Congress’ longest serving president Sonia Gandhi has turned 75 today. She was first elected as a Member of Parliament from the Amethi parliamentary constituency in 1999, following which she became Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha. In the 2004 General Elections, she led the electoral campaign of her party which secured the largest number of seats.

She had not celebrated her birthday last year to support farmers’ protest against the farm laws and keeping in mind the Covid-19 situation in the country.

This year also she has decided not to celebrate her birthday in view of the CDS General Bipin Rawat’s sudden demise in a chopper crash in Tamil Nadu.

On her 75^th birthday, here are some of her rare pictures of Sonia Gandhi.

Sonia Gandhi had received the Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration for late Rajiv Gandhi from Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao in New Delhi on October 31, 1991.

Born Antonia Edvige Albina Maino in a small village named Lusiana, Gandhi was raised in a traditional Roman Catholic family.

Read Also: Sonia Gandhi birthday special: From Right to Education to Right to Information know key social welfare measures under her watch as UPA boss

In 1965, a fresh-faced 18-year-old Sonia met Rajiv Gandhi, an engineering student at the University of Cambridge back then. Later, the two got married in 1968 in a Hindu ceremony, making the Italian born 22-year-old ‘Mrs Sonia Gandhi’, a new member of the Nehru-Gandhi family.

After staying away from politics for quite some time, even after her husband’s death, Sonia Gandhi finally joined the Indian National Congress in 1997, becoming the party president in 1998. Sonia Gandhi is the first foreign-born individual to lead the Congress party since Independence.

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