Talk:Sonia Gandhi

Education

Can someone write on her educational qualifications, such as 10th grade pass 11th grade pass or which ever applies to her? We need to know the educational backround of our honourable leader. 128.233.111.111 (talk) —Preceding comment was added at 23:19, 1 May 2008 (UTC)

Sonia Gandhi gave a sworn affidavit as a Candidate that She Studied English at University of Cambridge. According to Cambridge University, there is no such Student EVER! Upon a Case by Dr. Subramaniyam Swami filed against her, She subsequently dropped the CAMBRIDGE CREDENTIAL from her Affidavit. Sonia Gandhi didn't even pass High School. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.172.7.168 (talk) 14:44, 11 June 2011 (UTC)

Controversy section

Why is there no Controversy section for this person ? Why is it removed. Why should the wiki authors behave authoritarian ? This is against wiki policy. A controversy section should be allowed ! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Nithya (talk • contribs) 12:02, 9 March 2012 (UTC)

I forgot to mention in my edit summaries, but I have integrated the criticism of the subject into the article, as WP:CSECTION suggests. Thank you. Yes Michael? •^Talk 20:48, 13 May 2011 (UTC)

COMPLETE ABSENCE of ANYTHING even remotely against Sonia in this article

The article seems totally protected by Coterie who have authority in wiki. Whilst allegations are present, they should be included in the page. Allegations are allegations. They have not been objected and whilst incriminations are not acceptable, it would only be fair and right to publish allegations. I have made my point ! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Nithya (talk • contribs) 12:12, 9 March 2012 (UTC)

Even articles like Gandhi, Mandela and 14th Dalai Lama have e ntire sections and subsections dealing with controversies, criticisms, and yes, even UNPROVEN ALLEGATIONS. But no, not this one. Sonia Gandhi has been a poster girl for controversies, criticisms, corruption, illegal wealth and several such issues in India. In its current form, this article is nothing but POV-pushing B.S. and a joke. It seems some Sonia-loving editors have managed to hijack this article and are on some sort of mission to keep it COMPLETELY BIASED and free from even a shred of neutrality. Funny. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.3.77.210 (talk) 04:37, 5 June 2011 (UTC)

See the last section in this talk page; WP:CSECTION. The criticism is integrated into the article, I can pick out the sentences for you if that is a problem for you. Also see Yeddyurappa and L.K. Advani, where there is no criticism section. I am sorry to hear you feel this is humorous in any way. Lynch7 18:45, 5 June 2011 (UTC)

Oh, so the "her detractors called her renunciation a political stunt", the one sentences about how she got into the voter rolls in 1983 without even being an Indian citizen and the one phrase "office-of-profit controversy" is what you call your "criticism integrated throughout the article"?! You're making me laugh again. But what about the real issues and the biggest controversies to have dogged her? CORRUPTION allegations (EVEN IF they are allegations, the prominent/good articles I mentioned also have enough numbers of such "allegations"; in fact MOST controversies related to politicians/celebrities across the world are almost always invariably termed as "unproven allegations"; after all, nobody's holding his breath for the day "concrete incontrovertible proof" emerges that Lawrence of Arabia was indeed homosexual or Lewis Carroll was indeed a paedophile or the 14th Dalai Lama is indeed a CIA agent etc etc etc ... and yet all these articles mention these "controversies/allegations" prominently), education controversies (such as the incident in which she claimed on her election form and Parliamentary website that she was "Cambridge-educated" without bothering to clarify that "learning English from some private language school in the town of Cambridge" does not quite mean "Cambridge-educated", her accepting the Order of Leopold from the Belgian monarch and the resulting controversies, the supposed undue influence her Italian family members and relatives have enjoyed with the Indian government with more attendant corruption controversies, the reports of amassing billions in ILLEGAL WEALTH (from independent/neutral/international news agencies in case you wish to discredit Indian media as being biased), yada yada, the list is endless (some South Indian politician called Swamy maintains an entire dossier, with pointers to enough references and evidence). And by the way, just because Yeddyurappa and L. K. Advani happen to be poorly written / pathetic articles gives no justification why so should this one be. Also, compare and contrast the ones you named with the more prominent and "good articles" I mentioned. In any case, Sonia Gandhi is a much more important and prominent person/article compared to Yeddyurappa or Advani and this article certainly deserves to be better than the joke it currently is. As for my "funny" remark, try looking up "sarcasm" in the dictionary. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.3.77.210 (talk) 04:19, 6 June 2011 (UTC)

