Sonia Gandhi (Edvige Antonia Albina Maino) is the interim President of the Indian National Congress, a left-wing political party in India. Seven years after the assassination of the then Prime Minister and her husband, Rajiv Gandhi, she took over the leadership of the party in 1998. Sonia acquired Indian citizenship in 1983.
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Name |
Sonia Gandhi |
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Birth name |
Edvige Antonia Albina Maino |
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Date of birth |
December 9, 1946 |
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Place of birth |
Italy |
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Year old |
76 years |
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Couple |
Rajiv Gandhi |
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Children |
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Rahul Gandhi |
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Nationality |
India |
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Job |
Politicians |
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political parties |
Indian Parliament |
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Important position |
Longest serving President of the National Assembly Opposition leader |
Sonia Gandhi: Childhood, Family and Education
Edvige Antonia Albina Maino was born on December 9, 1946 in a small village near Vicenza, Italy to Stefano and Paola Maino. She grew up in a traditional Roman Catholic Christian family. Sonia’s father Stefano built Manson and established a small business in Orbassano. He also fought against the Soviet army alongside Hitler’s Wehrmacht on the eastern front during World War II. Stefano was a staunch supporter of Mussolini and the Italian National Fascist Party.
Sonia finished school at the age of 13 and wanted to become a flight attendant. In 1964, she went to the Bell Educational Trust language school in Cambridge to study English after attending primary school at local Catholic schools.
Sonia Gandhi: Personal life
In 1964, she met Rajiv Gandhi at the Varsity rooftop bar in Cambridge while working as a barmaid there. At that time, Rajiv Gandhi was an engineering student at Trinity College, Cambridge University. In 1968, Sonia and Rajiv married according to Hindu ceremonies and moved to India. She started living with her mother-in-law and the then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi.
The couple gave birth to two children– Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Vadra. Both Sonia and Rajiv stay away from politics. Rajiv worked as a pilot and Sonia was then a housewife. After the death of his younger brother Sanjay Gandhi on 23 June 1980, Rajiv Gandhi entered politics in 1982.
Sonia Gandhi: Political career
In 1984, Sonia Gandhi entered politics when she campaigned for Rajiv Gandhi in Amethi against her sister-in-law Maneka Gandhi. After five years of Rajiv Gandhi’s rule, the Bofors Scandal broke out. According to some reports, Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi is related to and is said to be a friend of Sonia Gandhi, who has access to the Prime Minister’s official residence.
In 1991, after the assassination of then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi refused to become Prime Minister and PV Narasimha Rao was appointed Prime Minister of India. In 1996, the Congress lost the elections and several senior leaders left the Congress Party.
Sonia Gandhi joined the Congress Party in 1997 as a member of the Calcutta Session. She became the party’s leader in 1998.
In May 1999, three senior Congress leaders—Sharad Pawar, PA Sangma, and Tariq Anwar—challenged Sonia’s right to become Prime Minister of India due to her foreign origin. As a result, Sonia offered to resign and the members were expelled and subsequently formed the Congress Party.
In 1999, Sonia Gandhi contested from Bellary (Karnataka) and Amethi (UP) and won both the seats but chose to represent Amethi. In Bellary constituency, Sonia defeated veteran BJP leader Sushma Swaraj.
In 1999, Sonia Gandhi was elected leader of the opposition in the 13th Lok Sabha.
During the 2004 General Election in India, Sonia Gandhi launched the campaign “For whom does India shine?”. This slogan is against the BJP-led NDA, which has the slogan “India Shining” and supports the people of India. She won the election and is expected to become the next Prime Minister of India. On May 16, she was chosen to lead a coalition government (15 parties) called UPA (United Progressive Alliance).
Amid that, veteran BJP leader Sushma Swaraj threatened that if Sonia became Prime Minister of India, she would shave her head and sleep on the ground. The NDA further stated that Section 5 of the Indian Citizenship Act, 1955 implies reciprocity.
