Three women leaders with much in common -- and just as much different A World News feature by Earl Bousquet Guyana Chronicle May 25, 1999 THE resignation of Sonia Gandhi as leader of the (Indira) Congress Party following a stance by three senior members of her party that she cannot become Prime Minister of India because she was not born in that country must have sparked some degree of interest in Guyana, where President Janet Jagan is being challenged on similar grounds. Similar interest must also have been sparked in Pakistan, where former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's Western values are also being cited by her detractors in a country where religious and cultural passions run very deep. Mrs Gandhi and Mrs Jagan have much in common. They were born in Italy and the USA, respectively. Both were married to powerful political personalities. And in both cases, after the death of their husbands, their parties turned to them to galvanise support ahead of important general elections. In Mrs Bhutto's case, she rose to prominence much on the steam of her executed father's strong political image as a nationalist leader and prime minister before her. But there are also major differences between these three powerful women who succeeded their even more powerful husbands and fathers at the helm of their respective parties. Mrs Jagan, a Chicago-born former nurse who dedicated over five decades of her life to Guyana's struggle for voting rights, independence and democracy, eventually led the People's Progressive Party (PPP) that she and her husband established along with others in 1950, to a successful general election less than two years after the death of the late President Dr Cheddi Jagan. Much had to do with her experience and her own independent image among PPP supporters, which was definitely more than just being Cheddi Jagan's wife. In the case of Mrs Gandhi, her relative political experience is minuscule. She took to the platform long after her husband, Rajiv Gandhi - son of Indira Gandhi - was assassinated in much the same way that his predecessor (his mother) had been killed, in much the same way that the true father of Indian independence, Mahatma Gandhi, had been assassinated: close-up and violent, with bombs and bullets. Another fundamental difference is that unlike in Mrs Gandhi's case where the leadership broke ranks over the candidacy for the country's top job, Mrs Jagan's selection for the candidacy of the PPP hadn't been publicly opposed by anyone in the leadership of her party. Her only opposition came in the form of naked xenophobic sentiments expressed by her natural opposers in the People's National Congress, the major opposition party in Guyana, which the PPP/Civic alliance replaced after 28 years of crooked elections. It has therefore been an understandably bitter pill for the PNC to swallow, being beaten in free and fair elections a second consecutive time, this time by a PPP-led alliance under the leadership of a white American-born woman of Jewish historical origin. Mrs Gandhi was understandably "upset" that three members of her own party had publicly stated that someone not born in India should not lead the country. Other Congress party leaders would also be quite understandably upset at the latest turn of events, especially when all signs were that Sonia can lead Congress to victory in general elections just around the corner. The Congress faithful are naturally hoping that Sonia would have a change of heart and mind and not bow to the wishes of an unfaithful minority. Which she can, bearing in mind the natural fact that powerful and experienced parties seeking office in a country whose politics is as myriad in its character and numbers as India, would hardly allow such minority stirrings to derail a smooth ride to office - and power. One thing both leaders have in common is their Indian base. Another is the sheer hatred their respective political clans attract from their opponents. But their differing political personalities and experience bring logically different realities into play. Yet, the question of treatment of women political leaders also comes into play in all three cases: Mrs Jagan and Mrs Gandhi for their nationality, and Mrs Bhutto, not only for her lifestyle, but also because of entrenched attitudes to women and their roles in Islamic societies. Under siege from charges of corruption by the political and military authorities at home, Mrs Bhutto is overseas contemplating whether to return home to serve a recent jail sentence on yet another corruption charge, she having twice been toppled from government on similar charges. There are some very interesting aspects to Mrs Bhutto's political experiences since eventually assuming her father's position as Leader of the Pakistani People's Party (PPP) and leading it to two general election victories and serving twice as Prime Minister. Her husband has been in jail for the past two years, and is still facing a host of corruption and murder charges. A member of the country's Senate, he is occasionally released to attend court - and Senate meetings. His wife was recently sentenced by the son of the man who sentenced her father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, to hang after a military coup led by General Zia ul Haq toppled the government he led. While considering whether the Pakistani courts' decision to refuse to entertain her appeal against her latest conviction until and unless she returns home, Mrs Bhutto received word that her jailed husband had tried to kill himself. The reports were that the police had said he had tried to take his life in his cell by slitting his own wrists and throat with a broken glass. In an even more strange turn of events, the Pakistani Information Minister would later say Mrs Bhutto's husband was safe and unharmed, claiming the reports were false, and that they were a hoax by the Bhutto side aimed at diverting attention from the corruption charges against the former prime minister's husband. While the hate against Mrs Gandhi and Mrs Jagan has to do with where they were born and the colour of their skin, that against Mrs Bhutto has much to do with the fact that she lived and was educated in Western ways and presided over a country where Muslim fundamentalism runs deep. (Some prominent Pakistani women reacted much the same way when Imran Khan decided to marry a young British aristocrat instead of a native Pakistani or Asian woman.) But among the three, Mrs Jagan is undoubtedly the seasoned veteran who had demonstrated a capacity to resist and survive the onslaught by those who question her "umbilical legitimacy" to serve in the highest post in a country she has served in so many other important ways for so many years. The longest-serving member of parliament in Guyana alive today, President Jagan had already served a full fifteen years as a PPP Member of Parliament when her main challenger today, PNC Leader Desmond Hoyte, first entered parliament soon after arriving in Guyana from Grenada. Mrs Jagan's political experience came into play soon after winning her first five-year term as President, when she willingly agreed to give up two of her part's constitutional five years in the interest of preserving national peace in the face of the PNC's refusal to accept its defeat by the party she led, and its demonstrated preparedness to resort to chaos and anarchy to prevent her government from serving its constitutionally guaranteed term. In the 17 months since her election, President Jagan has admirably outdone PNC leader Desmond Hoyte in presenting a statesmanlike response to the crisis. She has been cool, calm and collective where he has been ebullient, bullish and bullying. These are the collective qualities, reinforced by long years of experience, commitment and dedication to the cause, that will ensure Mrs Jagan and the PPP's survival, even in the current escalated crisis in the country, whether or not Mrs Gandhi or Mrs Bhutto, and their respective parties, overcome their current ordeals. A © page from: Guyana: Land of Six Peoples