Editing Sonia Gandhi (section)

==Early life==

[[File:Sonia Gandhi birthplace.JPG|left|thumb|upright=0.6|Sonia Gandhi's birthplace, 31, Contrada Maini (Maini street), [[Lusiana]], Italy (the house on the right)]]
Sonia Maino was born on 9 December 1946 to Stefano and Paola Maino in [[Lusiana]] (in Maini street),<ref name="vera">{{cite web|url=http://m.indiatoday.in/story/sonia-gandhi-the-maino-girl-who-kept-her-tryst-with-destiny-in-india/1/194441.html|title=Sonia Gandhi: The Maino girl who kept her tryst with destiny in India|last=Schiavazzi|first=Vera|work=[[India Today]]|date=17 January 2005|access-date=19 November 2017|archive-date=10 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190110175406/https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/cover-story/story/20050117-sonia-gandhi-the-maino-girl-who-kept-her-tryst-with-destiny-in-india-788413-2005-01-17|url-status=live}}</ref> a historically [[Cimbrian language|Cimbrian]]-speaking village about 35&nbsp;km from [[Vicenza]] in [[Veneto]], [[Italy]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.radiopopolare.it/trasmissioni/onde-road/magnetofono/07112009-lindia-di-sonia-gandhi/stampa.html|title=Pictures from the book-biography "The Red sari" by Javier Moro|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728000421/http://www.radiopopolare.it/trasmissioni/onde-road/magnetofono/07112009-lindia-di-sonia-gandhi/stampa.html |archive-date=28 July 2011|publisher=[[Radio Popolare]]|access-date=9 December 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://ilgiornaledivicenza.it/stories/Home/92600_sonia_gandhidalla_piccola_lusiana_allindia_ecco_il_romanzo_di_una_donna_speciale/|title=Sonia Gandhi, dalla piccola Lusiana all'India ecco il romanzo di una donna speciale|work=Il Giornale di Vicenza |date=5 October 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110614233754/http://ilgiornaledivicenza.it/stories/Home/92600_sonia_gandhidalla_piccola_lusiana_allindia_ecco_il_romanzo_di_una_donna_speciale/|archive-date=14 June 2011}}</ref> She was one of three siblings: Sonia, Nadia and Anoushka,<ref name="laiq" /> raised in a traditional [[Roman Catholic]] Christian family.<ref name="vera" /> Sonia spent her adolescence in [[Orbassano]], a town near [[Turin]]. She attained primary education attending the local Catholic schools; one of her early teachers described her as "a diligent little girl, [who] studied as much as was necessary".<ref name="vera" />

Stefano, who was a building mason, established a small construction business in Orbassano.<ref name="laiq">{{cite web|url=http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?205112|title=Meeting Mr Maino|last=Laiq|first=Jawid|work=[[Outlook (Indian magazine)|Outlook]]|access-date=19 July 2013|date=23 February 1998|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140426214358/http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?205112|archive-date=26 April 2014}}</ref> It is alleged that in an interview with Jawid Laiq published in Outlook in 1998 Stefano claimed that he had fought against the [[Soviet military]] alongside [[Hitler]]'s [[Wehrmacht]] on the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|eastern front in World War II]], and that he was a loyal supporter of [[Benito Mussolini]] and Italy's [[National Fascist Party]]. As per the said article, the family house had [[Bookbinding#Development|leather bound books]] on writings and speeches of Mussolini.<ref name="laiq"/> Stefano had named Sonia and her elder sister Nadia in the memory of the [[Italian participation in the Eastern Front]].<ref name="vera"/> He died in 1983.<ref>[http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl1509/15090140.htm In Maino land] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130308113733/http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl1509/15090140.htm|date=8 March 2013}}; retrieved 23 March 2007.</ref> Gandhi has two sisters who still reside in Orbassano.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3714047.stm Italy heralds 'first woman PM'] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306041733/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3714047.stm|date=6 March 2016}}; retrieved 18 July 2007.</ref>

