Italy to New Delhi

They said, if Indira Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi hadn’t died, Rajiv Gandhi would never had entered politics ; had Rajiv Gandhi not entered politics, he would never have been assassinated, and if Rajiv Gandhi had not been assassinated, a gracious woman by the named Edvige Antonia Albina Maino, better known to a billion Indians as Sonia Gandhi, would never have been draped in an austere saree, travelling a few hundred miles, shaking hands with a few lakh people, trying to carry forward a political legacy.

Q : Who would have ever dared to imagine, an ordinary girl, born to an unknown Italian contractor, in a little Italian village, would go on to become the most powerful personality in the world’s largest populace?

A : Destiny said it.

Today, as we Indians stand in awe of an Afro- American President, chant the litany of the victory of the unlikely, we fail to realize that instead of feeling the need for a ‘few thousand Obamas’, we’d do ourselves a world of good, if we take the trouble to appreciate the contribution of this woman to the country and ask for a few Sonia Gandhi’s than a few thousand brawn-over-brain Presidents.

A lot of us today attempt to write-off the existence of Sonia Gandhi, taking resort to a baseless argument of her foreign nationality. What we do not see is an Italian woman, who at the most critical juncture of her family’s legacy, took on the mantle, of something she never was fascinated about, and became an Indian, more Indian than any born modern Indian. How can we forget those famous eye-glasses, at the funeral of her young husband, which so easily hid her grief? It was that early did she realize and accept that the grief of the Gandhi family was more public domain than a family dinner table thing. How can we forget the most dramatic election turn-arounds, at a time where the odds were stacked up in favor of a lethal drubbing? How can we forget her response to her ‘inner voice’? How can we forget, that a bahu, who was more than content to be a house maker, was thrown into a fiasco due to dynastic catastrophe?

Whatever criticisms one may level against Sonia Gandhi, one cannot discredit her for maintaining a balance in 2 coalition governments, involving regional lobbying, irrational idealism, personal propaganda and above-all, attempts to de-throne the queen.

Having regard to the sensibilities of the Indians I am fully aware that a major cross-section of typical Indians consider Sonia Gandhi as a topic of verbal maligning, for no conceivable reason. Even the most cynical view could accuse her of either being politically immature (overly disparaging view) or being overly trustful (realistically lenient). It is only the latter that was manifested in her act of relying on the support of a U.P. leader, who at the ceremonious occasion of her being sworn in, unceremoniously back-stabbed her, to deny her the pinnacle of Indian democratic supremacy.

If this was her biggest political mistake, it was arguably her last too. Since then, she has walked the political tight-rope with precision and perfection, hardly setting a foot wrong. Be it managing the ineffectual P.V. Narasimha Rao, who did every possible thing to annihilate the Congress, willfully or through gross political mis-calculation, or resisting the revolt of Congress’ most powerful trio – Sharad Pawar, P.A. Sangma and Tariq Anwar, or giving up the chance to become Prime Minister, to a trusted man, with a spotless image or responding with impeccable political proficiency to the ‘office-of-profit’ furor. In any of these situations, she came out exuding grace, level-headedness, calmness and the maturity to dodge dodgy situations.

Before we have even realized, she has prepared the ground for the Gandhi family’s favorite grandson – Rahul Gandhi, to walk in to the seat of Prime Minister, when time deems it fit. Perhaps her son, before ranting the need for a few thousand Obama’s in the country, should have taken the time to look within the corners of his house, to see a leader, par excellence, who for almost a decade has worked tirelessly, to put a beleaguered Indian National Congress, in a position of political envy, from where, there is no perceivable threat from either the communal BJP or the pandemonium-stricken Rightists or the irrationally egoistic Leftists.

The success of Sonia Gandhi at the helm of the ruling party can be attributed to the inclusiveness of her decision-making and more importantly her decisiveness in crucial situation, which was seen in her snapping ties with the preposterous and regressive Communists during the nuclear deal saga.

The erudition of Sonia Gandhi in her decision to let Manmohan Singh take up the position of Prime Minister and be the de facto Prime Minister to save BJP leaders the ignominy of shaving their heads and sleeping on the ground, speaks volumes of how clinical she is in dismissing baseless opposition, without allowing it to gain unwanted political mileage.

Like all politicians, she may have been indicted in controversies, but none of them were controversial enough to dent her image. Be it the Bofors Scam or the Swiss Bank A/c’s controversy, in either case, the one’s orchestrating the maligning ended up red-faced.

Though she may not appear to be tailor made for the straight-jacket of the typical Indian politician, this is precisely that endears her to masses and makes her a tough nut to crack for her rivals. Though a reluctant politician she is, a MASS LEADER she surely is!