Sonia Gandhi, a leader with difference

Needs at least Flash Player Ver.9 to Play Download Here

Congress President and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi has again decided not to celebrate her birthday. She politely requested the people not to come to Delhi spending huge amount of money to greet her on her birthday. At a time when political leaders spend hefty amounts for their birth day celebrations and other occasions, here comes a leader with difference who always found it improper to engage in unnecessary extravaganza.
For Sonia Gandhi politics is not power but a way to serve the people. That is what she proved when she refused the post of Prime Minister when UPA was voted to power. “I always listen to the voice of my inner conscience. I have said on many occasions that my target is not the Prime Ministership. Today my inner conscience tells me to politely refuse the post” was the statement by Sonia Gandhi when asked about her turning down the post of Prime Minister.
She was always concerned about the poor and underprivileged and the children. Their pain was her pain. When a massive earth quake jolted Jammu Kashmir, she took time to reach there without any delay to console the victims and extended all her help and support to help the affected people. She expressed her concern and pain when a drastic Tsunami hit Indian coastal areas. Her deep concern for the aggrieved was also seen during the flood in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Himachal and also during the terrorist attack in Delhi as well as when a number of farmers were hurt in a police firing in Rajasthan.


The Gandhi-Nehru family is known to the sacrifice for the nation. They always found it supreme to serve the people and the country. The present Congress President Sonia Gandhi proved that she also finds it important to serve the Nation than anything else. “Sacrifice for the nation is not the tradition of politics but it is the culture of our nation, the culture to serve the human kind” said Sonia Gandhi once.“31 years back I came to India as a bride of Rajiv Gandhi. And now I will spend my life till my last in this country and nobody can take away this right from me”. This shows her real passion towards India.
Sonia Gandhi suffered two heavy blows in her life. The first was the assassination of her mother-in-law and late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and then the sad and brutal killing of her husband and the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi by the Tamil militants. Though she had accompanied Rajiv Gandhi in all his campaigns, she never took interest in the politics. Since Rajiv Gandhi's death, Sonia Gandhi led a life of near recluse for six years but for her appearances at a few official functions. But a number of Congress leaders and supporters looking for a charismatic personality to lead the party to electoral success kept sending their appeals to her to come and take over the party. The Congress faced a big electoral setback after the Narasimha Rao regime and many people had started to write-off the Congress. The pressure to revive Congress party started increasing. She finally agreed to join politics in 1997 and in 1998, she was elected as the leader of the Congress. She proved herself as an efficient Parliamentarian and she took on NDA with her full strength.



Sonia Gandhi campaigned for the Congress in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections. Congress managed to get a tally of 141 seats, largely due to her charismatic presence during the campaign. Travelling the length and breadth of the country in a hurricane election tour, Sonia caught the imagination of the masses, by her emotional speeches. She was able to achieve an unexpected election success. The election results provided her with a unique opportunity to become India's Prime Minister. She sacrificed the post in favour of Dr. Manmohan Singh.
Under her leadership, India returned the Congress-led-UPA to a near majority in the 2009 general elections with Manmohan Singh as the Prime Minister. The Congress itself won 206 Lok Sabha seats, which was the highest total by any party since 1991. She was instrumental in framing a Common Minimum Program when UPA was formed the Government. She knew very well how to run a coalition Government better. As chairperson of the National Advisory Committee and the UPA chairperson, she played an important role in making the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and the Right to Information Act into law. She also actively involved in framing policies like Mid-day meal scheme for the school children, Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, Anti Communalism Bill and Food security Bill. Sonia Gandhi is also keen to get the Women Reservation Bill implemented. She also intervened effectively to break the logjam in the FDI retail decision of the UPA Government by suggesting a solution to discuss with all the states and concerned people before going ahead with the same.
Pt. Nehru dreamt a progressive Nation, Indira Gandhi took his dream forward, Rajiv Gandhi put the country among the top nations in the world and today Sonia Gandhi has also been contributing high to make a strong and self reliant India.