'My parents did not want me to marry Rajiv'

Cable Also Revealed
She repeatedly urged her husband Rajiv Gandhi to avoid politics.
Sonia said, "some (political) parties believe that women should not be in power".
She said that south India was "more progressive" than the north on women's issues for historical and cultural reasons.
Sonia said that many Indian Muslims "resent certain policies of the US".
Congress president Sonia Gandhi candidly admitted to the California governor's wife that her parents were against her marriage with Rajiv Gandhi, US embassy cables provided by WikiLeaks reveal.
Sonia also told Maria Shriver, wife of Arnold Schwarzenegger, in August 2006 that she would "write a book someday with the whole story" as to why she did not take up the job of prime minister in 2004.
The cable on Sonia-Shriver meeting, dated August 4, 2006 and marked "confidential", is titled "A garrulous Sonia Gandhi opens up to Maria Shriver", indicating how freely the Indian leader chatted away.
Shriver met Sonia as part of her official visit to India. A reading of the cable indicates the conversation might have been taped by accompanying US embassy officials.
The cable says that Sonia, who is "usually withdrawn and reserved in public ... revealed a rare glimpse of herself" as she spoke about herself, women's issues and compulsions of political life.
"Her comments and demeanour put the lie to cocktail party suggestions that she courts Manmohan Singh's job," the cable said.
The cable says: "Gandhi [Sonia] revealed that her own parents objected to her marriage to Rajiv Gandhi and she 'resented their position' and went ahead and married him anyway."
Rajiv Gandhi became prime minister in 1984 and was assassinated in 1991.
The cable said Sonia was reluctant to provide details regarding her decision to turn down the prime minister's post after the 2004 victory of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA).
"I am often asked about this, but tell people that I will write a book someday with the whole story," she told Shriver.