Gandhi, Sonia

Sonia Gandhi is the leader of the ruling Indian National Congress party and a Member of Parliament from Rae Bareilly, the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Sonia Gandhi is possibly the most powerful individual in India, holding unquestioned leadership of the most prominent political party and proven outreach to the poor masses. She also has the support of the prime minister of India, Manmohan Singh-a man largely perceived to be qualified and ethical.

Sonia Gandhi's emergence as a public figure is intertwined with the family that she became related to after her marriage to Rajiv Gandhi. Her husband Rajiv belonged to India's most prominent political family, which includes Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister, and his daughter Indira Gandhi, a four-time prime minister of India.

Sonia Gandhi (born as Edvige Antonia Albina Maino) was born December 9, 1946, in Lusiana, Italy, [Page 596]into the middle-class family of Stefano and Paolo Maino. She was raised with strict Catholic values. Gandhi was attending Cambridge University when she met Rajiv and married him in 1968. Gandhi moved to India, where her husband worked as an airline pilot. They resided in her mother in-law's home, as she was then the prime minister of India.

Sonia Gandhi is possibly the most powerful individual in India and the leader of the Indian National Congress party.

Sonia Gandhi was reclusive, and focused on one of her passions-restoring art. Gandhi has a published book titled Rajiv, and is the editor of a volume on letters exchanged between Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi from 1922 to 1964 titled Freedom's Daughter: Letters Between Indira Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru and Two Alone, Two Together: Letters Between Indira Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru 1940-1964.

Her publicly proclaimed aversion to politics ended when her husband became the prime minister and joined the political foray after his mother and prime minister Indira's assassination. Seven years after the assassination of her husband Rajiv, Sonia Gandhi campaigned and became an office holder in the Congress Party. Gandhi's campaign resulted in the party reemerging as the largest party, which eventually formed the government at the center in the semi-federal structure of governance in India. She was recognized for her successful debut as a stellar campaigner, and displayed her mastery over the official language of India (Hindi) and for understanding the common man.

In the process of her own political initiation, she has single handedly revamped and reorganized the leaderless Congress Party, according to popular and political commentary. She gained a spot in Indian history, in the true Gandhian style, when she turned down the post of prime minister, recognizing that many considered it inappropriate for a non-Indian-born candidate to hold the position of highest authority in a country with a long history of colonization by British. In her role as senior politician and party head, Gandhi has proven her political savvy by forging and maintaining political ties with numerous regional parties. She has managed to rekindle the Gandhi-Nehru legacy of a poor-oriented, rural-focused, and secular Congress.

In addition, she is given credit for facilitating the efforts to create a more transparent and effective administration through various laws and bills, such as the passage of Right to Information Act 2005 and Rural Employment Scheme. Surmounting controversies and personal tragedies, this woman of European descent is now considered a leader among the varied population of India.

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