5 Foreign Origin Women who Made a Difference to India

Sonia Gandhi

Original Name: Edvige Antonia Albina Maino 

She was born in Luisiana, Italy in the year 1946. During her college days in Cambridge University she met Rajiv Gandhi who was also a student of the same university. The duo fell in love and married in the year 1968. After the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in the year 1991 there was no heir to the Nehru-Gandhi family as Sonia refused to enter politics. But after being pressurized by senior congress leaders she gave in and joined the Indian National Congress in 1998.

Since then Sonia Gandhi has actively participated in Indian Politics as leader of the Congress and has faced every controversy related to her foreign origin with great dignity and respect. She not only proved that women in India can accomplish great heights but she also proved that one’s nationality does not matter when it comes to conquering political heights. When congress emerged as a winner in 2009 elections due to the opposition from other parties, she just took the chairperson position of the pary and made Dr. Manmohan Singh as the Prime Minister of India.