Sonia, Undisturbed

But it may also have to do with the very tight rein Kidwai keeps on his own political imagination. The biographer roams, but only within the boundaries of the present-day Congress compound. This helps him keep Sonia and her party within his sight. But he hardly ever seeks or gets a view of his subject and her career from a more daring perch, an alternative perspective, and given the Congress8217;s long history, even a separate time.

Kidwai8217;s lack of adventure curtails the possibilities of the portrait he draws of Sonia in more than one way. It isn8217;t just that he never ventures far enough from his subject. It is also that he takes scrupulous care not to get too intimate. The Congress chief, we already know, answers no questions. Her biographer, we are quite certain, didn8217;t trouble her with too many.

For the most part, Kidwai is content to chronicle the hectic activity around Sonia while leaving her alone. The story begins with the tragedy at Sriperumbudur and recounts how various Congressmen pleaded and begged Sonia to 8216;desh bachao8217;. It describes the unsuccessful machinations of the few who positioned themselves as successor. The humiliating coup that unseated Sitaram Kesri. Then, the education of Sonia, by experts drafted for the task. The workings of the coterie/s, the Pawar 8216;8216;rebellion8217;8217;. Clinically, Kidwai details the controversies she is embroiled in, her foreign origins, Bofors, the mis?management of family trusts. But almost all the action happens around Sonia. She, herself, remains inscrutable and opaque, the unbreached calm at the centre of the storm.

Yet there are some tantalising glimpses. The young woman, so shy she chickened out of the first meeting with her prospective mother-in-law. The grieving widow, who neither silenced not strengthened the buzz about her joining politics. The good learner, taker of copious notes. The increasingly sure-footed chief, who manages the party, Japanese-style.

But armed with Kidwai8217;s effort, do we know any more about where Sonia really stands on the big issues? On the question of secularism, for instance, ignoring, for the time being, the growing problem of defining it first? Kidwai offers us at least three images, without ever tying them up. After the Babri Masjid demolition, Sonia, yet to make her political debut, overrules P. Chidambaram and other members of the RGF by having the foundation issue a hard-hitting statement condemning the act. Then, student Sonia, during her hands-on political education, takes lessons in secularism from 8216;experts8217;, jotting down points, hardly ever giving her own view on the issue. More recently, the Congress chief sharing the platform with three Shankaracharyas at Dighauri in Madhya Pradesh, February 2002, proposing a Ramalaya Trust to take charge of any construction of a Ram temple at Ayodhya, instead of the VHP.

Of one thing, however, Kidwai seems nearly sure. The seat is being kept warm for Priyanka who will have a great effect 8212; he suggests that it was Priyanka8217;s campaign that brought her mother the vote in Bellary.

In the end, Kidwai8217;s biography meticulously documents the turbulence around Sonia but does little to pierce the veil. The future prime ministerial candidate is allowed to keep all her secrets. The ones she is entitled to, as well as the ones she has no business to keep in a democracy.