Her life has been a fascinating journey from Italy to India, where she is the longest serving president of the oldest political party, the Indian National Congress. Yet very little is known about her, a number of eminent political editors admitting that she is the least understood Indian leader.
Over the years, she has shifted her private life into a well-guarded cocoon, and her public appearances are minutely orchestrated. It is quasi impossible to meet the 64-year-old secluded widow. sonia Gandhi is by nature reserved and discreet, and she has always genuinely dis- liked being in the spotlight. By restricting her public appearances, speeches and interviews, she has left her opponents, and the media, with very few arguments to use against her. Her chosen silence and calculated retreat have disarmed her critics and served her rather well. It has undoubtedly shaped and strengthened her political career.
By the end of the book, it is obvious that sonia Gandhi would never have acted differently. Her decision to play a useful but discreet political role dates from the first year of her marriage, when she was living in the towering presence of her mother-in-law, Indira Gandhi.
Consequently, the author was left with very little firsthand material, merely a few interviews given dur- ing a period of 20 years. some important questions, such as how she fought to become accepted as a leader of the world’s largest democracy and how she exercises power and exerts her influence, remain unanswered.
However, the author has conducted an in-depth research; she has successfully woven all the material into a colorful and lively portrait. she excels in the descrip- tions of Indira, sanjay, and Rajiv Gandhi’s deaths and their effect on sonia. the tone is emotionally charged but never melodramatic. the words carefully chosen convey in the most touching manner the insuperable pain of losing a loved one.
Incidentally, sonia Gandhi was born Edvige Antonia Albina maino on Dec. 9, 1946. Her father gave his three daughters Russian pet names, after three women from Russia who had helped him during World War II. Her elder sister was nicknamed Anouchka and her younger sister, Nadia. sonia even learned to speak Russian at an early age.
After she finished her schooling, she studied French
and English for three years in turin and then left Italy in 1965 to attend a language school in Cambridge. It was there, in a Greek-Cypriot restaurant, that she met Rajiv, who was having lunch with his friend, Christian von stieglitz. “We greeted each other and, as far as I was concerned, it was love at first sight. It was for him, too, as he later told me; he had in fact asked Christian earlier to introduce us,” recalls sonia.
three years later, sonia and Rajiv were married in a simple ceremony, without pomp and glitter. she wore a pale-pink cotton sari made from cloth that had been hand-spun by Jawahartal Nehru during one of his terms in a British jail. sonia’s father, who did not approve of the marriage, refused to attend the wedding ceremony. He eventually changed his mind and visited his daughter in India.
From the very beginning, Indira was considerate and affectionate toward her daughter-in-law and often took her on trips. While Indira was growing to love sonia as the daughter she never had, sonia was benefitting from the defining influence of one of the greatest leaders of the 20th century. “It was the best political kindergarten sonia could have had, and she absorbed everything osmotically, even though she was never interested in being a politician,” says singh.
During the 23 years they spent together, sonia and her husband have always been very close. Even three months before his tragic death, while she was working in Amethi, Rajiv sent her a message. their wedding anniversary, Feb. 25, which they had always celebrated together, was com- ing up and he wanted her to join him on an official visit to tehran: “I feel like being with you, only you and I, the two of us alone, without 200 people around us.”
A few months later, when she saw her husband on may 20, 1991, she was far from guessing what was about to take place. Rajiv, who had voted the same day, returned home around 4:15 p.m. He left almost immediately, after saying goodbye to his son and daughter. He was flying east and then south to cover three states on may 21, and the last stop was a small town in tamil Nadu to support a candidate. sonia expected to see him two days later on may 22: “I watched him... till he disappeared from view,” she says. she never saw her husband again. On may 21, a 25-year-old assassin, Dhanu, blew herself up. she would be known as one of the world’s earliest human bombers.
In the midst of her grief, and much to her dismay, sonia was unanimously elected to the post of president of the congress party. she flatly refused, because, as she explained later in an interview, she was devastated at that time and couldn’t even think about anything else.”
However, “a big part of her way of coping with the tragedy was to create a roadmap to complete her hus-
band’s unfinished dreams. With one half of the couple gone, it was left to the other half to take the project for- ward. sonia’s commitment to India is that unfinished agenda,” writes Rani singh.
In march 1997, she became a primary member of the congress party. Finally, on Dec. 29, she announced that she would campaign for the party. motivated by a staunch commitment, a different sonia emerged, a woman who no longer feared to talk in public. three months later, she became president of the party.
she was a driving force behind the Indian National Congress’ triumphal success at the 2004 elections, but faithful to her principles, she refused to become prime minister.
According to Dileep Padgaonkar, consulting editor of the times of India, by asking manmotan singh to become prime minister, sonia became a renouncer: “When you give up power, wealth, and prestige, this endears you to the people of this country more than anything else. One value that Indians cherish most is the value of renunciation. this adds to the mystique of the family.”
she knows that she can be more useful by stepping out of the limelight, but she still has the last word on essential political decisions. she has established the first National Advisory Council with experts from civil society to set up policies that could be presented to the government for implementation. sonia wants the government’s policies to improve the lives of the ordi- nary Indian.
there are no signs that sonia will step down as con- gress party president. unopposed in 2010, she was ree- lected for the fourth consecutive time, and a resolution was voted that amends the party’s constitution to extend the party president’s term from three to five years.
“It was not ambition that paved her path to power, but circumstance and tragedy. sonia’s story represents the greatest transformational journey made by any world leader of the last four decades,” concludes singh. Indeed, who could have predicted that the little girl growing up in a small Italian town would become a major political leader in India? Over the years, sonia Gandhi has, in fact, never ceased to surprise us.
this book leaves us wanting to know more about sonia Ghandi. An authorized biography has yet to be written. It is obvious that sonia Ghandi would not only entrust her children with that task, but she might also not even allow its publication during her lifetime.