Congress leader Sonia Gandhi has revealed that she initially rejected the possibility of becoming prime minister in 2004, but briefly agreed to the proposal under pressure from alliance leaders before finally deciding against taking up the country’s top political post.
In her memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love, which hit the stands on Tuesday, Gandhi has detailed the emotional turmoil she experienced before declining the prime ministership and nominating Manmohan Singh for the position.
She also revealed that her children, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, were opposed to her becoming prime minister, as they had already experienced the trauma of the assassinations of their grandmother Indira Gandhi and father Rajiv Gandhi.
Gandhi said she had discussed the possibility of becoming prime minister with her children months before the 2004 elections. When asked whether she would accept the position if the Congress-led alliance won, she had responded with an emphatic “Absolutely not!”
Neither Rahul nor Priyanka wanted her to take up the responsibility, fearing the security risks associated with the office. However, the issue resurfaced after the Congress-led alliance secured victory in the 2004 general elections. Gandhi recalled that several alliance leaders gathered at her 10, Janpath residence and urged her to accept the prime minister’s post.
Describing the meeting in Rajiv Gandhi’s conference room, she said the leaders surrounded her and insisted that they would not accept her refusal. Feeling overwhelmed by their insistence, Gandhi eventually mumbled “Theek hai” (All right), prompting the assembled leaders to congratulate her.
The development left Priyanka distressed. She rushed inside the house to inform Rahul that their mother had agreed to become prime minister. Rahul was furious and questioned his mother about changing her earlier position. Gandhi told him that she did not want the post but had been pressurised by the alliance leaders.
Priyanka, meanwhile, reminded her mother that she had always been clear about her decision and should not allow herself to be forced into accepting the position. Gandhi said she subsequently retreated to her bedroom, where she reflected on her responsibilities, her personal history and the expectations associated with the political legacy of her husband and mother-in-law.
She described an internal conflict between her sense of duty towards the Congress and her reluctance to assume the responsibility of leading a country where she had been born and brought up in Italy. After several hours of reflection, she said she woke up with a clear decision to stick to her original stand.
“I’ve made up my mind. I’m going to stick to my stand,” she told Rahul, who embraced her and said it was the right decision. Gandhi also recounted the dramatic developments in Parliament when she formally announced her decision to decline the prime minister’s post. Despite repeated appeals from party leaders and MPs, she said she followed her “inner voice” and decided to step aside.
She then proposed Manmohan Singh as her successor, announcing that he would lead the Congress Parliamentary Party. The announcement was greeted with applause, slogans and emotional reactions from party members, she recalled. Gandhi said the moment marked the end of an emotionally exhausting episode in her political life.
The 544-page memoir, published by HarperCollins India, traces her journey from her childhood in post-war Italy to her marriage into the Nehru-Gandhi family, the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi and her eventual entry into Indian politics.
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