Sonia Gandhi is an Italian-born Indian politician, who has served as President of the Indian
National Congress party since 1998. She is the widow of former Prime Minister of India,
Rajiv Gandhi who belonged to the Nehru–Gandhi family. After her husband's assassination
in 1991, she was invited by Congress leaders to take over the government but she refused
and publicly stayed away from politics amidst constant prodding from the party. She finally
agreed to join politics in 1997; in 1998, she was elected President of the Congress
party. She has served as the Chairperson of the ruling
United Progressive Alliance in the Lok Sabha since 2004. In September 2010, on being re-elected
for the fourth time, she became the longest serving president in the 125-year history
of the Congress party. Her foreign birth has been a subject of much debate and controversy.
Also controversial was her alleged friendship with Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi,
accused of being a middleman in the Bofors scandal. Although Sonia is the fifth foreign-born
person to be leader of the Congress Party, she is the first since independence in 1947.
Early life
She was born to Stefano and Paola Maino in Contrada Màini, at Lusiana, a little village
30 km from Vicenza in Veneto, Italy, where families with the family name "Màino" have
been living for many generations. She spent her adolescence in Orbassano, a town near
Turin, being raised in a traditional Roman Catholic family and attending a Catholic school.
Her father, Stefano Maino, was a building mason, who owned a small construction business
in Orbassano. Stefano fought against the Soviet military alongside Hitler's Wehrmacht on the
eastern front in World War II, he called himself a loyal supporter of Benito Mussolini and
Italy's National Fascist Party. He died in 1983. Her mother and two sisters still live
around Orbassano. In 1964, she went to study English at the
Bell Educational Trust's language school in the city of Cambridge. In 1965 at a Greek
restaurant she met Rajiv Gandhi, who was enrolled in Trinity College at the University of Cambridge.
Sonia and Rajiv Gandhi married in 1968, in a Hindu ceremony following which she moved
into the house of her mother-in-law and then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi.
The couple had two children, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Vadra. Despite belonging to the
influential Nehru family, Sonia and Rajiv avoided all involvement in politics. Rajiv
worked as an airline pilot while Sonia took care of her family. When Indira Gandhi was
ousted from office in 1977 in the aftermath of the Indian Emergency, the Rajiv family
contemplated to move abroad for a short time. When Rajiv entered politics in 1982 after
the death of his younger brother Sanjay Gandhi in a plane crash on 23 June 1980, Sonia continued
to focus on her family and avoided all contact with the public.
Political career Wife of the Prime Minister
Sonia Gandhi's involvement with Indian public life began after the assassination of her
mother-in-law and her husband's election as Prime Minister. As the Prime Minister's wife
she acted as his official hostess and also accompanied him on a number of state visits.
In 1984, she actively campaigned against her husband's sister-in-law Maneka Gandhi who
was running against Rajiv in Amethi. At the end of Rajiv Gandhi's five years in office,
the Bofors scandal broke out. Ottavio Quattrocchi, an Italian business man believed to be involved,
was said to be a friend of Sonia Gandhi, having access to the Prime Minister's official residence.
The BJP has alleged that she appeared on the voters list in New Delhi prior to obtaining
Indian citizenship in April 1983, in contravention of Indian law.
Former senior Congress leader and the currently the President of India Pranab Mukherjee said
that she surrendered her Italian passport to the Italian Embassy on 27 April 1983. Italian
nationality law did not permit dual nationality until 1992. So, by acquiring Indian citizenship
in 1983, she would automatically have lost Italian citizenship.
Congress President
After the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi and her refusal to become Prime Minister, the
party settled on the choice of P. V. Narasimha Rao who became leader and subsequently Prime
Minister. Over the next few years, however, the Congress fortunes continued to dwindle
and it lost the 1996 elections. Several senior leaders such as Madhavrao Sindhia, Rajesh
Pilot, Narayan Dutt Tiwari, Arjun Singh, Mamata Banerjee, G. K. Moopanar, P. Chidambaram and
Jayanthi Natarajan were in open revolt against incumbent President Sitaram Kesri and quit
the party, splitting the Congress into many factions.
In an effort to revive the party's sagging fortunes, she joined the Congress Party as
a primary member in the Calcutta Plenary Session in 1997 and became party leader in 1998.
In May 1999, three senior leaders of the party challenged her right to try to become India's
Prime Minister because of her foreign origins. In response, she offered to resign as party
leader, resulting in an outpouring of support and the expulsion from the party of the three
rebels who went on to form the Nationalist Congress Party.
