What really happened to Sonia Gandhi and Maneka Gandhi? Sonia Gandhi’s book “Belonging: The Path of Love” answers | Today’s news

Sonia Gandhi’s memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love, is making headlines across the country as readers yearn to get an inside look at India’s political circles and the Gandhi family, which has been at the center of power for most of India’s 80 years since independence.

One of the most interesting aspects of this book is the relationship Sonia Gandhi shared with her brother-in-law’s wife Maneka Gandhi.

Sonia Gandhi talks about Maneka in her book. He reveals that Sanjay Gandhi was introduced to his future wife in 1973 when she was “a pretty and vivacious girl, ten years his junior and still a minor”.

Gandhi said that Sanjay and Maneka got married the very next year, as soon as she turned 18. Sonia Gandhi describes Manecha’s younger version as a “noble and talkative girl” who went on to become the “Choti Bahu” of the Gandhi family. He says the political fallout that followed would be called a “reality show” today.

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“Maneka was… full of vigour. At first it was refreshing to have a younger sister-in-law in the house. But slowly the atmosphere began to change and there was irritation in the house,” Gandhi writes in the book.

Gandhi reveals that she was called ‘Bahurani’ by the house staff and always considered Maneka and herself as “equal daughters of the house”.

“…but she probably saw it as muting. When she spoke rudely, I would generally remain silent to keep calm, but when I felt it had gone too far, I would not hold back and respond curtly,” Sonia reveals in her book.

He also talks about the rift between Sanjay and Maneka shortly after their wedding, and claims that the couple’s arguments will come to the notice of other family members when “the exchange of words between them becomes louder and more heated”.

Sonia also claims that Maneka did not hesitate to use profanity even in the presence of their mother-in-law Indira Gandhi.

“When she was angry, she would use profanities, even in the presence of my mother-in-law, which were taboo in the household; they embarrassed him and shocked us. Living in our joint family could not have been easy for a young girl with a gregarious and social nature,” writes Sonia.

Rajiv vs Sanjay

Sonia Gandhi also reveals that Manek’s influence over her husband created a rift between the once inseparable brothers Sanjay and Rajiv.

He says that when Sanjay’s name became closely associated with the Emergency, he started voicing his views on the “slow functioning of the bureaucracy” and even said some things that were perceived to be critical of his own mother, the Prime Minister.

Sonia recalls one family discussion in which Rajiv alluded to Sanjay Gandhi when he believed his younger brother was responsible for the disastrous performance of the Congress in the 1978 elections.

“He felt that Sanjay contributed greatly to the disastrous outcome: his stubbornness, his rashness, his haste to implement programs that were not well thought out, his reluctance to heed well-meaning admonitions, his actions in many cases without his mother’s knowledge,” the book says.

“I can’t forgive you, Sanjay, you brought mom to this pass,” Rajiv reportedly said in a family interview.

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“Maneka intervened and my mother-in-law raised her voice and challenged her to deny it. She quickly backed down but her animosity towards us only increased,” recalls Sonia.

“As far as she was concerned, we were enemies. She spread stories about us through journalists she was in contact with. What outraged us most was the outright lie that Rajiv and I intended to flee the country when the election was lost,” adds Gandhi.

Manek’s proximity to the RSS

After Maneka was denied a leadership position in the party when Sanjay died in a plane crash in 1980, Gandhi says, “it was clear that her focus was elsewhere.”

When Indira proposed a small get-together for Feroze Varun Gandhi’s first birthday, “she later learned that a birthday party for her grandson had indeed taken place, but at the home of Vasundhara Raje, the daughter of the widow Rajmata of Gwalior, a staunch supporter of the RSS and a political opponent of Mrs Gandhi. It was clearly intended to hurt her,” says Sonia.

He also recalls how Raje brokered the sale of Maneka’s Surya magazine to an RSS member.

The event, Sonia says, “took to insulting not only her (Indira) but also the memory of her son, her father, all those who fought against the communal ideology of the RSS since the struggle for Indian independence”.

“With this act, Maneka crossed all limits. It was a deliberate challenge to my mother-in-law.”