NEW DELHI: Sonia Gandhi went from a small Italian village to the heart of power in the world's most populous nation, becoming the matriarch of a political dynasty which has shaped much of independent India's history.
Now, the famously private 79-year-old is to publish her memoir, "Belonging: A Journey of Love", offering an account of a life shaped by what she has called "love, duty, loss and finding a place to belong".
The book, out Tuesday (Nov 10), arrives as the Congress party she once led seeks to regain ground, with her son Rahul back in the spotlight following youth-led protests against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist government.
Born in 1946 into an Italian Catholic family, Sonia's roots have made her a frequent target of nationalist criticism.
She had an unremarkable childhood near Turin in northern Italy before meeting Rajiv Gandhi in 1965 while studying English. He was a student at Cambridge University.
"In a small Greek restaurant in Cambridge my journey of love began," she wrote ahead of the release of the book.
"When I first met him, I felt almost immediately that, you know, he was someone I would really love to be with," she added in a video released on social media. "And, of course, I learned that it was the same for him."
Rajiv was the scion of India's foremost political dynasty.
His grandfather, Jawaharlal Nehru, was the country's first prime minister, while his mother, Indira Gandhi, took office in 1966.
She and Rajiv married in New Delhi in 1968. She wore a sari with yarn spun by Nehru when he was in prison during India's independence movement.
Sonia joined the Gandhi household, where her relationship with her strong-willed mother-in-law gave her an intimate view of Indian politics.
"It's also the story of how I grew to love Rajiv's family and the country to which they belonged, and then I too came to belong in it," she said in an interview with The Hindu newspaper.
In 1984, Sonia cradled Indira as she lay dying after being shot by her bodyguards following an army assault on the Sikh faith's holiest shrine.
'Prove yourself'
Sonia said she "fought like a tigress" to prevent Rajiv, a commercial pilot, from entering politics.
"When my husband was asked to become the prime minister, I was totally against," she said.
Her fears for his safety came true when Rajiv was murdered by a teenage suicide bomber in 1991 - an attack linked to India's military intervention in Sri Lanka's civil war.
Sonia withdrew from public life, devoting herself to their children, Rahul and Priyanka.
But in 1998, she accepted Congress leaders' appeals to take charge of a party weakened by factionalism, addressing huge rallies in accented Hindi, declaring that her heart was "buried in the soil of this country".
After Congress's surprise 2004 election victory, Sonia declined to become prime minister and instead chose Manmohan Singh, the economist who had helped launch India's market reforms a decade earlier.
Sonia's commanding role in Congress eventually put her at odds with Singh's government, which was dogged by corruption scandals.
Public discontent helped the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) storm to power in 2014, with attacks on her foreign origins a recurring campaign theme.
Under Modi, the BJP has consolidated its dominance, while Rahul has struggled to revive Congress's fortunes. After Congress's crushing 2019 defeat, Modi taunted him as a "prince".
But a youth-led protest movement has recently helped give Congress fresh momentum.
The Cockroach Janta Party, which began as a youth-led satirical group earlier this year, sparked a successful protest demanding the education minister quit, and is behind an ongoing campaign calling for the election chief to resign.
Rahul Gandhi has rallied crowds for the same cause, saying he is "standing" with the youth and accusing the poll body of manipulating voter rolls to benefit the BJP - claims the poll body denies.
Rahul has joined the protests, standing on police barriers and waving the national flag as he accuses election authorities of undermining democratic rights.
"Over the last 12 years great damage has been done to the fabric of our country, our democracy and our institutions," Sonia, who remains a member of the parliament's upper house, said in her interview with The Hindu.
"People are now beginning to be restless and recognising the damage," she added.
"But I am optimistic and I know that the people of India will welcome a return to proper governance." - AFP
