Sonia Gandhi

Sonia: Queen of hearts
Sonia Gandhi – the name is enough. Devi, mahadevi, Congress president, UPA chief, Super Prime Minister, Edvige Antonia Albina Maino… call her by any name, it still remains Sonia Gandhi.

From Mahatma Gandhi, Sarojini Naidu, Pandit Jawarhar Lal Nehru, Lala Lajpat Rai, Sadar Patel to even Indira Gandhi have not achieved what Sonia Gandhi has, occupying 10 percent of Congress history. All the past presidents of the Indian National Congress enjoyed no more than a single term or a double term at the most. Sonia as 59th president has come to occupy 10 percent of 125 years of the Indian National Congress and the country.

The last word in Indian history belongs to Sonia nee Maino. From a small town Italian girl to super mother India, Sonia has come a long way.

Sonia was named the third most powerful woman in the world by Forbes magazine in 2004. She was also named among the Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world for the years 2007 and 2008.

In the last 12 years as party president and ever since she entered India with husband Rajiv, Sonia has seen many ups and down.

Sonia was up, close and personal with her mother in-law Indira Gandhi, watching the days of Emergency from the shadows of grand old lady. Then she saw her mother in-law fight back fierce opposition and become Prime Minister again in 1980.

After the assassination of Indira Gandhi, it was Sonia that took her mother in-law to AIIMS. And later when Rajiv was readying to join politics, she is believed to have opposed him.

In a brutal turn of events, Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by the LTTE, leaving Sonia with son Rahul and daughter Priyanka. The nation was with her in grief.

While the Congress won the 1991 elections, she herself stayed in the background. But was cajoled into joining the Congress party in 1997. A year later she became the party president with much drama behind closed doors.

After trying hard and failing, Sonia took up the challenge of ‘India Shinning’. With limited resources at her command and low morale of the Congress leaders who had not seen power for over 12 years, Sonia launched a campaign, which seemed like if the Congress was running with crutches. Ambitious leaders like Sharad Pawar and P A Sangma were gunning for the Congress party after having branched out criticising her foreign origin. The Congress had not won central elections under her presidentship. The party started attacking the Bharatiya Janata Party with gusto.

“India was not shining!” The Congress started saying.

But Sonia keeps ears on the ground. She has developed an excellent understanding of politics. It is visible from a simple example. This correspondent happened to interact with Sonia Gandhi at a tea party hosted by the Congress president. She walked up and started chatting. This correspondent started explaining the flaw of the Congress attack in its fight against the BJP. The argument was the Congress should not take it upon itself to elaborate whether India was shining or not, rather the Congress should talk of the common man. “You should talk about what is the state of the Common man,” this Correspondent explained to the Congress chief. She looked up, nodded while eating fried potatoes. After a few more sentences, Sonia was gone. But the changes could be seen after a week or ten days of campaigning. The Congress was indeed talking of aam admi.

The Congress with the help of 14 odd parties shot back with a bang reviving the party giving a boost to the sagging morale of her coterie and Congress workers. The party got down to serious business of running the affairs of the nation.

From the closed precincts of 10 Janpath, the lady with a limited edition smile oversees the functioning of the country without the official mandate of running the day-to-day affairs. For that, Manmohan Singh was selected immediately after the Congress leaders threw their weight behind Sonia.

Nevertheless the lady is sensitive to public criticism. She resigned from even the Parliament in 2006 and even from the National Advisory Council after the controversy of ‘office of profit’ erupted. Though she won with a thumping majority, with her resignation she won the admiration of crores of people.

Winning with a better margin, the UPA is in its second term. Today, Sonia Gandhi is untouchable, unreachable and inaccessible.

Many MPs hope that Sonia would remember their name, pass a smile or even pose for a photograph if she happen to campaign in their constituency. She rules with an iron fist. A member of Parliament from Andhra Pradesh approached ‘Madam’ to remind her of some work. An irritated Sonia snapped her finger and curtly told the MP not to bug her. The MP apologised profusely and withdrew from scene.

Sonia Gandhi is strict to her Congress folk, dictatorial to a point, and ruthless in her calculations. She runs the party and the government in the same vein. Supported a group of trusted lieutenants Congress leaders like Ahmad Patel and Oscar Fernandes and few friends, she successfully runs a vast organization and keeps a tab on the performance of the government.

However, what is lacking is that she is not meeting enough party workers. Even press interviews have been limited. She is not open to meeting second rung leaders. At times, even Cabinet ministers are vary of paying her a visit.

“A Cabinet minister also thinks twice before meeting her. The agenda of the meetings has to be clear. They don’t want to get on the wrong side,” says a leader privy to the things.

Nobody in the party has the guts to pick up a call and place a call to 10 Janpath. Ditto for walking into Congress president’s office on Akbar Road that rarely opens or even inside the Parliament of India. The Congress has virtually given its spine to counter the power that the baton wields from number 10.

Building Dreams

Sonia has adopted a cautious approach, never over committing and delivering to the people. “The Congress never promises the moon. It is working on plans and has been delivering. From Right to Information to Women’s Reservation Bill, Sonia brand of giving in phases is visible in the UPA,” commented an anti-Sonia leader who branched away from the party.

Far from being ‘Gungi Gudiya’ as some reports made her out to be, Sonia is sharp, quick on the up take and keeps feet on the ground. In difficult situations, she has a point of her own.

Recently, when the Prime Minister’s office was going off track on the right to education, Sonia set the record straight by writing a simple letter to Manmohan Singh. It was enough indication to the Prime Minister sitting in his South Block office.

Her compassion and understanding for the Indian things have taken her places. According to the All India Congress Committee website, her interests include reading Indian contemporary, classical and tribal art, Indian handlooms and handicrafts and, both folk and classical music.

Killing the Opposition

Perhaps, Sonia realises that the best way to ward off opposition is not to give in to the game of lowering the level of attack. Her enemies have silenced down. The Bharatiya Janata Party “foreigner” attack has lost steam. It has stopped being an election issue. “She stuck to her stand of being an Indian widow earned her admiration from within the BJP also. Indians being emotional, the foreigner issue was a non-starter,” remarked a senior journalist Sunil Chawake.

There are reports that President A P J Adbul Kalam had called certain court files against Sonia Gandhi and had even sought advice from Constitutional experts, but legally there was nothing stopping Sonia from becoming the Prime Minister. After the elections results of 2004, Congress leaders in the Parliament’s central got up to swear allegiance by the name of Sonia, it was getting clearer by the second how the party had fallen and was towing the line of the Gandhi.

However, amid the bitter opposition, Sonia decided to let things rest in peace and gave up the thought of sitting in the prime minister’s chair. It was a sacrifice, non-the-less that elevated her status to that of a devi. Now the devi is planning to pass the baton to her son Rahul, reportedly being pushed into the political arena. The prime minister’s chair is ready for him, but he is taking his time. While media and Congress folk are always speculating when Priyanka will take charge, but the family keeps such decisions close to its heart. The queen of hearts likes to keep her cards close to her heart.