Rajiv Gandhi

News India Xtra@newsIndiaxtra

Sonia Gandhi's memoir, Belonging, says a 1986 court order unlocking the Babri Masjid gates in Ayodhya revived a long-quiet dispute. She also writes that Rajiv Gandhi's Ram Rajya idea, meant to counter the BJP and RSS, fell flat.

Journalist Neerja Chowdhury's account says the government was worried about Hindu anger over the Shah Bano judgment, and that Arun Nehru pushed for the locks to be opened.

The move did not help at the polls. In 1989 Congress won 197 seats, the most of any party, but lost its majority, down from 404 seats in 1984.

News India Xtra@newsIndiaxtra

Sonia Gandhi stepped back into public life in January 1998 with a speech at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu, where her husband Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated. The address kicked off the Congress party's campaign for the 1999 polls.

She said she had stayed out of politics since his death, but now felt it was time to come forward with her concerns about where India stands. She warned against parties that stoke religious, caste and regional divisions, and called Congress the only truly national party able to deliver steady rule.