There are a couple of important differences between the articles that you mention and this one. First and foremost, Sonia Gandhi is covered by our WP:BLP policies while neither Lawrence of Arabia nor Lewis Carroll are. The standards for admissibility of allegations in a blp are much higher than for biographies in general. Second, there are numerous scholarly works that discuss the sexuality of Lawrence of A and Lewis Carroll while there are none that discuss the issues re Sonia Gandhi that you bring up in your post above. One should not expect to find an apple core inside an orange. --rgpk (comment) 15:30, 6 June 2011 (UTC)

So you conveniently mention Lawrence of Arabia and Lewis Carroll while ignoring Mandela and 14th Dalai Lama both of whom are living persons. (And incidentally, both of whom are much more prominent and important persons - and articles - than either of the Indian politicians from Sonia to Advani mentioned here.) I can mention approximately 50 more living person biographical wiki articles to support my case but I guess its useless teaching pigs to sing. Secondly, no, I am not asking for a dedicated/specific "criticism" section (whatever gave you that idea?!) but more proper coverage of her criticism and controversies in the article. (Ugh, I cannot believe I have to be so pedantic with you guys; use your brains, please.) Thirdly, there is enough scholarly work and documentary evidence regarding the controversies I have mentioned as well, Google is your friend. In any case, any edit introducing such material will have to be backed up with enough citations of references, otherwise you have enough justification (and feel free) to remove such content from the article. But as I have already said, EVEN without volumes of scholarly work or incontrovertible evidence, "unproven allegations" appear in PROMINENT/GOOD biographical articles about living persons all the time, and there is no reason why this one should be any different. 202.3.77.210 (talk) 05:49, 7 June 2011 (UTC)

There is a good reason why Criticism sections are discouraged, one of them being that it is a magnet for vandals. Mr. Swamy's allegations have been the topic of discussion here before, and you are encouraged to look for the relevant discussions here on this page. As for sarcasm, I use enough of it to get a Master's degree in it; so there. Lynch7 17:29, 6 June 2011 (UTC)

Read the above regarding how I don't care at all about any "criticism section". As for Swamy's allegations on THIS TALK PAGE, I have seen enough of it. The whole point is to get some of it into the article to at least give it a vestige of neutrality! As for your supposed "masters degree", HA HA, don't even try intimidating me with your pathetic educational qualifications. Feel free to do a whois IP lookup on my IP address and see for yourself where I come from. 202.3.77.210 (talk) 05:49, 7 June 2011 (UTC)

This page is against wikipedia nuetrality guidelines and seems like a promotional article. There is documented proof of Sonia inheriting Swiss bank account of Rajiv — Preceding unsigned comment added by 114.31.186.119 (talk) 10:56, 8 June 2011 (UTC)

Adding all offices in Info-Box

I have added all offices S Gandhi that held thus far until this date in the Info-box as per dates. The information is as per based on biographical page as per provided by the Indian Parliament. You may check her profile and the offices he has held thus far in the Lok Sabha biography pages.

As the article itself do not do justice to the person on whom the article is written as the article do not mention all or mostly any of the offices she has all held, I have mentioned it all in the infobox on the right as per dates so people wont be mentioning it again or part by part in article. This is a convenience as he/she who wants to read on him or have interest can just look on the right instead of reading the whole article and browsing through websites or googling it.

Infoboxes should be holding all offices she has held and not be holding some to have a bias of other offices or belittling on other offices one has held. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Goldfinger123 (talk • contribs) 19:56, 8 June 2011 (UTC)

Too Autobiographical?

I wonder if the section on Honours and Awards is too autobiographical. Forbes listing is OK, but should we include the others? Comments please. Lynch7 20:35, 8 June 2011 (UTC)

Nothing is too autobiographical. Biography is nothing but everything that covers one whole life from a period of time. If Manmohan Singh (PM India), Kofi Annan's, Amartya Sen, Ban ki-Moon's article can contain all their honors, awards, prizes and their honorary doctorates and listing in magazines then so can for Sonia Gandhi. She is as renowned as any leader in any part of the world and deserves justice on her biography article in Wikipedia. If she does not get to list her honors then that standard should be applied to all leaders of the world.

