Sonia Gandhi loves to fight ‘battles.’ She knows how to turn adversity into opportunity. Faced with the prospect of her party, Congress, being painted into a corner, she herself losing her Loksabha seat and a resurgent Opposition going for the jugular, she countered the situation by relinquishing both her Loksabha membership, as well as the post of chairperson of the National Advisory Board. Most of the people facing this situation would have bowed out under pressure. But Sonia has proved once again that she is different. She proves it once again. Instead of bowing out under pressure, she played a masterstroke. She quit parliament and sought to turn a hopeless political situation to her advantage.

Soon after quitting the Parliament, Sonia turned back to her much-publicized slogan “Aam Aadmi” (Common man) at Rae Bareli, not only to counter the Opposition but also to send positive vibes for the upcoming assembly elections in UP, earlier next year. It is worth recalling that in the Indian General Elections, 2004 when the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was set to win a majority (as per most opinion polls), Sonia launched an aggressive campaign, criss-crossing the country on the very same slogan of ‘Aam Aadmi’ in contrast to the “India Shining” of the BJP-led NDA alliance.

After the surprise landslide victory of the Congress party, Sonia was tipped to be the next Prime Minister of India. However, contrary to speculation, Sonia played a masterstroke. Keeping into perspective the storm of controversy against her foreign origin issue, Sonia declined the Prime Minister’s post post. While this move gave her the much-needed respect within the party, the Opposition got nothing out from the so-called ‘Foreign origin’ issue.

If the sentiments of Rae Bareli people or as a matter of fact people of UP are taken into perspective, same is going to happen with the ‘Office of Profit’ issue. Last time, she could have been the PM and yet stepped down. This time, in every likelihood she would have been disqualified minus the ordinance. But the irony for the Opposition will be to take this rather complicated argument to the people. And sadly, they failed this time around too. When DayAfter contacted hundreds of people in the Sonia Gandhi “Roadshow” at Rae Bareli, most of them did not even know the meaning of the term ‘Office of Profit.’ They only know one thing: “Sonia Ji has given Balidaan (Sacrifice) once again.”

“Why can’t they leave her alone? She is not harming anyone yet she is the one who is targeted all the time by the opposition,” said Razia Parveen, present at the Roadshow. It is evident that the Congress has succeeded once again in tomtoming her sacrifice, the party’s alleged ‘respect for democracy,’ the ‘opposition vindictive against Sonia and Gandhi Pariwar, and so on. In short, while the Congress has hit the jackpot, the opposition is left with a mere feeble argument.

Previously, it was looking bad for the ruling party. As a matter of fact, legal opinions, too, interpreted the proposed ordinance as a measure to short-circuit Parliament to save Sonia. It needed some canny political thinking as well as shrewd theatrics, which Sonia provided as she put on an air of injured innocence to express hurt over the opposition attempt over the whole issue to convey an impression that the law was sought to be re-written only for her sake, pointed out renowned Foreign and Political Expert, Dr Suvrokamal Dutta.

And now when she is fully aware that “Aam Aadmi” is in her corner, she has launched a vociferous attack on the Opposition. Starting this attack from her constituency Rae Bareli, Congress president Sonia Gandhi said the Opposition true colours have come out after her resignation. “Everyone was trying to save herself from disqualification in the wake of the office of profit controversy,” she added.

“I am not going to say much, but you understand what is happening,” she said in a remark at those who had created uproar in Parliament accusing her of using the Parliament and the Government to save herself from certain disqualification.

But the best of the moment arrives when she gives a bit of emotional touch to her speach. “The opponents of Congress have not been able to stomach the fact that the party-run coalition was at the helm of affairs at the Centre and those who used to target Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi are now targeting me,” pointed out the visibly emotional Congress President.

“Whenever the Opportunity arises, they say all concocted things. If there is a storm, hailstorm or lightning falls, they say it was all because of Sonia Gandhi. I am their enemy number one,” Sonia Gandhi said alleging that she was the target of all the Opposition’s attacks.

