她出身意大利平民家庭，嫁入印度执政家族。随后，她的婆婆英迪拉·甘地和丈夫拉吉夫·甘地相继惨遭杀害。在一次罕见的采访中，这位政治家谈到了她不情愿走上权力舞台的经历、纳伦德拉·莫迪的“压制性政权”，以及青年抗议为何让她对未来充满希望。
She came from humble Italian origins to join India’s ruling family. Then both her mother-in-law, Indira Gandhi, and her husband, Rajiv, were brutally murdered. In a rare interview, the politician talks about her reluctant rise to power, Narendra Modi’s repressive regime – and why youth protests give her hope for the future
对于一位见证了现代印度历史上一些最重大政治时刻的女性来说，索尼娅·甘地坚持认为自己的生活并不非凡。“噢，我不知道我会不会说这是一个非凡的故事，”她不自在地动了动身子说道。
For a woman who has been a witness to some of the most significant political moments in modern Indian history, Sonia Gandhi likes to insist her life has been far from remarkable. “Oh, I don’t know that I would say it’s an extraordinary story,” she says, shifting uncomfortably.
很难将这种谦逊的自我定位与她过去79年的人生轨迹调和。她出生于意大利北部一个小镇的工薪家庭，如今却身处印度政治权力的核心，历经刺杀与个人悲剧，成为该国最具影响力的人物之一。1984年，时任总理、她的婆婆英迪拉·甘地在德里家中被枪杀，她曾抱着英迪拉浑身是血的遗体。随后，丈夫拉吉夫·甘地接替母亲出任总理，她成为印度的“第一夫人”。
It’s hard to reconcile this modest characterisation with the course her life has taken over the last 79 years. Born to a working-class family in a small town in northern Italy, today she sits at the heart of Indian political power, having weathered assassinations and personal tragedy to become one of the country’s most influential figures. She held Indira Gandhi’s bloodied body after the then-prime minster, her mother-in-law, was gunned down at their home in Delhi in 1984. She then became India’s first lady when her husband, Rajiv Gandhi, took his mother’s place as prime minister.
当拉吉夫也遇刺身亡时，她抛开对政治的厌恶，挺身而出领导这个四分五裂的政党。2004年，在带领国大党赢得大选胜利后，她著名地拒绝了总理职位。无论是在国大党执政时期，还是后来沦为举步维艰的在野党时期，她都能自豪地说是该党任职时间最长的主席。2017年甘地卸任时，其子拉胡尔被任命为继任者。
And when Rajiv, too, was killed, she threw aside her distaste for politics to step up and lead his fragmenting party. In 2004, having taken Congress to electoral victory, she famously turned down the prime minister post. She can still boast of being the longest-serving president of Congress, both when India’s oldest political party was in power and later, when it became the flailing opposition. When Gandhi stepped down in 2017, her son Rahul was appointed her successor.
