The defining image of the INDIA Alliance’s rally at Ramlila Maidan on 31 March, Sunday was that of three women sitting side by side – propelled into politics by the fate of their husbands.
As Sonia Gandhi, Sunita Kejriwal, and Kalpana Soren spoke to each other, the world wondered what the conversation would be like.
Would Sonia, a generation senior to the politician husbands of the other two, advise them on how to hold their respective parties together? Or maybe, a novel solution to deal with the prying media? Perhaps, a word or two on how to emerge from the shadows of their husbands as a leader in their own right?
After all, she’s seen and won some of the political battles that Sunita and Kalpana will be facing soon.
Of course, Sonia Gandhi’s circumstances were different.
For one, her husband, the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, was assassinated, not jailed
Second, Rajiv was a PM whose death had far greater implications than the arrest of two chief ministers
What is common though is the sexist ridicule and lampooning that comes with being a high-profile politician’s wife. The optics of the three sitting together may be politics. A show of unity as Sonia comforted the wife of someone who was once her fiercest critic. But the shared fate of the three was not lost on anyone.