Essays

Sonia Maino was born on 9 December 1946 to Stefano Maino , a building contractor, and Paolo Preledon on the 1'.inks of the Po in Orhassano near Turim in Italy (she is frond of three daughters). In 1965, she went to Cambridge in enroll in an English language school. She met Rajiv Gandhi at the Varsity Restaurant in Cambridge. He was at Trinity College then.

In year 1967, marriage of Rajiv and Sonia was announced.  In 1968, marriage of these two took place on the lawns of  The safdarjung  house of lndira Gandhi on Vasant Panchami  Day in  February, the same day Indira married Feroze in  1942; Sonia wore the same cotton pink sari that Indira had  Worn  for her wedding, the sari spun by Jawaharlal Nehru While in  prison.

In 1970, Rahul was born, Priyanka two years later. In 1980, Sonia became an Indian citizen. In 1980, Rajiv’s brather, Sanjay died in air crash in June. Rajiv was forced to enter politics—though Sonia opposed it vehemently. In 1981, she contributed to Rajiv's election campaign in Amethi.

In 1984, Indira Gandhi was shot dead. She then opposed Rajiv becoming prime minister. But reconciled and maintained a low profile as prime minister's wife.

On 21 May 1991, Rajiv died in bomb blast in South India.  She was then offered leadership of Congress but gracefully declined. During 1991-97, she focussed on Rajiv Gandhi foundation social work. In 1997, she joined the Indian National Congress. During 1998, she campaigned for congress in the Lok Sabha elections. In March 1998, she became party president. She was also selected chairperson of the parliamentary party.

On 22 April 1999, she informed the then President, K.R. Narayanan that she had support of 272 members after the NDA government fell; Samajawadi Party backtracked and Sonia lost face. In October of the same year, she won Lok Sabha seat from Amethi in UP and Bellary in Karnataka, but did not bring the party to power. She became the opposition leader.

During 2004, she launched Jan Sampark Abhiyan to counter L.K. Advani's Bharat Uday Yatra. She forged alliance with DMK in Tamil Nadu; NCP in Maharashtra; TRS in Andhra Pradesh and JMM in Jharkhand. March 2004 saw Rahul Gandhi nominated to contest from Amethi. Sonia decided to contest herself from Rae Bareli, and Priyanka Vadra campaigned for the Congress.

In May 2004, the Congress party got 145 seats out of 539 making it the single largest party. Sonia was elected Congress Parliamentary Party leader, but declined the post of prime minister and proposed the name of Dr Manmohan Singh to take over this post. While giving up the prime minister ship, Sonia has however retained her control over the organization and the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP). It was at her instance that the party constitution was amended to enable her to retain the CPP leadership. It will be a first in parliamentary history that the prime minister is not an elected, but a nominated person (Rajya Sabha member).

Italians are by nature happy persons. They have inner beauty. She does not look her age. Sonia is a slim, gracious, beautiful lady. She exercises tremendous self control. She has given the country new lease of life. Change is in the offing—change for the better. The country will indeed be beholden to her for good governance than ever before. The people are going to shower untold blessings on her for doing the country proud—nationally and internationally. India will soon be at its best—that is for sure.