He Was Someone I Would Love to Be With: Sonia Gandhi Recalls Rajiv Gandhi in First X Post

New Delhi: Making her debut on X, Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) chairperson Sonia Gandhi teased her upcoming biography 'Belonging: A Journey of Love'. In a video post she recalled her first meeting with former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi , sharing how they met at a Greek restaurant in England while they were students.

Recalling her search for Italian food in England, Sonia Gandhi said she eventually discovered a Greek restaurant frequented by European and Indian students, where she first met Rajiv Gandhi.

“And then we discovered this place. It was a Greek restaurant where many students, especially European students, but also Indian students used to go for their meals,” she said.

“And that is then where I met Rajiv in that very restaurant. 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,” she added.

She recalled that a common friend introduced them, after which they became friends and began attending parties and visiting places together.

“I remember when I first met him, a friend, a common friend, introduced us. Then, you know, we became friends. Then going to parties with friends, or going to see sights, or… We went to a Valentine party where there were lots of students,” she said.

Describing her first impression of Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi said his gentle nature had particularly struck her.

“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.

Sonia Gandhi married Rajiv Gandhi on February 25, 1968.

Earlier, Sonia Gandhi on Thursday joined the social media platform Instagram and shared her first video, offering a first look of her upcoming memoir, ‘Belonging: A Journey of Love’.

In her first Instagram post, Sonia Gandhi expressed gratitude while sharing 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,” she wrote in the caption.

“It is a story of love, duty, loss and finding a place to belong. I look forward to sharing it with you,” the post read.

The memoir chronicles Sonia Gandhi's journey, from her childhood in post-war Italy and her romance that brought her to India to the personal losses that profoundly

shaped her life and her relationship with her adopted country.