Point noted. Lynch7 09:22, 9 June 2011 (UTC)

Please define citizenship of sonia gandhi?

Wether she is citizen of INDIA or ITALY? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mohitkr05 (talk • contribs) 15:26, 13 June 2011 (UTC)

According to the infobox in the article, she is a citizen of India. --rgpk (comment) 20:47, 13 June 2011 (UTC)

controversies section missing from the article

an important aspect of the article the controversies sections seems to be missing. sonia gandhi is involved in many controversies regarding her education regarding aiding sumgling of ancient artifacts for her siblings custom shop GANAPATI in italy. alleged connections with kgb. black money controversies this article thus has not been written from a neutralpoint of view but rather as a promotional article.Necessary changes sholud be made to make this article better. Isptraack (talk) 08:22, 15 November 2011 (UTC)

Request permission to add a few accomplishments of Sonia Gandhi

I would like to add an accomplishments section and I request permission for it. Thanks. Sampathpeechu (talk) 03:58, 24 January 2012 (UTC) Falsification of personal details 125.16.91.5 (talk) 10:14, 12 February 2012 (UTC) First, her real name is Antonia not Sonia. This was revealed by the Italian Ambassador in New Delhi in a letter dated April 27, 1983 to the Union Home Ministry which letter has not been made public. Antonia is Sonia’s real name as stated in her birth certificate. Second, Sonia was not born in Orbassano as she claims in her bio data submitted to Parliament on becoming MP, but in Luciana as stated in her birth certificate. Third, Sonia Gandhi has not studied beyond High School. But she has falsely claimed in her sworn affidavit filed as a contesting candidate before the Rae Bareli Returning Officer in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, that she qualified and got a diploma in English from the prestigious University of Cambridge, UK.

Earlier, in 1999 in her biographical data given under her signature to the Lok Sabha Secretariat and which was published in Parliament’s Who’s Who, she had made the same false claim. But later she wrote to the Lok Sabha Speaker, after Swamy had pointed it out to him in a written complaint of a Breach of Ethics of the Lok Sabha, that it was a “typing mistake”. Strange but true.

Scindia episode Madhavrao Scindia and a German by name Stiegler are worth mentioning as other good friends of Sonia. Madhavrao’s friendship continued even after Sonia’s marriage to Rajiv. In later years, Madhavrao had become privately critical of Sonia, and told some close friends about his apprehensions about her. It is a pity that he died in mysterious circumstances in an as yet uninvestigated aircrash of his private plane in the year 2001. Mani Shankar Aiyar and Shiela Dikshit were to be on that flight too, but were asked to stay behind at the last moment.

Swiss bank accounts A stunning exposure on Sonia Gandhi’s secret billions in Swiss banks came, surprisingly, from Switzerland itself, where the world’s corrupt stash away their booty. In its issue of November 19, 1991, Schweizer Illustrierte, the most popular magazine of Switzerland, did an exposé of over a dozen politicians of the third world, including Rajiv Gandhi, who had stashed away their bribe monies in Swiss banks. Schweizer Illustrierte, not a rag, sells some 2,15,000 copies and has a readership of 9,17,000 — almost a sixth of Swiss adult population. Citing the newly opened KGB records, the magazine reported ‘that Sonia Gandhi the widow of the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was controlling secret account with 2.5 billion Swiss Francs (equal to $2.2 billion) in her minor son’s name’. The $2.2 billion account must have existed from before June 1988 when Rahul Gandhi attained majority. y any calculation the present size of the $2.2 billion secret funds of the family in Swiss banks seems huge — anywhere between Rs 43,000 plus to some Rs 84,000 crore!

