Sonia Gandhi's Memoir Reveals Concerns Over Congress Government's Performance During UPA Era

The business community was disillusioned with the Congress government towards the end of the UPA government, admits Sonia Gandhi in her memoir Belonging: A Journey of Love. She writes: “Towards the close of the decade of the UPA government, we were facing a problem of ‘anti-incumbency’ . The business world was also dissatisfied with the what was termed our ‘policy paralysis’, seen as a delay in pushing through further economic reforms. They threw their weight behind the BJP. The mainstream media is largely owned by corporate houses, and their management consistently gave the advantage to our opponents in shaping public opinion. Our achievements were overshadowed by the BJP’s successful use of both the mainstream and social media to propogate charges of corruption in our government.” Writing about the country’s current economic situation, she says “poverty has declined sharply, the economy has grown sevenfold, and Indians have made their mark across the world… Many of these advances were initiated under Congress governments.” Attributing the BJP’s rise to power under Narendra Modi in 2014 to an intensive media campaign and a no-holds-barred attack against the Congress, she writes: “The public was ready for a change, and Narendra Modi, backed and promoted by media barons, persuaded many Indian voters that he was the answer to their problems.” Defending the UPA government , she writes that PM Manmohan Singh and the party had taken action against ministers engaged in corruption, claiming that many accusations of the opposition were later found to be false, alleging that officials appointed to investigate scams came up with inflated and distorted reports, and were later rewarded by the BJP. Talking of Singh, she writes: “It took some years for himn to be publicly vindicated; but by the end of UPA’s second term, the damage had already been done.” After a decisive poll victory in 2004, Gandhi writes how she felt she was “capable of shouldering responsibility”, and even “felt duty-bound to do so”, but says her instinct told her not to accept the prime minister’s post, fearing her foreign origins would “stir up emotions and create havoc”. Her decision was supported by her family, and she writes she was at peace with it. She writes Manmohan Singh had long been in her sights as “a person above reproach, possessing a deep and consummate understanding of governance”. “He was not allied to any camp in the party… After an initial refusal, his hesitation was overcome and he was persuaded to agree.” Gandhi writes how she and Singh made it a point to communicate clearly, being aware of potential attempts to create a rift between them. She also dismisses the narrative of being a ‘back-seat driver’ in the UPA, rubbishing claims made in a book by Singh’s aide (media adviser Sanjay Baru’s The Accidental Prime Minister) that she demanded access to government files. She writes that it was a combination of economic growth and social justice with schemes such as MG-NREGA that brought the UPA back in power in 2009, and with a higher margin of seats. Gandhi writes how, unlike the past when ruling and opposition parties were cordial and more open, she has had “no real contact” with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his 12-year tenure so far. She writes: “Mr Modi’s origins may not have been as humble as his PR team has made out in marketing his image, but he has certainly worked his way to power within the RSS from an underprivileged world.” She writes that under the Modi government, the divides between the rich and poor have widened to unprecedented levels. She also alleges that the Modi government has rehashed no less than 30 of UPA’s schemes under new names, adding that infrastructure projects have “mainly benefitted a few industrialists with close ties to the PM”. Accusing the BJP of “dismantling our democratic institutions”, she alleges an atmosphere of fear, where both media and public protests have been silenced. She condemns demonetisation as “a telling example of the prime minister’s autocratic methods” that “shut down vital sectors of the economy and drove millions to hardship”. “I am sometimes asked if I have any regrets about coming to India and making my life here with the family I married into. My answer has been and remains no,” writes Gandhi. Talking of her decision to join politics, she writes: “I discovered that individuals have untapped reserves that come into play when life calls them to perform tasks they had thought unimaginable. Where I did struggle with doubts was when I was called upon to make political compromises. I ask myself now, did those compromises even serve their objectives? Not always… They don’t sit lightly on my conscience.” Writing about her “fantasy of personal happiness”, she pens: “I sometimes think of how our lives might have turned out if fate had allowed Rajiv to remain in his profession as an airline pilot. In my dreams we’d have grown old together in the house he’d built for his mother, enjoyed our grandchildren, travelled in India and abroad to places I longed to see…But that was my own fantasy of personal happiness; his was a destiny of greater challenges, higher loyalties. He led the country. He was killed. I was propelled into a life I’d disliked and resisted. But I couldn’t back out of my commitments to Rajiv’s vision for India.” She writes that she tried her best, but “didn’t succeed in beating back the forces I’d set out to fight. But I believe in my heart that in the long run, Mahatma Gandhi’s India, the India of kindness and compassion, will prevail.”