Why Sonia Gandhi Begged Husband Not To Enter Politics But Didn't Stop Son

Do not enter politics, Sonia Gandhi "begged" Rajiv Gandhi, her husband, but when it was time for her son, Rahul Gandhi, to devote his life to politics, she "did not resist it". The veteran leader revealed it in her memoir, 'Belonging: A Journey Of Love', which hits the stands worldwide today.

Sonia Gandhi writes that "Rahul had a long-standing interest in politics" and he and Priyanka had an enduring relationship with their parents' constituency Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, a key Hindi heartland state.

Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi writes, had taken Rahul to Amethi a number of times as a schoolboy, and later, to make him aware of the hard reality of rural life.

Priyanka, Sonia Gandhi says, had been in Amethi through all of her elections, "endearing herself to party workers and people".

"But her priority was bringing up her young children and working on a postgraduate diploma in Buddhist studies. Rahul whenever he came back to India, would accompany me or his sister to Amethi, and they were both familiar faces in the constituency. It was during those visits, when he finally returned to India, that Rahul found himself drawn into working there as a representative of the people," writes Sonia Gandhi in her memoir.

The subject of Rahul's MPhil in Cambridge, Sonia Gandhi writes, was Development Studies and he followed political events in India closely even while employed abroad.

"The party had been strongly urging him to take on an active role, which would mean for him a complete change of life, he would become a public figure, watched and judged at every step," writes Gandhi, adding that he arrived at the decision after "discussions with Priyanka and me and some deep thinking on his part".

In March 2004, Rahul said he would contest from Amethi, with Sonia Gandhi moving to neighbouring Rae Bareli.

"Two decades earlier, I had begged Rajiv not to enter politics, not to throw himself and all of us into that menacing world. Now, it was my son's turn, and this time I did not resist it. Rahul had foreseen his father's end; he had fought with him over it. Yet he carried within him a deep kinship with his father's values and respect for the courage with which he had soldiered on despite the looming threat," she writes.

Rahul won handsomely in his first election, she writes, and embarked enthusiastically on his new responsibility, bringing businesses and industries into rural Amethi, as Rajiv had done".

Priyanka proving herself a "capable manager", started self help groups (SHG) in Amethi, encouraging women to support one another in becoming agents of change, writes Sonia Gandhi.  

"The groups had started small but were full of promise, and with Rahul's involvement, the Amethi SHG became the largest in northen India. He also set up a much-needed eye hospital, whose branches then spread to Lucknow and Haryana," writes Gandhi.