Powerful, private

Gautam Kaul

Sonia Gandhi’s love for Rajiv transcended the knowledge of the land from where he hailed. She was given a year to decide whether to take that leap into the unknown land. In the end, she said yes, and that is how the story of this graceful lady began in New Delhi.

To begin with, it was a bit of a secret. Even my school friend, whose house in Cambridge was often the rendezvous of the young lovers, played into the conspiracy of silence. Finally, one night a letter came from Indira Gandhi to my mother [Sheila Kaul]. It was handwritten in red ink! It simply stated that Rajiv had finally agreed to get married and his choice was a wonderful girl whom she fully approved of. The letter ended with, “More when we meet.”

Our family was thrilled. Indira’s household also could not keep the secret, and slowly news on Sonia, the would-be bahu, began to trickle out. Finally, on the day of the wedding, held on the back lawns of 1 Safdarjung Road, Indira approached my mother and said, “Mami, meet our bahu, Sonia.” A Kashmiri-style bear hug followed.

Later, Indira informed my mother that Sonia had been handed the responsibility of running the house. Rajiv and Sonia were all over the town, attending theatre, film screenings, accompanying Mrs Gandhi to receptions and even risking an outing to India Gate to have a cone of ice cream.

All this changed, after Indira’s assassination, and Sonia, in the truest sense, became the ‘other half’ of Rajiv in his official duties.

After Rajiv’s death, Sonia went into a cocoon and closed her world, limiting it to her children and her relatives from Italy who took turns to be with her. The world outside clamoured for her public presence. Finally after staying away from the public eye for nearly six years, Sonia entered politics. She was now a changed personality.

Her children had grown and graduated in the meantime. Sonia had done her reading on Indian history and on commentaries of the classic books. She was now protected by the Special Protection Group. For some time, she was a bigger security risk than the prime ministers in office. But she continued to be a gentle lady.

She became a mysterious lady though. Sonia did not oblige the press with interviews. She has done just two long television interviews. She has, however, authored an illustrative book on Rajiv and edited two volumes of the Nehru letters. One may have to wait for her autobiography though.

One thing is clear: In the last 20 years, Sonia has emerged as an Indian woman personified. A latter-day tragedian in the mould of a Meena Kumari of Hindi films. She has been hounded by the press, her integrity has been attempted to be sullied. Despite that, the people in the country have only raised her higher in esteem.

Sonia has paid for this eminence dearly. The lady who drove down to the National Museum to work on restoring old Indian crafts and paintings, must now remain cloistered from such interests. Her relatives from her husband’s side are no more. So are Fori Nehru [wife of Jawaharlal Nehru’s cousin, B.K. Nehru] and [Fori’s friend] Kanta Dogra, who had once free access to the home. Rahul has moved house and so has Priyanka, but both call on her daily. Sonia no longer goes for film outings. Of late, her holidays, too, have been curtailed. Today, Sonia is happiest attending international cultural assemblies, where she can practise her French, Spanish, Italian and Urdu.

Kaul is a former director general of the Indo Tibetan Border Police and an author.