Profile
Sonia Gandhi: From Italian Village to the Heart of Indian Politics
The reluctant leader who steered India's Congress party back to power
Sonia Maino grew up in a small town near Turin, in northern Italy. While studying English in Cambridge, she met Rajiv Gandhi, son of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and they married in 1968. She moved to India, took Indian citizenship and, for many years, kept a deliberately private life.
Everything changed with two killings. Her mother-in-law was assassinated in 1984, and Rajiv, by then a former prime minister, was killed by a suicide bomber in 1991. Sonia refused offers to lead the party for several years before finally becoming Congress president in 1998.
She led the party to a surprise win in 2004, then stunned the country by turning down the job of prime minister and backing Manmohan Singh instead. She remained Congress's most powerful figure for two decades and entered the Rajya Sabha, India's upper house, in 2024.
Career highlights
- 1968Marries Rajiv Gandhi: moves to India
- 1991Rajiv Gandhi assassinated: she stays out of politics
- 1998Congress president: takes charge of a struggling party
- 2004General election win: Congress returns to power
- 2004Backs Manmohan Singh: declines to become prime minister
- 2009Second victory: Congress-led coalition re-elected
- 2024Rajya Sabha: enters India's upper house
Did you know?She became the longest-serving president in the history of the Indian National Congress, a party founded in 1885.
