Congress will come up from 44, says Sonia Gandhi

The Congress was taking on the Modi government and will come up from the mere 44 of the total 543 Lok Sabha seats it was reduced to in the 2014 national polls, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi asserted on Monday.

“We will come up from 44...in politics you win sometimes and you lose sometimes...just like in life,” Sonia told India Today TV in an interview.

Gandhi opened an exhibition on the life and times of her mother in law and former prime minister Indira Gandhi at Swaraj Bhavan in Allahabad to mark the birth centenary year of the leader.

Sonia said there was “no comparison” between Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s style of functioning and that of Indira Gandhi, who is remembered as the iron lady of Indian politics.

“I don’t agree,” she said when asked if the Congress needed a macho leader like PM Modi adding, “I have my views clear. There is no comparison.”

Sonia recalled how Indira overcame the challenges from within the Congress.

“She was ridiculed and insulted within her own party. But she did overcome. Any era in politics has its own opposition,” she said when asked if the Congress was forced to do competitive politics after the BJP took power at the centre.

“We are taking on the present situation,” she said.

According to Sonia, Indira Gandhi had spent many moments rethinking her decision to impose emergency in 1975.

“If she had not felt extremely uncomfortable, she would not have called for elections (1977),” said Sonia.

Recalling various instances, Sonia said her husband Rajiv, who was pilot then, would obtain views from a wide range of people on the emergency and would come back and give feedback to his mother Indira.

“She would think about it,” said Sonia.

Recalling how Indira turned out to be a wonderful mother in law and always helped her to adjust to a new country, language and customs when she married Rajiv, Sonia said did not want to join active politics but did so in 1998 as she “felt a duty towards Indira and Rajiv who worked hard to uphold certain values.”

Indira too, like her, did not want to be in politics, said Sonia.

“That is my belief. Left to herself, she would not have joined politics..for her duty towards the country and the people  was above everything else,” said Sonia.

“No politics, only Indira Gandhi”, she said when asked about the succession issue in the grand old party with Rahul set to take over the reins soon.

Asked about the fifth generation of Nehru-Gandhi family in politics, the Congress chief said one member of a family of professionals chooses the path of the father.

“Just like the family of doctors or lawyers, one of them will choose the path of the father. But in politics you are elected,” she said.

Sonia noted she won’t be in politics but for the influence of Indira Gandhi.

Noting Indira was a very intelligent woman, Sonia said her mother in law allowed her and her husband Rajiv the space they needed in the family.

“At homes she was completely different from her image outside,” said Sonia recalling how her mother in law understood her difficulty in the immediate months after her marriage to Rajiv.

Noting that everybody in the family was influenced by Indira, Sonia said she, her son Rahul and daughter Priyanka were each influenced by the former prime minister in their own way.

“There is no model,” she said.

The congress chief said that much was expected from the family members due to the surname they shared, while referring to the legacy of the Nehru-Gandhi family.

Sonia said in 1965 she first met Indira Gandhi and was very nervous to meet her would be mother in law but when the meeting actually took place the former prime minister made her feel comfortable and told her not to be afraid.

“She spoke to me in French as she understood I was having problems with English language,” she said.  

Terming Indira’s assassination on October 31, 1984 as a “terrible loss” to her, the Congress chief said the former prime minister’s greatest contribution was her “loyalty and devotion to the people of the country.”

“We still miss her,” Sonia said with misty eyes as she sat on the lawns of the sprawling Swaraj Bhavan.