KGB records Another expose emanating from the archives of the Russian spy outfit KGB, is far more serious. It says that the Gandhi family has accepted political pay-offs from the KGB — a clear case of treason besides bribe. In her book The State Within a State: The KGB and its Hold on Russia-Past, Present, and Future, Yevgenia Albats, an acclaimed investigative journalist, says: “A letter signed by Victor Chebrikov, who replaced Andropov as the KGB head in 1982 noted: ‘the USSR KGB maintains contact with the son of the Premier Minister Rajiv Gandhi (of India). R Gandhi expresses deep gratitude for the benefits accruing to the Prime Minister’s family from the commercial dealings of the firm he controls in co-operation with the Soviet foreign trade organisations. R Gandhi reports confidentially that a substantial portion of the funds obtained through this channel are used to support the party of R Gandhi’.” (p.223). Albats has also disclosed that, in December 2005, KGB chief Victor Chebrikov had asked for authorisation from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, “to make payments in US dollars to the family members of Rajiv Gandhi, namely Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Ms Paola Maino, mother of Sonia Gandhi.” And even before Albats’ book came out the Russian media had leaked out the details of the pay-offs. Based on the leaks, on July 4, 1992, The Hindu had reported: “the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service admits the possibility that the KGB could have been involved in arranging profitable Soviet contract for the company controlled by Rajiv Gandhi family”.

Breach of Indian laws As insurance agent Sonia Gandhi, was acting as an insurance agent of a public sector insurance company[Oriental Fire&Insurance] during tenure of Indira Gandhi, giving the Prime Minister’s official residence as her business address, and using undue influence to get insured the officers of the PMO, while remaining as an Italian citizen[thus violating FERA]. There was an uproar in Parliament, but Mrs. Indira Gandhi had no alternative but to cut her losses. She made a rare admission in a written reply a few days later that it indeed was so, and that it was by mistake, but that Sonia had resigned from her insurance agency

A C Gupta Commission The Supreme Court Justice A.C. Gupta Commission set up by the Janata Party government in 1977 came out with a voluminous report on the Maruti Company then owned by the Gandhi family, and has listed eight violations of FERA, Companies Act, and Foreigners Registration Act by Sonia Gandhi. She was never prosecuted, but can still be prosecuted because under Indian law, economic crimes are not subject to the statute of limitation.

Enrollment as voter while being an Italian In January 1980, Indira Gandhi returned as Prime Minister. The first thing Sonia did was to enroll herself as a voter. This was a gross violation of the law, enough to cause cancellation of her visa [since she was admittedly an Italian citizen then]. There was some hullabaloo in the press about it, so the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer got her name deleted in 1982. But in January 1983, she again enrolled herself as a voter even while as a foreigner [she first applied for citizenship in April 1983]

http://janataparty.org/annexures/ann15p61.html

Bofors scam and freeing Quattrocchi After the Congress under Sonia Gandhi came to power in 2004, Quattrocchi was quickly relieved of all hardships.

In June 2003, a London branch of the Swiss bank BSI AG was found by the Interpol to have two accounts held by Quattrocchi and his wife Maria, containing Euros 3 million and $1 million. These accounts were then frozen upon the request of the CBI. However, on December 22, 2005, the Indian government position changed rather suddenly. The law minister Hansraj Bhardwaj deputed the additional solicitor general of India, Mr. B. Dutta, to London to specifically request release of these accounts. However, it appears that the law ministry never consulted the investigating agency, CBI in this matter Even though On 6 February 2007, Quattrocchi was detained in Argentina on the basis of the Interpol warrant, the CBI let him go free by seemingly deliberate errors on its part. In April 2009, The Interpol removed the red-corner notice issued against Ottavio Quattrocchi after a request from the Central Bureau of Investigation A major chapter in the 25-year-old Bofors saga was closed with a Tis Hazari court here discharging Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi from the payoffs case after allowing the CBI to withdraw prosecution against him. Antique shops in Italy Subramaniam Swamy has alleged that Sonia’s mother, Paola Maino, and sister Anushka Winci owned the shops, Etinica in Rivolta and Ganpaty in Orbassano, the Mainos’ hometown in Italy. The CBI had to seek Interpol’s help after the Italian foreign ministry refused to part with the information, saying the matter should be taken up by the “Indian judicial authority directly with (the) Italian judicial authority”.

Oil licenses to ENI Italy See ENI scam

After the UPA came back to power in 2004, ENI Italy started exploration of oil along the west coast of India and Andaman islands to name few. The company had links with Quattrochi and is rumored to have Massimo Quattrochi in senior advisory position. ENI is the owner of Snamprogetti which got many contracts during the Rajiv Gandhi regime.