Gandhi completed her schooling at the age of 13; her final report card read: "intelligent, diligent, committed [...] would succeed well at the high school for teachers". She aspired to become a [[flight attendant]].<ref name="vera"/> In 1964, she went to study English at the [[Bell Educational Trust]]'s language school in the city of [[Cambridge]].<ref>[https://www.thetimes.com/article/how-a-waitress-became-a-world-leader-ggndqrjct50 How a waitress became a world leader] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250118015231/https://www.thetimes.com/article/how-a-waitress-became-a-world-leader-ggndqrjct50 |date=18 January 2025 }} [[The Times]]. May 17, 2004. Glen Owen and Nick Meo.</ref> The following year, she met [[Rajiv Gandhi]] at the Varsity Restaurant, where she was working as a part-time waitress, while he was enrolled for an engineering degree in the [[Trinity College, Cambridge|Trinity College]] at the [[University of Cambridge]].<ref name="Singh2011">{{cite book|author=Rani Singh|title=Sonia Gandhi: An Extraordinary Life, An Indian Destiny|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F_g67qLkXfgC|date=13 September 2011|publisher=St. Martin's Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-230-34053-4}}</ref><ref name="time-s">{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/asia/covers/501040524/story.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604080555/http://www.time.com/time/asia/covers/501040524/story.html|archive-date=4 June 2011|title=The Sonia Shock|first=Alex|last=Perry|date=17 May 2004|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|url-status=dead|access-date=12 June 2009}}</ref> In this context, the ''Times'', London reported, "Mrs Gandhi was an 18-year-old student at a small language college in Cambridge in 1965, [...] when she met a handsome young engineering student".<ref>{{citation|title=From waitress to world leader|url=http://rediff.com/election/2004/may/17sonia.htm|publisher=Rediff|date=17 May 2004|access-date=31 October 2015|archive-date=24 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924123313/http://www.rediff.com/election/2004/may/17sonia.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> The couple married in 1968, in a [[Hindu]] ceremony, following which she moved into the house of her mother-in-law and then Prime Minister, [[Indira Gandhi]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.catholicculture.org/news/features/index.cfm?recnum=20749|title=News Features|publisher=Catholic Culture|date=20 November 2001|access-date=11 March 2014|archive-date=7 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140307173412/http://www.catholicculture.org/news/features/index.cfm?recnum=20749|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="BBC Profile 2014"/>

The couple had two children, [[Rahul Gandhi]] (born 1970) and [[Priyanka Vadra]] (born 1972). Despite belonging to the influential [[Nehru- Feroz Khan Gandhi family|Nehru family]], Sonia and Rajiv avoided all involvement in politics. Rajiv worked as an airline pilot while Sonia took care of her family.
She spent considerable amount of time with her mother-in-law, Indira Gandhi; she recalled her experience in a 1985 interview with the Hindi-language magazine ''[[Dharmyug]]'', "She [Indira] showered me with all her affection and love".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/23/world/assassination-in-india-woman-in-the-news-the-tragedy-s-new-player-sonia-gandhi.html|title=Assassination In India: Woman in the News; The Tragedy's New Player; Sonia Gandhi|last=Hazarika|first=Sanjoy|work=[[New York Times]]|access-date=1 March 2018|date=23 May 1991}}</ref>  Soon after the latter's ousting from office in 1977 in the aftermath of the [[Indian Emergency]], the Rajiv family contemplated moving abroad for a short time.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ramachandran|first=Aarthi|title=Decoding Rahul Gandhi|year=2012|page=1973|publisher=Tranquebar Press |isbn=9789381626696|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8PeqObhK2qsC&q=Rajiv+gandhi+family+moved+abroad+after+emergency&pg=PA1973|access-date=27 May 2014}}</ref> When Rajiv entered politics in 1982 after the death of his younger brother [[Sanjay Gandhi]] in a plane crash on 23 June 1980, Sonia continued to focus on her family and avoided all contact with the public.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.frontline.in/static/html/fl1612/16120300.htm|title=Citizen Sonia|last=Venkatesan|first=V.|work=[[Frontline (magazine)|Frontline]]|date=5 June 1999|access-date=30 May 2014|archive-date=10 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190110175337/https://frontline.thehindu.com/static/html/fl1612/16120300.htm%20/|url-status=live}}</ref>