Sonia Gandhi, the making of a politician

Sonia Gandhi, once a homemaker who wanted nothing to do with politics, on Friday completed 10 years as Congress president.

She is the longest serving party president and the first to lead the Congress to power in 15 years. The Sonia of 1999 is quite different from the Sonia of 2008.

The Congress didn’t have majority in Parliament in 1999 but Sonia went to the President claiming she had the numbers to form the government. She may have seemed a political novice then but that’s history.

She got the nation’s respect and stunned her critics when she declined the leadership of the Congress Parliamentary Party in Lok Sabha and asked Manmohan Singh to be the Prime Minister in 2004.

Again in 2006 she scored against her critics when she resigned from Lok Sabha over the office of profit controversy.

Has Sonia finally become a politician in her own right? CNN-IBN’s Senior Editor Sagarika Ghose discussed this on Face The Nation with Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan, senior journalist Neerja Chowdhury and senior journalist Swapan Das Gupta.

Sonia rule

Sonia inaugurated the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad on Friday—a political gesture on the day of her tenth year as Congress president.

"Rajiv Gandhi talked about a forward-looking India and so she inaugurates an airport to keep up that image. The Gandhi surname is important to her but Sonia has recently again turned the focus back to the aam aadmi (common man)," said Chowdhury.

"She talks about the Rs 60,000-crore loan waiver for farmers or building consensus for the Women's Reservation Bill. She has tried to create a left of centre image," said Chowdhury.

But has Sonia’s focus on governance, economics and policies at the cost of the Congress? Has Sonia been able to build the party?

Natarajan insisted the Congress has grown with Sonia's leadership. "Our organisation is strong—the Congress is the only major party which has had party elections. We have democracy in the party and issues are discussed openly in a free and fair manner," she said.

The Congress has dynasty and not democracy, said Das Gupta. Sonia's leadership of the Congress will be called the "regency period", he said.

"Sonia has done a holding operation—allowing the Gandhi name to be perpetuated but not actually initiating major changes in the Congress. Rajiv Gandhi actually tried to make a break from the past. Sonia Gandhi is an exercise in regress.

“She has gone back to the somewhat tired slogans of Indira Gandhi at a time when the world has changed. It may win her one or two elections but is it not really the prescription for a modern India," said Das Gupta.

Sonia’s party

Sonia has succeeded in transforming the Congress which had always formed governments on its own to a party which leads multi-party government, said Chowdhury.

Her "failure" lies in not being able to revive the party. "The Congress has deteriorated in the four big states of UP, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. There is drift in the party—Rahul Gandhi talks about dalali in the party. A lifestyle is cutting away party leaders away from the people," said Chowdhury.

Natarajan rejected the allegations and said Sonia's initiatives, like the Right to Information Act and NREGA, are political campaigns.

"There is nothing more political than the Right to Information Act. It has changed the face of democracy. Sonia Gandhi has kept the county together and unlike BJP leaders she has an open mind," she said.

The Congress can’t stand criticism of its leader, said Das Gupta. “Whenever anything which doesn't correspond to Congress’ image of Sonia Gandhi is said it is called patronising. But it’s very patronising on the part of Sonia Gandhi to impose (Ottavio) Quattrocchi on India and it’s also very patronising of her to forget the distinction between public and private exchequer,” he said.

Calling Sonia the “supreme leader” of Congress is rubbish, said Natarajan. "She has been elected democratically. Giving respect to a party leader, listening to leader and maintaining discipline is nothing wrong," she said.

Sonia's greatest virtue is that she is a survivor, said Das Gupta. “She knows the virtues of political retreat, which most politicians don't know. She has a good sense of survival. She is a good politician in that sense. She has maintained the survival of her dynasty and now she has successfully catapulted Rahul Gandhi into the centrestage."

How would Sonia's 10 years as Congress president be looked at? "She has evolved into a politician. She has had huge challenges and she has kept the party impact. It has been a good holding operation with many challenges ahead," said Chowdhury.

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