A few days later, Sonia nominated Manmohan Singha as her choice as Prime Minister and party leaders welcomed her decision. On 23 March 2006, she announced her resignation from the Lok Sabha and also as the chairperson of the National Advisory Council amid the profits controversy and speculation that the government was planning to bring an ordinance exempted from the position of chairman. of the for-profit National Advisory Council.
In May 2006, Sonia was re-elected from her Rae Bareli constituency by over 400,000 votes.
Sonia Gandhi played a key role in translating the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and the Right to Information Act into law. The United Nations passed a resolution on 15 July 2007 designating October 2 as the International Day of Nonviolence. On October 2, 2007, Sonia Gandhi addressed the United Nations.
Congress again won the 2009 General Elections, winning 206 Lok Sabha seats under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi. Sonia was re-elected for a third term as MP from Rae Bareli.
In 2013, Sonia Gandhi became the first person to serve as Congress President for 15 consecutive years. The same year, Gandhi condemned the Delhi High Court’s verdict upholding Section 377 of the IPC and supporting the rights of LGBT people.
In the 2014 General Election, Sonia won from Rae Bareli but the parties suffered in the election. CPI (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury had called Sonia the glue that held the opposition together in an interview in 2017 when Rahul Gandhi was expected to take over as Congress President. Rahul Gandhi became the President of the 49th Congress on 16 December 2017. Sonia Gandhi returned to active politics for the INC campaign in the 2018 Legislative Assembly elections in Karnataka. She spoke at a rally at Bijapur covering five assembly seats and the Congress won four out of five seats from Bijapur.
Under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi, the Congress lost the second consecutive election in 2019 and subsequently had to resign as President. The Congress Working Committee (CWC) met in August and passed a resolution that Sonia Gandhi should take over as interim President until a candidate is chosen.
During the Northeast Delhi riots in February 2020, Sonia Gandhi demanded the resignation of Home Minister Amit Shah because he had failed to curb the violence.
Sonia Gandhi: Net worth
In 2014, Sonia Gandhi declared her net worth as ₹92.8 million – ₹28.1 million as movable property and ₹64.7 million as immovable property. This is a nearly six-fold increase since her announcement in the last election.
Sonia Gandhi: Recognition
1- In March 2013, The Guardian listed Sonia Gandhi as one of the 50 best dressed people.
2- In 2013, Sonia Gandhi was ranked 21st among the most powerful women in the world and 9th by Forbes Magazine.
3- In 2012, Sonia Gandhi ranked 12th on the list of the most powerful people voted by Forbes Magazine.
4- In 2010, Sonia Gandhi was ranked by Forbes as the ninth most powerful person on the planet. That same year, New Stateman listed Sonia Gandhi at number 29 in its annual survey of the world’s 50 most influential people.
5- In 2007, Sonia Gandhi was honored by Forbes Magazine as the third most powerful woman in the world and ranked 6th on the Magazine’s exclusive list.
6- In 2007 and 2008, Sonia Gandhi was listed in the Time 100 most influential people in the world.
7- In 2008, Sonia Gandhi was awarded an Honorary Doctorate (Literature) by Madras University.
8- In 2006, Sonia Gandhi was awarded the King Leopold Medal and Honorary Doctorate by the Belgian Government and Vrije Universiteit Brussel (University of Brussels).
Sonia Gandhi: Book of the Interim Congress President
1- Sonia Gandhi – An extraordinary life, an Indian destiny (2011), biography written by Rani Singh.
2- Sonia Gandhi: The Challenge to India by Nurul Islam Sarkar.
3- The Red Sari: Dramatic Biography of Sonia Gandhi (El Sari Rojo) by Javier Moro
4- Sonia: Rasheed Kidwai’s Biography
5- Unintentional Prime Minister by Sanjaya Baru, 2014
Gandhi was considered the most powerful politician in India from 2004 – 2014, and various Magazines have listed her among the most powerful people and women. Sonia Gandhi played a key role in bringing the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and the Right to Information Act, the food security bill and MNREGA into law.
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Source: pagasa.edu.vn