They call her heroin, an Indian princess and the most influential political figure in India. Sonia Maino Gandhi was born on December 9, 1946 in Italy, in the town of Lusiani, near Turin. Though she was elected to the premier of India at the 2004 election, she refused that function. Sonia Gandhi then briefly said she was withdrawing because she wanted India to have a strong and stable government. Before the 2004 election, Sonia Gandhi was a political outsider, which the political opponents called “the Italian housekeeper”. After the elections she held a triumph, winning the majority of votes. After the election and victory, Sonia turned to the nation in English with a strong Indian accent: “I’m standing here on a land soaked by the blood of my husband. For me, it will not be a greater honor than to share his destiny for the good of our country. “She held the political mandate and position of the leader of the largest and at the same time the ruling Congress Party in India. An interesting fact is that Mrs. Sonia Gandhi was elected President of the Congressional Party, just one day after her husband’s death, although none of the party members asked if she wanted to. She refused this position, and after six years in 1997 she finally agreed to take over the leadership of the Congressional Party.

Although in the lead position, Ms. Sonia did not exhibit much, did not appear to the public, did not give interviews in “4 eyes”, rather surrounded by people from her party, and many have called her „the Sphinx“, „Enigma“ or „Mona Lisa“.
At first it seemed that Mrs. Sonia would continue the mission of the most prominent family – the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, which has ever ruled India, but that has not happened. Middle and higher class of India think that Sonia is “the remnant of an extinct dynasty in India,” but most voters have nothing against the dynasty. Sonia as part of the Nehru-Gandhi family witnessed many tragedies that occurred in India. Her mother-in-law, Indira Gandhi (the daughter of the first prime minister of India, Javaharlar Nehru), was killed 1984 by the people from her security. Sonia’s husband, Rajiv Gandhi was killed by a Tamil fanatic in a suicide attack in 1991.
This charming, self-confident, and silent woman managed to travel and visit all of India one month during the political-election campaign. Some theorists say that lastnames are the secret of her success, sucha as old Latin proverb says “Nomen est omen”. This youthful woman is fluent in Hindi, and her entire image builds on Indian culture and tradition, started from her marriage to Rajiv in the late 1968. Sonin’s pattern in all is Indira Gandhi’s dress. Most commonly we can see her in traditional Indian clothing “sari”. It is believed that Sonia has the largest collection of sari’s in India. In India, there is a big gap between the urban and rural parts of the country. This vast country has complex problems, complicated and conflicting interests and complex identity. Sonia’s language is loudly speaking about the problems of peasants, unemployment in the country, electricity supply problems, roads and infrastructure’s problems.
Therefore, Sonia easily finds a place in the hearts of all Indians. But also, we can freely say, to all the people of the world. Sonia Gandhi, we just can not dislike you. Thank you very much, dear Sonia.

P.S. If you are interested in India and Sonia Gandhi, read the great novel “The Red Sari” by Javier Moro (Original title “El Sari rojo”, author: Javier Moro).

photos: en.wikipedia.org