Although it is her trusted colleague Manmohan Singh who is the prime minister, it is the 62-year-old Gandhi, chairperson of the ruling Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA), who is widely considered the real power behind the throne.

In any case, Gandhi is the undisputed boss of India’s oldest political party and is principally credited for its remarkable comeback to power in the parliamentary election, winning the highest number of 206 seats in the lower house, Lok Sabha, since 1991.

Politicians and political analysts admit that Gandhi has truly emerged as a hugely popular leader.

“She has led the Congress to victory in two successive elections. That is the closest you can get to getting the people’s mandate,” noted analyst Mahesh Rangarajan told IANS.

In any case, he said, the issue of her foreign origin “died a natural death” much earlier and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which was once vocal on the topic, overstretched it with a negative campaign.

But it was Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Purno Sangma’s dramatic move to apologize to Gandhi for carrying on a sustained campaign against her over her foreign origin that appeared to formally bury the once emotive affair.

The election results of 2009 were again a very proud and yet again historic day in the Indian calandar.

With branches throughout the UK and indeed members right across the globe, we would sincerely like to thank you all for your support and comments throughout this election campaign.

We would also like to congratulate Sonia Gandhi Ji, Dr Manmohan Singh Ji and all the members of the Congress Party in India who have our overwhelming support in continuing and sustaining the development of our prosperous nation.

We look forward to your support in the years to come!”

“JAI HIND”

Avtar Sandhu
Secretary General
Indian Overseas Congress (I) UK