Within 62 days of joining as a primary member, she was offered the party President post which
she accepted. She contested Lok Sabha elections from Bellary, Karnataka and Amethi, Uttar
Pradesh in 1999. She won both seats but chose to represent Amethi. In Bellary, she had defeated
veteran BJP leader, Sushma Swaraj. Leader of the Opposition
She was elected the Leader of the Opposition of the 13th Lok Sabha in 1999. When the BJP-led
NDA formed a government under Atal Bihari Vajpayee, she took the office of the Leader
of Opposition. As Leader of Opposition, she called a no-confidence motion against the
NDA government led by Vajpayee in 2003. 2004 elections and aftermath
In the 2004 general elections, Gandhi launched a nationwide campaign, criss-crossing the
country on the Aam Aadmi slogan in contrast to the 'India Shining' slogan of the BJP-led
National Democratic Alliance alliance. She countered the BJP asking "Who is India Shining
for?". In the election, she was re-elected by a 200,000-vote margin over nearest rival,
in the Rae Bareli. Following the unexpected defeat of the NDA, she was widely expected
to be the next Prime Minister of India. On 16 May, she was unanimously chosen to lead
a 15-party coalition government with the support of the left, which was subsequently named
the United Progressive Alliance. The defeated NDA protested once again her
'foreign origin' and senior NDA leader Sushma Swaraj threatened to shave her head and "sleep
on the ground", among other things, should Sonia become prime minister. The NDA also
claimed that there were legal reasons that barred her from the Prime Minister's post.
They pointed, in particular, to Section 5 of the Indian Citizenship Act of 1955, which
they claimed implied 'reciprocity'. This was contested by others and eventually the suits
were dismissed by the Supreme Court of India. A few days after the election, Gandhi appointed
Manmohan Singh as prime minister. Her supporters compared it to the old Indian tradition of
renunciation, while her opponents attacked it as a political stunt.
UPA Chairperson
On 23 March 2006, Gandhi announced her resignation from the Lok Sabha and also as chairperson
of the National Advisory Council under the office-of-profit controversy and the speculation
that the government was planning to bring an ordinance to exempt the post of chairperson
of National Advisory Council from the purview of office of profit. She was re-elected from
her constituency Rae Bareli in May 2006 by a margin of over 400,000 votes.
As chairperson of the National Advisory Committee and the UPA, she played an important role
in making the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and the Right to Information Act into
law. She addressed the United Nations on 2 October
2007, Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary which is observed as the international day of non-violence
after a UN resolution passed on 15 July 2007. Under her leadership, the Congress-led UPA
won a decisive majority in the 2009 general elections with Manmohan Singh as the Prime
Minister. The Congress itself won 206 Lok Sabha seats, which was then the highest total
by any party since 1991. She was also re-elected to a third term as a member of parliament
representing Rae Bareli. In 2013, Gandhi became the first person to
serve as Congress President for 15 years consecutively. In the same year, Gandhi condemned the Supreme
Court's judgement supporting Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code and backed LGBT rights.
In the 2014 general election, she held her seat in Rae Bareli. However the Indian National
Congress and the Congress-led UPA electoral alliance suffered their worst result in a
general election ever, winning only 44 and 59 seats respectively.
Personal life
Sonia is the widow of Rajiv Gandhi, elder son of Indira Gandhi. Sonia has two children,
Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi. In August 2011, she underwent a successful
surgery for an unspecified ailment in the United States. It has been widely speculated
in the media that the surgery took place at Memorial Sloan–Kettering Cancer Center in
New York. Newspapers reported that she returned to India on 9 September after her treatment.
Speaking on 18 July 2012, about her son taking a larger role in the party, she said that
it is for Rahul to decide. Sonia was listed as one of the fifty best-dressed
over 50s by the Guardian in March 2013. She follows the style quote " Simple is Stylish"
and looks no further than mother-in-law Indira Gandhi's "innate sense of fashion".
According to an affidavit filed during the Indian general election, 2014, Sonia had declared
assets worth Rs 92.8 million – Rs 28.1 million in movable and Rs 64.7 million in immovable
properties. This is an almost six-fold increase since her declaration in the last election.
Honours and recognition In 2004, Gandhi was named the third most powerful
woman in the world by Forbes Magazine and was ranked 6th in 2007. In 2010, Gandhi ranked
as the ninth most powerful person on the planet by Forbes Magazine. She was also named among
the Time 100 most influential people in the world for the years 2007 and 2008. New Statesman
listed Sonia Gandhi at number 29 in their annual survey of "The World's 50 Most Influential
Figures" in the year 2010. Books featuring Sonia Gandhi
Sonia Gandhi – An Extraordinary Life, An Indian Destiny, a biography written by Rani
Singh. Sonia Gandhi: Tryst with India by Nurul Islam
Sarkar. Sonia: A Biography by Rasheed Kidwai
The Accidental Prime Minister by Sanjaya Baru, 2014
See also
List of political families List of Italians
References
Further reading S. R. ET AL. BAKSHI Sonia Gandhi, The President
of AICC South Asia Books. ISBN 81-7024-988-0 Rupa Chaterjee Sonia Gandhi: The Lady in Shadow
Butala. ISBN 81-87277-02-5 C. Rupa, Rupa Chaterjee Sonia Mystique South
Asia Books. ISBN 81-85870-24-1 Moro, Javier "El sari rojo" "Il sari rosso"
External links Official
Indian National Congress Party profile Parliamentary profile at India.gov.in
Others Profile at BBC News
Profile at Forbes Sonia Gandhi collected news and commentary
at The New York Times Sonia Gandhi collected news and commentary
at The Guardian Sonia Gandhi collected news and commentary
at The Wall Street Journal Sonia Gandhi collected news and commentary
at Al Jazeera English Sonia Gandhi at the Internet Movie Database
Works by or about Sonia Gandhi in libraries Works by Sonia Gandhi on Open Library at the
Internet Archive Sonia Gandhi at the Notable Names Database