Paola Maino: The woman who shaped Sonia Gandhi's life and destiny

Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi lost an important link with her Italian roots when she lost her mother, Paola Maino.

Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi lost her most important link with hometown Orbassano in Italy on August 27, 2022 when she lost her mother Paola Maino (98).

Sonia was the second daughter of Paola and Stefano who had raised her as their Cenerentola, or Cinderella. The nickname, as the subsequent years proved, was not entirely fortuitous. Paola and Stefano sensed early on that unlike her sisters, Nadia and Anushka, Sonia always wanted to be different. As a young girl she was never comfortable in the dusty industrial town on the outskirts of Turin where she grew. Orbassano was a town, a muddle of apartment blocks and houses that had come up in the early 1950s as a result of the post-war boom in northern Italy.

At home, the Mainos often conversed in Russian instead of Italian or Spanish, the three languages they would speak with ease. The Russian impact was there as Stefano had fought in Russia with the Germans. The Mainos were deeply influenced by the Russian language, culture and food and loved the country. They even gave Russian names to their three daughters. Paola was hard-working and disciplined, a quality that she passed on to her family, especially Sonia.

Family friends said that by early 1965 Stefano had made enough money that he could fund his daughter’s education in Cambridge. Paola and Stefano had come to visit the United Kingdom when Sonia came to study English at the Lennox Cook School, Cambridge.

Paola and Stefano had also brought up their daughters in the traditional Catholic way. They were not charmed when Sonia informed them about tying the knot with the Indian Prime Minister’s son, Rajiv Gandhi.

It was said that Stefano’s forceful and rather strict side often placed him at odds with his family, resulting in frequent quarrels between husband and wife. The quarrels drew Sonia closer to her mother, Paola, a bond that stayed till August 2022. In fact, Paola was a frequent visitor to India.

When a group of Indian journalists visited Orbassano town in 1998, one neighbour, who claimed to have studied with Sonia, described the Mainos as “nice persons” who were aware of their “social superiority”.