Sonia violated Constitution of India

By accepting the Order of Leopold, Ms. Sonia Gandhi has displayed an eternal devotion to Belgium and the monarchy, apart from violating the following provisions of the Constitution of India:

Article 18 of the Constitution of India reads as follows: “18. Abolition of titles. -(1) No title, not being a military or academic distinction, shall be conferred by the State.(2) No citizen of India shall acceptany title from any foreign State. (3) No person who is not a citizen of India shall, while he holds any office of profit or trust under the State, accept without the consent of the President any title from any foreign State. (4) No person holding any office of profit under the State shall, without the consent of the President, accept any present, emolument, or office of any kind from or under any foreign State.”

Article 14 read with the Preamble to the Constitution which guarantees to every citizen, equality of status. There are no objective guidelines for the manner in which the recipients are to be chosen and over the years, these awards have degenerated into rewards proffered by the powers that be i.e., the Government of the day, in great numbers, to those who serve their political ends.

A pertinent question to ask is: What political ends were served by the award of the ‘Order’ by Belgium on Ms. Sonia Gandhi?

The acceptance of an ‘Order’ of Belgium is clearly violative of the provisions of Articles 14 and 18 of the Constitution.

By accepting this Order of Leopold, Ms. Sonia Gandhi was made to belong to a social class apart from the class to which ordinary citizens of India belong. Why did she not decline the Order? Was the failure due to her nativity in Italy another European country like Belgium?

Previous recipients of the Order of Leopold include Yugoslav Communist leader Josip Broz Tito and former US president Dwight Eisenhower. One was a communist and the other was a soldier.

Ms. Sonia Gandhi should have returned the medal and the ‘Order’ stating that she cannot receive it as an individual since at that time she held an office of profit in India.

The President has done the correct thing in referring the issue to the Election Commission.

EC should pursue the notice it has issued to its logical conclusion and disqualify Ms. Sonia Gandhi as an MP.

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