事实上，印度上一次2004年的大选，赢家是一个意大利后裔的信仰罗马天主教的女人（索尼娅·甘地 ） ， 她为一个锡克教徒（曼莫汉·辛格）向一个穆斯林教徒（阿卜杜勒·卡拉姆总统）宣誓就职总理铺平了道路，而该国的人口81 ％是印度教徒。
Indeed, India’s last general election, in 2004, was won by a woman of Italian heritage and Roman Catholic faith (Sonia Gandhi) who made way for a Sikh (Manmohan Singh) to be sworn in as Prime Minister by a Muslim (President Abdul Kalam) in a country that is 81% Hindu.