Arise Bharat

Vaarta newspaper.
Vijayawada 11/9/99, Saturday ,

If the report regarding Nehru’s views on people of foreign ancestry is accurate, then not only Congress President Sonia Gandhi but also her children, Rahul and Priyanka, would be ineligible to rule Bharat.

Dinesh Trivedi, a former Congress MP and leader from the Kutch area of Gujarat, now with Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) and residing in Calcutta, has reported an incident where Nehru explicitly opposed individuals of foreign ancestry holding public authority in India.

The Maharaja of Indore, Yashwanth Rao Holkar, sought to crown his son, Richard, through his American wife. The top constitutional leaders of the time—Prime Minister Nehru, President Babu Rajendra Prasad, and Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel—unanimously rejected this proposal.

The Telegraph, a Calcutta-based newspaper, published an article titled Videsheeyata (Foreignness) on the issue of foreign rule. Trivedi authored this piece, highlighting that all three prominent leaders of India firmly opposed the coronation of this “foreign son.” Consequently, the throne was passed on to his daughter, Usha Raje Holkar, who was born to the Maharaja’s Hindu wife.

Trivedi also recalled an important moment in India’s history, dating back to the Mauryan empire (324-323 BCE). When Greek Emperor Alexander left behind his successor, Seleucus, to continue the Greek conquest of India, Chandragupta Maurya, aiming to keep the Greeks out, proposed to marry Helen, Seleucus’s daughter. However, before the marriage, Chandragupta made it clear that any children born from this union would not inherit the Mauryan throne. This was in line with the long-established tradition that individuals of foreign ancestry were deemed ineligible to rule India.

Trivedi concluded that this enduring rule should be applied to Sonia Gandhi and her children.