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Sonia Gandhi was president of the Indian National Congress from 1998–2017 and returned as interim president from 2019–22. She has also been the chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance since 2004. She is the widow of assassinated Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, daughter-in-law to assassinated Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and mother to Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi. She has consistently been named one of the most powerful women in the world, and some of her top issues have been the environment, empowerment of the disadvantaged (particularly women), and the welfare of children. She was born Edvige Antonia Albina Maino in Italy and became a citizen of India in 1983.
From Italy To India, Here's Looking At Sonia Gandhi's Journey With Congress
Sonia Gandhi was married to Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and was the daughter-in-law of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. However, she did not formally enter politics until 1997, becoming the leader of the Indian Congress political party in 1998, seven years after her husband's assassination in 1991. She had spent her earlier life trying to avoid politics.
Sonia Gandhi with a picture of her late husband Rajiv Gandhi
Sonia Gandhi served as president of the Congress party from 1998 to 2017. She returned in 2019 as interim president when her son Rahul Gandhi stepped down from the position. In 2022, she stepped down again, handing the position over to Mallikarjun Kharge.
Sonia Gandhi is the longest-serving president of the Congress party, and the first foreign-born person to become its leader. Her foreign origin was often controversial in Indian politics.
She has served as the chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance since 2004.
Sonia Gandhi was born Edvige Antonia Albina Maino on December 9, 1946, in Contrada Miani at Lusiana, a small village near Vicenza, Italy, to Stefano and Paola Maino. She was raised Roman Catholic and completed school in Italy at thirteen. She went to England in 1964 to study at Bell Educational Trust's language school in Cambridge to learn English.
She met Rajiv Gandhi in 1964 while working at the Varsity rooftop bar in Cambridge. In 1968, they married in a Hindu ceremony and moved to India, where she lived with her mother-in-law, then Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi. They had two children—Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Vadra. They both avoided politics; Rajiv worked as an airline pilot and she was a housewife. However, Rajiv Gandhi was pulled into politics after his brother, a politician, was killed in a plane crash in 1980.
