There’s always that enigma which surrounds Sonia Gandhi nee Maino. It continues to perplex many. What the human mind is unable to place in a pattern, it worships blindly, hates mindlessly or endeavours to seek the missing pattern.

Surely, not of the first variety, I have always wondered what made Sonia – who seemingly hated the hustle-bustle and murkiness of politics – plunge deep into it. That too, along with her children. Especially, when she lost her mother-in-law and husband to the violence that Power and Politics cuddles between them.

Few months back, my search for an answer had a ray of hope when I encountered Javier Moro’s ‘The Red Sari: A Dramatized Biography of Sonia Gandhi (El Sari Rojo, was in Spanish)’ at a Crosswords store on a relatively relaxed Saturday noon.

Moro, is a Spanish author, is the nephew of Dominique Lapierre and has co-authored ‘Five Past Midnight In Bhopal’ with Lapierre. “The Red Sari’ was the book that the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance banned in its wisdom; the party perceived parts of it to be offensive to its president, Sonia Gandhi. Thus, I expected unbiased investigation and the word dramatized promised an exciting story.

The book begins with Sonia caught between the horns of a dilemma, deep in sorrow of Rajiv’s violent death, under pressure from the Congress Party and tense about the safety & future of her progeny.  There starts the flashback to Sonia’s quite & ordinary childhood days in Orbassano in suburban Turin, which becomes a slow read and but helps set up the contrast as life picks up pace with her chance meeting with the charming Rajiv at the Varsity restaurant in Cambridge. Moro describes their budding romance in a pulp fiction manner of writing. However, you do develop some  respect & connect with the couple.

As Indira comes into scene, in becomes a page-turner as following chapters become all about Indira’s persona, in the backdrop of the Bangladesh War, the Emergency, Operation Blue Star and more. It’s an interesting read of the history of perhaps the most dynamic and turbulent times that our country has passed through, with the most admired and hated woman at the helm of affairs. Just as India and Indira became synonymous with each other, Moro tells us how Sonia supported her mother-in-law to keep the home running and family together.

You will get to see the human side of Indira’s character with all her weaknesses and drawbacks, from being a mother blinded by her bias towards younger son Sanjay, to being a scheming politician who frail and suspect to superstition under the influence of shady power-brokers like Swami Dhirendra Brahmachari. Sanjay is projected as the spoilt apple of the family and the cause of all ills. Maneka is shown in extremely poor light – vilified and defamed from the start to the end. If there is someone who needs to be offended by this book, it is Maneka Gandhi.

While all things are cloudy and muddy around, Sonia is projected as the naïve, honest and courageous lotus (no pun intended!) that stands straight and blooms as the beacon of hope far distanced and waterproofed from the dirty waters of the pond.

One aspect, gets a subtle, indirect and yet a repeated reference, is the need to keep herself and her children safe and projected from physical and other harm, may have made her decide to stay back and dig deeper roots in the muddy waters of rajneeti. Or perhaps, it was already dug too deep to get uprooted? Or the Nehru-Gandhi legacy indeed looms large on you till it engulfs you? Probably, one shall never know.

The book is an easy read, it seems to be a story that Sonia wanted you to read and know about, only to the extent and in the exact way that she wanted to tell. I, of course, don’t have my answer yet but it has surely whet my curiosity to know more.

© Sanchayan Paul