EDITORIAL - Renouncing power

Philippine elections were held on the day general elections in India were ending. The Indian contest was bitter, but there the similarities with the Phi-lippines end. Filipinos could only watch with envy as the results of the vote in a nation of a billion people were known quickly, with no loser grumbling that he had been cheated. Even more admirable, Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who was so confident of re-election, also quickly conceded as his Bharatiya Janata Party was booted out of power by the Congress Party.

The world’s largest democracy, however, still had one last surprise, and it was the most admirable. Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, the Italian-born heir to the Gandhi dynasty, said during the campaign that she was not interested in becoming prime minister. When her party was swept to po-wer, she proved true to her word and announced that to end divisiveness, she was turning down a post that other people could only dream of getting.

"Power for itself has never attracted me," said Gandhi, who had avoided politics for years after the assassination of her husband, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Few people believed her; who would in this cynical world? During the campaign, she was the main target of vilification, criticized for being foreign-born and questioned about her fitness for the job of prime minister. Gandhi, however, pressed on, saying she had to defend the se-cular foundation of India. The BJP misjudged the public pulse, failing to comprehend the depth of Indian dissatisfaction over inequality and poverty.

In Congress’ victory, Gandhi proved her point. But there was one more thing she had to show to her adopted land – that there was more to life than the pursuit of power. In rejecting her party’s nomination to India’s highest post, Gandhi’s critics were shown to be nothing but the usual bunch of politicians with small minds and petty objectives. Filipinos could only applaud – and wish there were people like Gandhi in this country.