Sonia Gandhi

Sonia Gandhi studied foreign languages before meeting Rajiv Gandhi while attending an English course in Cambridge. They married in New Delhi in 1968 and had two children, Rahul and Priyanka. During Rajiv Gandhi’s premiership, she largely remained outside formal political office. After his assassination in 1991, she helped establish the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and its associated institute for contemporary policy studies.

Gandhi joined the Indian National Congress in 1997 and became its president in 1998. She was elected to the Lok Sabha from Amethi in 1999 and subsequently became Leader of the Opposition. In 2004 she won Rae Bareli and led Congress’s campaign before the formation of the United Progressive Alliance government. She declined the premiership and supported Manmohan Singh’s appointment to lead that coalition.

Gandhi’s parliamentary career has encompassed both Houses. She represented Rae Bareli before moving to the Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan for a term beginning on 4 April 2024. She currently chairs the Congress Parliamentary Party. Earlier, she chaired the National Advisory Council, whose recommendations concerned employment guarantees, information rights and other social policy matters. She resigned her Lok Sabha seat during the 2006 office-of-profit controversy and returned through a by-election.

Alongside political work, Gandhi has written about Rajiv Gandhi and edited collections of correspondence between Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi. Her stated interests include Indian art, textiles and the conservation of paintings. She participated in the United Nations’ first International Day of Non-Violence observance in October 2007. The event brought together UN leaders and other speakers to mark Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday and discuss non-violence.