Gandhi, who also resigned as chairperson of National Advisory Council said that she had not accepted that post for personal gains but to advise the government on the implementation of the Common Minimum Programme. Noting that the NAC played an important role in the framing of the historic National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme, she regretted that some people, however, saw everything from a selfish angle.

Revealing that she had decided to quit the Lok Sabha seat after consultations with her children Rahul and Priyanka, Gandhi declared that she was aware that the road ahead was difficult and there were dangers. “But I am not the one to get scared by all this. I am not going to retrace my steps,” said a confident Sonia Gandhi.

On her first visit to her Lok Sabha constituency of Rae Bareli after quitting as an MP, Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi, joined by her son Rahul Gandhi, made a sentimental pitch in the most populous state of the country where election is due next year. “The popular mood in the constituency is upbeat. The wind has started blowing in favour of Sonia soon after her announcement that she will re-contest the Lok Sabha elections from Rae Bareli,” pointed out Dr Dutta.

Like former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Sonia’s name has been a synonym for ‘development’ in the Rae Bareli. “Whatever development had taken place in Rae Bareli, it was only in the tenure of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi,” recalls the 73 year old Dayanand Sagar. The Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Udan Academy, the National thermal power plant at Unchahar and the Indian Telephone Industries are some of the milestones in the development of the constituency. The process of development came to a standstill soon after the Congress party was out of the power at the centre and in the state, they feel.

According to Dr Dutta, people of Rae Bareli saw the revival of the Indira- Rajiv era when Sonia contested and won the Rae Bareli seat. True to the expectations of the people, she revived the dying Indian Telephone Industries and saved the livelihood of over 6000 employees. Sonia also provided adequate funds for construction of roads and supply of power, and announced a number of schemes catering to the health-care of her constituents.

In the heart and mind of people here in Rae Bareli, she is a true Indian. “The foreign origin of Sonia Gandhi was not an issue.” Long before the election, she surrendered her Italian passport in favour of full Indian citizenship,” said Rahul Pratysh, resident of Rae Bareli. Sonia herself said in a television interview: “I never felt they look at me as a foreigner. Because I’m not. I am an Indian.”

As a matter of fact, most of the people here don’t know that Sonia Maino was born in the town of Orbassano, near Turin to a building contractor and his wife. And she was raised in a traditional Roman Catholic household. Her mother and two sisters still live in Orbassano.

But yes most of the people know how the ‘love’ between Rajeev and Sonia evolved in 1964 when she went to Cambridge to study English at a language school. Her life changed forever when she met her future husband, Rajiv Gandhi, who was studying engineering at the university. The couple married in 1968 and she moved into the house of her mother-in-law and then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi.

People here are a surprised lot when they think that the same Sonia had initially disliked Indian food and clothes and caused controversy when she was photographed wearing a miniskirt. According to old-timers, it was 1970 that marked the beginning of Sonia Gandhi accepting Indian culture. “Although she has learned Hindi, she is not a fluent speaker of the language. She no doubt has watched and learned something from Indira ji who has fought a variety of political battles,” said 92 year old Muzaffar.

Youngsters here admire Sonia Gandhi for her repeated and continued efforts despite being a failure initially. It is worth recalling that in 1998, when she agreed to become more involved in the party, Congress suffered a humiliating defeat from the hand of the BJP in the 1999 election. But after that, good time started coming for Sonia. In August 2000 she became a grandmother for the first time when Priyanka gave birth to a son. Earlier that year, she appealed to the court to grant clemency to a woman who had played a part in the bomb attack which killed her husband. The bomber, Nalini, had appealed for mercy on the grounds that her seven-year-old daughter would be orphaned if she was hanged. The court later commuted Nalini’s death sentence. This incident is still remembered by people of Rae Bareli.