It happened at Kapadwanj, where the Prime Minister looked on in bored silence as Health Minister Ashok Bhatt worked on the emotions of the crowds with much finesse. He implored them to ask Sonia ``when and if she comes here'' the name of ``our Indian states, our great rivers, our Wagholi satyagraha. She will not know. A fifth standard teacher will not pass her, but she is dreaming of becoming the Prime Minister of our country.'' Heavy rhetoric, but except for a few polite laughs, there was not a murmur from the one-lakh strong gathering, that looked on, expressionless.

It happened again at the first publicmeeting addressed by Advani at the lower-middle-class locality of Ranip Bazaar in Ahmedabad. Local BJP leader Ashwin Banker not only called her an ``opera singer'', taking considerable pains to explain to the people that it meant ``a ben (woman) who sang at clubs'', but also informed them that she had barely passed her 12th standard and no one knew what her gotra was. The crowd reaction was similarly ominous. No cheering, no hooting, no comments.

It is strikingly obvious. Even in the BJP bastion of Ahmedabad, where the party has been in continuous local governance for the past 13 years, and ``Advaniji'' has attained almost demi-god status, the people are not buying Sonia's foreign origin theory. And snide remarks about her background are not appreciated.

``She is new to politics, she cannot speak Hindi properly, her party does not seem to be totally under her control, look at deserters like (P.A.) Sangma and Sharad Pawar, she will not be able to govern,'' says young and eager BJP supporter Anil G.Sanesan, a messenger boy at a multinational company, enlisting reasons why he would not like to see her as prime minister. But, he adds, ``It doesn't make any difference if she is from Italy. The main concern is that the country should be governed properly -- whether Atalji does it, or she does. At the moment, I think, the BJP will do it better.''

With 70 per cent literacy, news is a favourite pastime here and more than 12 locally published Gujarati dailies help keep voters aware of political developments. Parties need to keep their eyes open, the voter here is intelligent and aware. ``If Sonia Gandhi is a foreigner because she was born in Italy, even Lal Krishna Advani and I.K. Gujral are foreigners because they were born in Pakistan,'' retorts Abdul Salim, a Malayalee tea vendor, who has been in Gujarat for the past 10 years. ``She is our Rajiv Gandhi's widow and we should respect her at least for that,'' he adds.

The BJP campaign against Sonia's origin is rubbing most people the wrong way andresidents, especially those in the economically backward segments, are letting their disgust show. Says Kantibhai Ranchodbhai Parmar, a 58-year-old security guard: ``Sonia Gandhi has seen pain. Her husband lost his life because of the country and our sympathies are with her because of this.''

Parmar says he knows Sonia Gandhi is not from India. ``She is from France, I think,'' he adds after much thought, and then dismisses it by saying, ``It does not matter. When a woman gets married, she adopts the customs of her in-laws' house and she has done the same. It is wrong to criticise her Hindi and her lack of knowledge about our country. She is trying to learn and we should encourage her. If my son marries a videshi girl, we will be proud of her attempts to mould herself according to our needs.''

Housewife Ranna Mehta, 35, is not happy at the charges of being ``kaalmukhi'' (a bad omen) that have been levied on Sonia by BJP leaders. ``You cannot blame her for the death of her near ones,'' she points out.``The reason why I wouldn't vote for her are that Vajpayee makes a better prime minister. The question of her `Italianness' does not arise. She has no experience and will not be able to rule like Indira.''

Not everyone agrees with that either. ``Our country needs a good government, whether the prime minister was born in Italy or in India does not matter. Sonia has proved she is an Indian at heart by marrying Rajiv Gandhi and adopting India as her country. She has also proved her ability to govern by managing the activities of the Congress party so efficiently,'' says businessman Neel Shah.

It is in the middle class that reservations are being expressed about an Italian heading Indian democracy. ``No person of foreign origin should be allowed to hold the highest office of the country. It shows bankruptcy of intellectual capability among Indians. I personally feel no democracy of India's size should look outwards for a leader,'' asserts businessman Tariq Anwar. ``If Italy cannot have an Indian PM, whyshould India have an Italian PM?'' questions office clerk Pratapsinh Rathod.

The people may not be with her in general in this saffron-dominated business belt, but most, especially women, strongly feel decorum needs to be maintained. ``It is in extremely bad taste to parade her origin and make fun of her accent at public meetings,'' notes school teacher Noopur Panwar.

Archana Sharma, deputy manager at the Ahmedabad Stock Exchange, goes one step further. ``I don't have anything against her origins. If she had adopted an Indian male as her husband and India as her country, she is as Indian as anyone else,'' she says. And in a warning to the BJP, adds: ``It's just that her level of understanding cannot be mature enough and at the moment she does have a language barrier. Another 10 years, (and) she might be the right choice.''