‘New Delhi: Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi joined X for the first time on Saturday. In her first post, she recalled how she met former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in England.
In a video lasting nearly two minutes, she spoke about her days in Cambridge and said a mutual friend introduced her to Rajiv Gandhi at a Greek restaurant. Her post came ahead of the release of her first book, Belonging: A Journey of Love, on November 10.
“In a small Greek restaurant in Cambridge my journey of love began. Rajiv and I created a world filled with love, laughter and memories. On 10th November, I share that world with you,” she wrote on X.
How They Met
Sonia Gandhi said she was looking for food similar to Italian cuisine when she found the restaurant where she first met Rajiv Gandhi.
“And so, we discovered this place (Varsity Restaurant). It was a Greek restaurant, where many European students, but also Indian students, used to go for their meals. And that is then where I met Rajiv in that very restaurant,” she said.
She said she felt connected to him at once.
“When I first met him, I felt almost immediately that you know he was someone I would really love to be with. And, of course, I learned that it was the same for him,” Sonia said.
What She Liked About Rajiv Gandhi
Sonia Gandhi said a common friend introduced them. Later, they went to parties and visited places together in Cambridge, as reported by The Telegraph.
“Then, you know, we became friends. Then going to parties with friends or going to see sights or we went to a Valentine’s party where there were lots of students.
“He was a very gentle-looking person. Of course, he was very good-looking, but that gentleness came through. So that was something which really touched me and struck me. So that of course, I’ll never forget when I first met him,” she said.
Looking at old photographs in the video, she again called Rajiv Gandhi handsome and gentle. The two married on February 25, 1968.
About The Book
Her upcoming memoir is her first book. It speaks about her life with Rajiv Gandhi and her journey from her younger days to now.
The book covers her childhood in post-war Italy, her love story with Rajiv Gandhi, her move to India and the personal losses that shaped her life.
Sonia Gandhi had joined Instagram on October 22 and shared the first look of the book.
“Hello everyone, I’m truly grateful to share this moment with you all; the first look of Belonging: A Journey of Love. It is a story of love, duty, loss and finding a place to belong. I look forward to sharing it with you,” she had said.
Congress Welcomes Post
The Congress welcomed Sonia Gandhi to X through a post on the platform.
Congress leader Pawan Khera also shared her video and wrote: “The story of Sonia Ji and Rajiv Ji feels like a midsummer night’s dream – beautiful, idyllic, almost too perfect until a dark cloud of tragedy shattered it.
Yet, even in the face of unimaginable loss, the promise of responsibility, duty, loyalty and sacrifice endured.
Sonia Ji has now joined X, sharing beautiful anecdotes from her early meetings with her husband, Rajiv Gandhi Ji.
And in her book, Belonging: The Journey of Love, she has poured even more of her heart into telling a story of love, loss and unwavering resolve – a story too wholehearted to be forgotten.”
