Indian Political Leaders - Sonia Gandhi

Chapter 3- Findings

3.2 Sonia Gandhi

Sonia Gandhi initially known as Sonia Maino was born on 9 December 1946 in the town of Orbassano, near Turin, to a building contractor and his wife.

She was raised in a traditional Roman Catholic household. Her mother and two sisters still live in Orbassano. In 1964 she went to Cambridge to study English at a language school.

Her life changed forever when she met her future husband, Rajiv Gandhi, who was studying engineering at the university. The couple married in 1968 and she moved into the house of her mother-in-law and then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi. She initially disliked Indian food and clothes and caused controversy when she was photographed wearing a miniskirt. But she spent the 1970s becoming steeped in Indian culture. Although she has learned Hindi, she is not a fluent speaker of the language. She no doubt also watched and learned as Indira fought a variety of political battles.

Italian-born Sonia Gandhi threw Indian politics into turmoil with her announcement that she does not intend to become the country's next prime minister. The 57-year-old widow of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had looked set to become the country's next leader following her surprise general election success. That would have made her India's first Roman Catholic prime minister. Mrs Gandhi is the latest torchbearer of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty. The dynasty has dominated the Congress party, which has ruled India for 44 of the years since becoming an independent nation in 1947. After distancing herself from politics after her husband's assassination in 1991, Mrs Gandhi was initially seen as a reluctant and almost reclusive politician. She officially took charge of the Congress party in 1998 and was elected to parliament in the last elections in 1999.

Her political opponents attempted to rake up her Italian descent as an election issue saying the choice for voters was between an Indian or foreign leader. But their appeal to xenophobia apparently fell on deaf ears. Media analyst Bhaskar Rao said: "The foreign origin [of Sonia Gandhi] was not an issue." Long before the election she surrendered her Italian passport in favour of full Indian citizenship. Sonia herself said in a television interview: "I never felt they look at me as a foreigner. Because I'm not. I am Indian.".

Rarely has a leader established or maintained a durable political niche on the explicit premise that he or she would be exempt from all public interrogation. Sonia Gandhi’s campaign style, as it was evolved in the 1998 general elections, made precisely such an affirmation. There was a marked preference for a declamatory approach and little interaction with either the electorate or the media. It was a campaign methodology that was, in the words of critics, akin to a "hit and run" strategy. Sonia’s campaign speeches sought to efface public memory on some of the more traumatic events of the recent past, in which the Congress(I) under the leadership of Indira and Rajiv Gandhi bore direct culpability. And the strategy was tailored in most instances, to the nature of the audience. Thus a crowd in Delhi comprising a large number of Punjabis was told of Rajiv’s deep sense of remorse over Operation Bluestar and the anti-Sikh pogrom of 1984, an audience in Hyderabad was treated to a narration of Rajiv’s resolve to stand in the way of the marauding hordes, rather than allow any harm to the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya, and a gathering in Bangalore bore witness to a virtual cry from the heart over the supposed campaign of vilification that her family had suffered over the Bofors scandal.

For the first time Independent India was given a prime minister who had no intention of becoming an elected member of the Lok Sabha . Sonia’s choice altered parliamentary parameters. And the Sonia Gandhi- Manmohan Singh partnership marked a new concept of power-sharing in politics. She is the power above the throne, which remained conspicuously apolitical.
One of the notable traits Sonia has acquired from Indira is aggression and the craft of using different people for different jobs without one knowing about the other.

She follows Indira’s legacy of rewarding the loyalists. She also know how to keep the bad eggs in her own party under control. She follows hierarchy and insists on a structured interaction with partymen. That is why she refuses to make direct contact with PCC presidents or the humble AICC secretaries or even the chief minister bypassing the AICC general secretary in charge. “ Proprietory is important to her”says UPCC President Salman Khurshid. “her instinct is to delegate” adds Ramesj. But that could not be the reason why she has made the once powerful CWC redundant.

Once upon a time a simulated leader who preferred to remain in denial behind the velvet curtain of the family, she now dominates the political space as the paramount lady.

Sonia is a familiar figure in Amethi, her husband's rural parliamentary constituency in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh which her son Rahul now represents. She herself represents the neighbouring seat of Rai Bareilly. In the 2004 general elections, Sonia launched a nationwide campaign, criss-crossing the country on the Aam Aadmi (Ordinary people) slogan in contrast to the 'India Shining' slogan of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) alliance. After her party's unexpected victory, she was tipped to be the next Prime Minister of India.

It was the most dramatic scene the Indian Parliament had ever witnessed. On the night of May 14, some 150 of the newly elected members of the Indian National Congress and allied parties took the podium one by one and begged Sonia Gandhi to accept the position of prime minister.

Gandhi -- the Congress Party President -- watched the drama unfold for four hours. But nothing would change her mind. "I have listened to my inner voice," she quietly told her supporters. She would continue as party leader and would work for the millions of Indians who voted for Congress in the May national election -- dealing a surprise defeat to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led government. But the new government would not be run by her. Instead, she named as prime minister her trusted adviser, former Finance Minister Manmohan Singh.

By turning down the top office, Gandhi set a new tone for public life in India. For much of its 55 years of independence, India has been mired in political corruption. Now ordinary Indians hope that Gandhi, who has never held high office and has a clean reputation, will tackle corruption and speed up India's development. Says Sanjay Kumar, a fellow at New Delhi's Center for the Study of Developing Societies: "Sonia Gandhi will try and ensure the image of the government as one that cares for the common man."

Her priorities are clear: “Keep the Congress and its allies stable, and support social welfare programs without dragging our feet on economic reform.”

Sonia is ranked 13 in the 100 most powerful women in world. However, India's most powerful woman rarely speaks to the media.