Edit request on 26 March 2012

Within 62 days of joining as a primary member, she was offered the party President post which she accepted. She contested Lok Sabha elections from Bellary, Karnataka and Amethi, Uttar Pradesh in 1999. In Bellary she defeated veteran BJP leader, Sushma Swaraj. In 2004 and 2009, she was re-elected to the Lok Sabha from Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh. {Citation: http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/press/List%20of%20Winning%20Candidated%20Final%20for%2016th%20May.pdf}

Freakywindow (talk) 13:27, 26 March 2012 (UTC)

Not done for now: See my comments below. I'm not sure who eci.nic.in is, and this document isn't attributed or sourced, so IMO doesn't meet WP:RS. If we have something better, or a description of why this is notable/reliable, we can definitely add it. Thanks!   — Jess· Δ♥ 15:09, 26 March 2012 (UTC)

Edit request on 26 March 2012

In Bellary she defeated veteran BJP leader, Sushma Swaraj.{Citation:http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/candidatewise/GE_1999.xls}

Freakywindow (talk) 13:33, 26 March 2012 (UTC)

Not done for now: What is eci.nic.in? They don't appear to have any info on their site, or any attribution or source listed in the xls you provided. Without some indication of where this is coming from, this isn't really a reliable source. Do we have anything better? Thanks!   — Jess· Δ♥ 15:08, 26 March 2012 (UTC)

ECI is probably the Election Commission of India. Lynch7 15:17, 26 March 2012 (UTC)

Mike is right. ECI. There cant be any other RS than this. -Animeshkulkarni (talk) 18:04, 26 March 2012 (UTC)

Okay. If that's the case, and we have reason to believe this is their data and publication, then it's a great source. The same can be said for the edit request above this one. Thanks for the correction and addition!   — Jess· Δ♥ 18:23, 26 March 2012 (UTC)

Edit request on 31 March 2012

Senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee JUST said that she surrendered her Italian passport to the Italian Embassy on 27 April 1983 (This Sentence may be false). Italian nationality law did not permit dual nationality until 1992. So, by acquiring Indian citizenship in 1983, she would automatically have lost Italian citizenship (She might have lost the citizenship, i.e., she can run anytime from India - taking all the Indian Money) !!

Get2ganesh (talk) 16:41, 31 March 2012 (UTC)

 Not done: No edit request made! -Animeshkulkarni (talk) 16:55, 31 March 2012 (UTC)

Edit request on 12 April 2012

Please change existing URL to new URL at the text found below:
"BJP accuses Sonia of flouting law". The Indian Express. 12 May 1999. Retrieved 31 January 2010.
Existing URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/ie/daily/19990512/ipo12039.html (404 Error)
New URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/Storyold/97153/
"BJP accuses Sonia of flouting law"
Reliable source: http://www.indianexpress.com/archive/news/12/5/1999/

Theindianexpress (talk) 07:38, 12 April 2012 (UTC)

 Done. Thank you, Lynch7 07:45, 12 April 2012 (UTC)

Religion

The link to her religious faith leads to some right wing blog. I would not trust any information in such blogs, especially in the light of photographic evidence of Ms. Sonia Gandhi taking part in Hindu rituals during the funeral of her husband. Can I request the editors to correct this, please? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.25.224.71 (talk) 22:26, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

Edit request on 9 May 2012

I would like to edit her personal life and include her treatment at NY hospital.I would like to edit this article. This article is protected and preventing me from editing. Please unlock this article. Thank you.

Unknowncontributor (talk) 02:39, 9 May 2012 (UTC)

 Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. If you want to request unprotection of the page, do so at Wikipedia:Requests for page protection, not here. elektrikSHOOS (talk) 03:29, 9 May 2012 (UTC)

Edit request on 28 May 2012

She will do anything for congress but not for people

Genupula (talk) 08:44, 28 May 2012 (UTC)

 Not done WP:NOTAFORUM. --NeilN ^{talk to me} 01:51, 29 May 2012 (UTC)

Citizenship/Nationality

Can someone tell me the difference between nationality and citizenship? How can the lady be an Indian citizen and Italian national when Indian Nationality Law doesn't permit such case. Please give link and support. Nitish.game (talk) 21:28, 12 June 2012 (UTC)

Deleted as a BLP violation. Lynch7 09:32, 13 June 2012 (UTC)

I don't want it to be deleted, I need verification whether she is an Indian or Italian or both. Don't delete, I am restoring it. Nitish.game (talk) 17:13, 13 June 2012 (UTC)