian origins. Once again, I take the example of Sarkozy who had to run a campaign based on the protection of the French identity and on patriotism to be elected to avoid a trial on his “Francité” even though his mom is French. It is always healthy when people follow a leader in spite of her/his ethnicity, of her/his origins, and especially without s/he having to cover their “foreignness” by taking extreme positions so that it can be said that s/he is more patriotic and nationalist than the natives or those with “pure blood.” There is no doubt that Bobby Jindal represents the American dream, but when I close my eyes to forget to be blinded by his origins and to focus on his politics, I don’t like what I see. I don’t like the fact there is no separation between his Christian faith and his politics. Politics isn’t religion and faith when it becomes the center of political philosophy becomes inevitably toxic. What politicians do matters more than the glitz. If Sonia Gandhi is a terrible politician, it is not because she doesn’t represent the Indian dream or doesn’t understand Indian sensibilities, but rather because her politics and policy are wrong (I don’t believe that). In a healthy and democratic society, politics and policy are more important than ethnicity, race, imagery, symbols, and even dreams. The American dream has sustained the challenge of time and of politics, because it is about more than one-time accomplishment and fairy tales ending, but about the idea that at the end, you are what you do which means that in America, you are not born great, you become great, you become an American, you become successful.
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