The Sonia Enigma

Daughter-in-law, wife and now Leader of the Opposition: Sonia Gandhi8217;s journey has been eventful and skirted the edge of power. Yet the mask has never slipped. The lady gives no interviews. Friends and colleagues tread carefully for fear of offending her. Her speeches are prepared and her sound bytes restricted to making political statements. All we have to help us understand what makes Gandhi tick, are images, fragments of information and assumptions. The picture you get depends on how you put them together.

There is the story for instance of the young girl from Turin who fell in love and came to India to settle down to a life of 8216;8216;tranquil togetherness8217;8217; as she puts it in her book, Rajiv; to have children and to bond with her new family. 8216;8216;For all I know she may be just a dumb girl. That is why people do not talk about her,8217;8217; Ram Jethmalani had once suggested. 8216;8216;Her entire training has been as a housewife,8217;8217; Gautam Kaul a police officer and relative had claimed. 8216;8216;People are trying to create a demon out of someone who is just an average woman.8217;8217;

To be fair, the ordinary housewife image is one Sonia Gandhi herself has assiduously cultivated whether it is in her book on Rajiv or in the rare interview she once gave to a Hindi magazine. And there is little reason for anybody to doubt her word except perhaps to ask why does such a person enter politics?

Her motives have always been a mystery. Priyanka told reporters in 1998 that her mother8217;s main concern was fighting communalism; Sonia8217;s own actions suggested a sense of loyalty to her husband8217;s family that made saving the party from dissolution imperative. The more cynically minded attributed her decision to a need to keep the seat warm for her children or possibly buy protection in the eventuality of a Bofors fallout.

If any of these reasons are true then why is she still around? Why have neither of her children stepped forward as expected? Why has she not launched a crusade against communalism her own colleagues privately complain about her inadequate response to Gujarat? Why, with the Congress Party on an even keel and a receded Bofors threat has she not retired with relief from the centrestage as any 8216;8216;ordinary housewife8217;8217; might have done? Why does she stay on, battling jeers about her foreignness, her inexperience, her ignorance?

Perhaps the answer lies elsewhere. Suppose we shake the bits up and rearrange them. And see the different pattern that emerges. There is Sonia Gandhi studying art restoration at the National Museum, editing a series of letters between Indira Gandhi and Nehru, receiving visiting heads of state as Rajiv8217;s widow with no trace at all of diffidence; exchanging notes with a visitor about books on history Romila Thapar, Kashmir Alistair Lamb, the Indo-Pak conflict General V R Raghavan, Chadrashekhar Das Gupta,. There is the Sonia, once known as the 8216;8216;Noor Jehan of Turin8217;8217; attracting allegations of acquisitiveness and undue exercise of influence from sources as varied as her estranged sister-in-law, Maneka Gandhi, and the Press. And it is a different person, far from the 8216;8216;average woman8217;8217; that emerges altogether.

But then take another collage. A woman who leaves everything that is familiar to her for love 8212; a sense of which is so palpable in her tribute to Rajiv that it was commented upon by at least two prominent editors. A daughter-in-law who grew exceedingly close to the very private and powerful Indira Gandhi. A person given to thoughtful gestures : her biographer Rupa Chatterjee claims she once surprised an old Italian friend by inviting the Sandokan hero Kabir Bedi for a meal; others claims she is particular about remembering birthdays and keeping in touch with the extended Nehru-Gandhi family. And in the dark days for the Gandhi family after Indira8217;s defeat following the Emergency, with fears of a fatal attack a la Mujibur Rehman rife, it was Sonia who set up house from scratch and took on the responsibility of cooking and keeping house for the family and the numerous visitors who came to call. 8216;8216;It was remarkable,8217;8217; Pupul Jayakar claims 8216;8216;that in those chaotic conditions she could attend to the household chores without a breakdown.8217;8217;

Which one is the real Sonia? At the moment the answer rests in the realms of speculation. What does seem indisputable is that she has the ability to commit herself zealously to whatever she sets her mind to. Why then has her relationship with politics been characterised by hesitation, disdain and a lack of communication. Is it because she was still making up her mind?

And is it now made up? Most observers concur that in recent months a change seems to have come over Sonia Gandhi, a new determination, a greater combativeness. In her walk for instance, claims one, 8216;8216;striding along with the chelas following behind8217;8217; she is like 8216;8216;the quintessential South Asian woman leader with only the umbrella missing.8217;8217; Her hair has acquired an almost Indian hue and one sees pictures of her these days squatting at roadside dharnas and mingling with holy men and common people. Even with the media she has become relatively more approachable. 8216;8216;Earlier we would be chasing her,8217;8217; recalls Jami, 8216;8216;but now she stops and makes statements with candour and emotion.8217;8217; Could it be that Sonia Gandhi has begun to enjoy herself?

There is a series of Gandhi family portraits from a time before Rajiv had anything to do with politics. In the first few pictures we see Sonia, self-conscious and awkwardly arranging the folds of her sari or squinting at the sun. But as the shoot gets underway, the family 8212; Rajiv, Indira, Sanjay 8212; display signs of distraction and fidgeting while Sonia appears to get more and more comfortable, almost wooing the camera with her dimpled smile. Her appearance in those days is remarkable for the care with which she dressed: the elaborate make-up, the glossy mane and the profusion of accessories: belts, earrings, chokers, scarves. This is clearly a woman with a streak of flamboyance.

Why then one wonders does she still cling to the walls of her ivory castle. Maybe it is because her innate flamboyance is matched by an equally strong reserve. It seems a likely explanation if one considers certain photographs where Sonia, though surrounded by her family appears to be entirely alone, in her own private world. Or it could be the reticence of someone still learning the ropes one observer claims her natural instincts are held in check by a fear of exposing her handicaps. Or it could be because the aura of inaccessibility suits her: it gives her control over her actions as well as the expectations of others, it allows her to set terms to the media by selectively granting off-the-record meetings, allows her, in short, to escape the scrutiny that ordinary politicians are and should be subjected to. Whatever the reason it does appear that at this point it is her distance that alienates Sonia Gandhi her far more than the colour of her skin.