Non-Resident Indians for a Secular and Harmonious India, along with three other organisations of NRIs, have asked the New York Times to disown the remarks made against Congress President Sonia Gandhi in a full page advertisement by the Gandhi Heritage Foundation on Saturday.
In a letter sent to the editors of the paper, the organisations said that the advertisement was not only in 'extremely poor taste' but also 'misleading and offensive'. The Indian Foundation, the Vaishnava Centre for Enlightenment and the NRI Coalition for Justice were co-writers of the letter.
The advertisement had questioned the credentials of Gandhi to speak at the United Nations on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and had accused her of 'misappropriating' her name to get political mileage.
Rebutting the allegations, the letter pointed out that she did not misappropriate the name of Mahatma Gandhi. "Gandhi is a common name in India. She was married to the late Rajiv Gandhi, hence her name is Mrs Sonia Gandhi. To say that she misappropriated her Gandhi name is an insult to your readers," the letter said.
Sonia, the letter pointed out, had herself campaigned all over the country in the last election and this was instrumental in bringing the Congress-led coalition to power. "How is that undemocratic, as alleged by the advertisement?" the letter asked.
India, the letter said, is a pluralistic society and its secular Constitution allows religious freedom. It also rejected the allegation that there have been forcible conversions to Christianity, pointing out that such conversions are illegal in the country.
