The Red Sari: Maneka Gandhi was first to rake up Sonia’s origin, says writer Javier Moro
New Delhi: The author of the The Red Sari, Spanish author Javier Moro, has noted that “the note of discord was struck by Maneka, who saw with displeasure how her husband’s legacy was snatched away from her by his brother”.
He wrote that Maneka publicly asked, “how can Rajiv take on his brother’s mantle if he has never liked politics and is married to a foreigner?” which alerted “Indira and Rajiv who asked Sonia to finalise the paperwork to acquire Indian nationality”. Mr Moro claims that Maneka was the first to raise the issue of the foreign origin of Sonia Gandhi.
Read: My book on Sonia Gandhi blown out of proportion by 'poor PR people': Author Javier Moro
The issue of foreign origin revived again after the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, which allegedly led to the appointment of Dr Manmohan Singh as PM. “It was a clever move and double win for Sonia as her being an Italian no longer bothered her and she enjoyed absolute power at the same time,” Moro told reporters on Saturday.
Read: ‘The Red Sari’: Controversial book on Sonia Gandhi out in India
He claimed that Maneka sought to mobilise supporters of Sanjay. “Maneka had agreed to go and give a speech in Lucknow for a group of dissidents in the Congress led by an old friend of Sanjay, Akbar Ahmed ‘Dumpy’. Indira was furious. They are defying me with a mini-revolt. If you go to Lucknow, don’t ever come back to my house,” the author has written about late Indira Gandhi having told her friend Pupul Jayakar. He writes that Maneka did go to Lucknow and sought to mobilise Sanjay’s supporters, which infuriated Indira so much that she had to be thrown out of the PM’s house late in the night amidst high drama and in the presence of media personnel.
The Red Sari has now been published in India. Get your copy ! http://t.co/FO3eFYGcmO @RoliBooks @javiermoro123 pic.twitter.com/fnlk8nU4gY
— Priya Kapoor (@PiyuK) January 14, 2015