Sonia Gandhi – ‘Madam’

Forbes magazine named Sonia Gandhi, the 4^th most powerful woman in the world. This was just after the Lok Sabha elections held then, which the Congress managed to win after years of life in the opposition. Much of the credit then was attributed towards Sonia Gandhi.

Sonia, managed to single handedly turn the tables on an all conquering opposition who had dreams of a shining India in their minds.

She is currently the President of The Indian National Congress party and Chairperson of the ruling United Progressive Alliance in the Lok Sabha. Born and brought up in a town called Orbassano, Sonia later moved to the city of Cambridge where she met Rajiv Gandhi, who was enrolled in Trinity College at the University of Cambridge. The two went on to marry each other and had two kids, Rahul and Priyanka.

Rajiv and Sonia stayed away from politics and preferred to keep a low profile away from the bright lights of the political world. However as destiny would have it, Rajiv entered politics after Sanjay Gandhi, Rajiv’s younger brother passed away in a plane crash. This was later followed by the assassination of Rajiv’s mother Indira. Rajiv then was elected Prime Minister. This was Sonia’s first official step in the political life of India, as the wife of a Prime Minister.

However, her world came crashing down, when Rajiv too was assassinated. She was later asked to become Prime Minister, however she out rightly refused it. What followed was a decade of dwindling fortunes for the Congress. They lost the elections in 1996 and kept spiraling downwards. Infighting in the party too was another reason for the party’s misfortunes. This prompted Sonia to enter politics. She was then made President of the Congress Party. She then contested lok Sabha election and managed to win quite easily. She later was elected as the Leader of Opposition, when the BJP led government under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee was in power.

What followed after that was the era of Sonia Gandhi in India politics, wherein the Gandhian way of politics made a re-appearance in Indian politics with a bang. On the back of Sonia’s Gandhi card, Congress managed to come back to power. This was followed by weeks of requesting and pressuring of Sonia to take up the prime minister ship. However, she refused to heed into the ‘Janatas’ demands and remained the President of the Congress party, nominating Dr, Manmohan Singh as the next Prime Minister.

The Congress has since managed to stay in power for over two decades. Sonia Gandhi still takes the main decisions of the party, however with Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi both in the fray now and both actively participating in the day to day politics of the country, the era of the new Gandhi generation is round the corner, with Rahul taking control of major party decisions and handling the youth congress party.

She has also been instrumental in supporting PM Manmohan Singh in facilitating the Lok Sabha approval of the Indo-US nuclear deal. She has also been instrumental in introducing various schemes that were initiated to help in the overall development of the country.

Sonia Gandhi has truly come a long way now, from being labeled an ‘Italian lady of foreign birth’ to being called the ‘The most powerful Indian woman in the world’.