Sonia Gandhi, the widow of the former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi is listed in 2004 as the 3^rd and in 2007 as the 6^th most powerful woman in the world by the Forbes Magazines. The story of her political career is known to most of the Indians. But her early life and her romantic love story is the least known. It is quite interesting to note that she was from a poor family born in a small village Contrada Maini at Lusiana. Her parents were Stefano and Paola Maino and her real name was Antonia Edvige Albina Maino.

Her father was a mason and had involvement with Nazi army. He had to spend two years in Russian prison as a prisoner of war and he gave the Russian name of Sonia to her daughter after his return. She has two sisters and spent her teen years in Orbassano near Turin. She belongs to a family of Roman Catholic background. She did not get her college education and only completed her high school. She studied at the seminary school, Maria Ausiliatrice in Giaveno located 15 kilometers from Orbassano which was run by a Catholic nun.  Then she joined the Lennox School to learn English. It was when she was studying English in the school run by the Bell Educational Trust in Cambridge city that she met Rajiv Gandhi.

She was working as a waitress in Varsity Restaurant in Cambridge and met Rajiv in 1965. He was the student of the prestigious Cambridge University at that time. However he had to move to London in 1966 to join the Engineering course in the Imperial College. Sonia also went there and worked at a shop run by Salman Thassir, a Pakistani. Rajiv frequently ran out of his allowances and Sonia helped him with money that she earned. In this way, Rajiv was indebted to Sonia. Rajiv once wrote letter to his brother Sanjay Gandhi to help him with money to pay off the debts of Sonia.

Their love at first sight grew even stronger and Rajiv Gandhi married Sonia in 1968 in a church in Orbassano. Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister and mother of Rajiv Gandhi did not give her consent to this marriage in the beginning. Later she accepted her and Sonia Gandhi became her favorite daughter-in-law.

Two children Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka were born as the gifts of the love of Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. Rahul was born in 1970 and Priyanka two years later in 1972. Sonia completely changed her looks to suit the Indian tradition after that. She started to wear sari and continued as a good house wife taking care of her children when Rajiv Gandhi worked as a pilot. She and her husband stayed away from politics until the death of his brother Sanjay Gandhi in a plane crash in 1982.

Sonia Gandhi offered her full support when Rajiv Gandhi served as the Prime Minister of India. Their love story came to an end when he was assassinated in 1991 in a bomb blast. Though she was invited into politics she preferred to stay away from that until 1997. After her entry into the active politics she is ingeniously guiding the Indian National Congress that Sonia Gandhi photos and Sonia Gandhi videos became very popular among all amateur politicians.

Article Posted By : Sumazla  On February 29, 2012lView All Articles

I am Suhaina Mazhar, a freelance content writer and blogger and have written thousands of original articles. Writing is my passion, writing is my hobby and writing is my career. I want to write till the last moment of my life.

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Sonia Gandhi , Sonia Gandhi photos , Sonia Gandhi videos