NEW DELHI - The controversial passage through India's Rajya Sabha (Upper House)
of the Woman's Reservation Bill, which seeks to reserve 33% of seats for women
in the country's legislatures, was something of a personal triumph for Sonia
Gandhi, chairperson of the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and
president of the Congress party.
Sonia, who this month celebrates exactly 12 years at the helm of Congress, had
staked her and her party's reputation on the bill, which many of the UPA's
coalition partners bitterly opposed. The dissent was overcome and the law is
now slowly working its way through the Lok Sabha (Lower House).
Sonia Gandhi's commitment to the law was surprising for a politician who has
been described as cautious in her career and
private life. When asked by a journalist why she was taking such a gamble,
Sonia said, "Politics is anyway full of risks."
Her life has been marked by unpredictable twists. It was an unexpected
development 12 years ago - in March 1998 - when a reluctant Sonia was appointed
Congress party chief.
Sonia's husband, former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, had been assassinated by
Tamil extremists in 1991 while his mother, former prime minister Indira Gandhi,
was killed in 1984 by her Sikh bodyguards.
Her leadership of Congress became a turning point for the party. From being a
frontrunner in India's freedom movement the party had been crippled by fallout
from the Mandir-Masjid (temple-mosque) dispute - over an Islamic mosque
purportedly built at the site of Hindu deity Lord Rama's temple. Its popular
support crumbled during the 1990s.
Losing its crucial constituencies of Muslims and lower castes it also ceded
enormous political ground to rivals over allegations of corruption. Meanwhile,
a resurgent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which was in power from 1998 to 2004,
milked its image as a "clean" party.
The task of reviving the Congress party's fortunes fell to Sonia, and by 2004
she led the party to a surprising general election victory. It was quite a leap
for the working-class Italian, Sonia Maino, who was born in 1946 near Turin.
She married Rajiv, Indira Gandhi's elder son, in 1968 after the two met while
studying in Cambridge, England.
The notion of being ruled by a Italian-born "foreigner" led to criticism,
though Sonia is the granddaughter-in-law of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, India's
first and longest-serving prime minister. "If we have to be ruled by
foreigners, let's bring the British back," said Bal Thackeray, the leader of a
Hindu right-wing party. "At least they have 200 years of experience!"
Many attribute Sonia's success to her keeping a low profile. She turned down
the prime minister's post in 2004 and instead offered it to a man seen as
apolitical and honest - current Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Her motive, she
said, was to preserve India's secular identity.
In March 2006, when the opposition said the position Sonia held as chairperson
of an advisory body was an "office of profit", she promptly resigned as a Lok
Sabha member and from the advisory body, defusing the opposition's claims.
Analysts say some of Sonia's success is also down to her ability to deliver on
promises. Her claim to work for the aam admi (common man) was
strengthened by her introduction of schemes such as the National Rural
Employment Guarantee Act and Forest Rights Act. She also oversaw the
introduction of the Domestic Violence Act, Equal Rights for Women Act, Right to
Education Act and now the Women's Reservation Bill.
It has been some journey for a woman who originally resisted the pull of
politics. Sonia stayed in Delhi after her husband's death and did not enter
politics until 1997, when she began making angry speeches about the BJP
government's failure to catch Rajiv's killers. When in the same year a general
election was called she began campaigning across the country.
The effect was electric. The Congress party - gasping for breath - received a
fresh lease of life and the BJP did not know how to contain the new threat.
Sonia made her public debut at Sriperumbudur, in the southern state of Tamil
Nadu, where her husband was assassinated. Her speech, which touched on her
husband's martyrdom, her widow's pain, and the Gandhi legacy, hit all the right
notes.
Comparisons between the two Gandhi women - Sonia and Indira - were inevitable.
But while Sonia dresses the same as Indira and conducts herself similarly in
public, there are crucial differences. Indira was often self-serving and
ruthless politician. She even had political rivals jailed during the infamous
"Emergency era" in 1975.
Sonia, on the contrary, is perceived to be a democrat who leads by consensus
and accommodation. Unlike Indira, who encouraged sycophancy, Sonia steers clear
of such influences.
Sonia seems to have a greater duty - upholding the Gandhi family's legacy. And
many say she has done that by espousing bold and progressive reforms such as
the Women's Reservation Bill.
Some believe Sonia has stayed out of the spotlight for the political future of her children,
especially Congress' general secretary and rising political star Rahul Gandhi, 39, who has emerged as a likely prime minister candidate for elections to take place in 2014. Her daughter, Priyanka, camaigned for her brother during the UPA's general election win in 2009.
Neeta Lal is a widely published writer/commentator who contributes to
many reputed national and international print and Internet publications.
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