IN THE FIRST MAINSTREAM BIOGRAPHY OF THIS INSPIRATIONAL FIGURE, THIS COMPELLING NARRATIVE RETRACES THE PATH OF THE BRAVE AND BEAUTIFUL SONIA GANDHI, EXAMINING WHAT HER LIFE AND LEGACY MEAN FOR INDIA.

M V KAMATH

Writing a biography of any celebrity, be it a film star, a politician, a sports person or a saint, cannot possibly be an essay job; one has to be careful about not hurting the sensibilities of a whole lot of people.

Truth has many ffaces.

Rani Singh must have taken that into account while writing the biography of Sonia Gandhi who, incidentally, is casually dismissed by Ramachandra Guha in his monumental work 'India After Gandhi'. To be fair, Rani Singhs biography of Sonia is very insightful; often it is very touching. It is even seductive in its style and detailed in its content. Rani has captured the essence of Sonia being in all its nuances.

It has indeed been an extraordinary life, considering where she was born and where she has ended, emphasising the truism that all human loves are guided by two factors: chance and necessity.

She met Rajiv by chance. It was love at first sight. She could then never have dreamt that one day she would end up as a major power in Indian politics. What took her from her birthplace in Lusiana, a tiny town in Italy with fewer than 3,000 inhabitants to Delhi, was inevitability. As she once noted with total honesty: " I just wanted Rajiv. I could have gone to any part of the world with him." But one thing followed another. It was Fate that ordained and charted her life.

There was no way she could have got out of the mould in which she has been set; all that was open to her was to adjust herself to the circumstances and that she did, with considerable finesse to win the heart of her mother- in- law, Indira Gandhi.

As Rani Singh notes: " Fate was moving Sonia inexorably along an arc she had neither imagined nor desired." She had to live in what was literally a joint family, to her joy, to be welcomed and accepted, by the family head, no less than a Prime Minister.

Ambitions she had none. She was happy being Rajivs wife and live on the salary on an " archetypal, urban, upper middle class family man earning a modest Rs. 5000 as an airline pilot". She got along well with everyone, including Sanjay and his wife Maneka of whom we learn a lot. In the course of time Indira took her unobtrusively into the political arena but only as a help, as a dependable companion.

Rani Singh provides fascinating insights into each member of the Gandhi family, not excluding Indira herself. There is that short reference, for example, of her prayer room, which contained " prayer beads, little icons of Buddha, Hindu Gods, Jesus Christ, Hindu- centric statuettes and on the window sill a Sanyo cassette player with a tape of Hindu devotional music". Tragedy was soon to strike.

Sonias first pregnancy led to a miscarriage. Then came the assassination of Indira, which was unbearable. Sonia was totally opposed to Rajiv taking on the role of successor to his mother, crying on his shoulder, to plead her case. And last came Rajivs own assassination, which was shattering. She was to withdraw to her room ceaselessly crying for four long days. She must have thought that her world has come to an end. She had to stay in India for she had decided to make India her home a long time ago.

Rani Singh quotes her as saying: " I chose India as my country.

I am an Indian and will remain so till my last breath.

India is my motherland, dearer to me than my own life." Some think this is an after- thought.

The point is made that it took Sonia a long time to give up her Italian passport and that, actually, during the Emergency she and Rajiv had thought of living abroad. Whatever the options the couple considered, the fact remains that they stayed on.

And with Rajivs death there was no way she could leave India.

Importantly, the Congress needed her. Should she or shouldn't she join the party? In a television interview she has once said: " Many of may senior colleagues asked me to come and help the Congress… there was a conflict within me… I have photographs of my husband and my motherin- law in my office… each time I walked past those photographs, I felt I wasn't responding to my duty…" Sitaram Kesari, then Congress President was a disaster. And pressure was being brought upon her and she gave in. If anyone has to be blamed, it is the Congress Party that should take it.

The Congress Working Committee wanted Kesari out and Sonia in. And so it worked out.

Wasn't there anyone in the Congress Party - a born Indian - to take over the partys leadership? Why didn't the Working Committee ask Sharad Pawar, or P A Sangma or Tariq Anwar? The question has never been answered. And we know what happened subsequently.

Wisely, she declined to take over the Prime Ministership.

Equally wisely she decided to name Manmohan Singh to the post. The law wouldn't have permitted her to be the Prime Minister, anyway.

According to Rani Singh " there are no signs that Sonia is going to stop being Congress Party president soon". But that must have been written before Sonia fell ill. It is obvious now that her successor will be Rahul. And the party seems willing to accept the take- over.

By and large Rani Singh has got it all right. From her writing it is clear that she has no faith in the BJP or the NDA. Whether, in the end, Rahul will make a good leader is another matter.

The Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh may indicate which way the wind is blowing.

The Congress is bereft of any vision. Corruption is rife in the party. Common sense suggests that the party may be wiped out.

And Sonia won't be able to do much.

Rani Singh says, " Sonias story represents the greatest transformational journey made by any world leader of the last four decades." That is true. The world is changing. Hasn't the United States accepted Barack Obama as President? And hasn't India in the past accepted Annie Nesant and Mother Teressa? The point to remember about Sonia is that it wasn't that she sought power; this book is about how she got it. It was Destiny that decided her life. The same Destiny may decide how she should fade into oblivion.