New Delhi: Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on Saturday described Rajiv Gandhi as a very good-looking and gentle person and shared her memories of their life together as she made her debut on social media platform X.
She put out a video regarding her upcoming book -- "Belonging - a journey of love" -- in which she shares her journey from her younger days till now. The book will be launched on November 10.
Gandhi also shared a nearly two-minute-long video on X as well as on Instagram, in which she recalled how she met her husband Rajiv Gandhi in Cambridge and showed their pictures and that of the restaurant where they first met.
"In a small Greek restaurant in Cambridge my journey of love began. Rajiv and I created a world filled with love, laughter and memories. On 10th November, I share that world with you," she said in her first post on X.
Going through photographs in the video, the Congress parliamentary party chairperson described Rajiv Gandhi as a very good-looking and gentle person.
Asked about what it was like falling in love with Rajiv Gandhi, she said, "Food in England in those days was awful. In those days, you didn't have so many restaurants, you know, like you have today."
"And so, I was constantly looking for a place where I could find some food which was closer to my kind of food -- Italian food in that case.
"And then, we discovered this place (Varsity Restaurant). It was a Greek restaurant where many European students, but also Indian students, used to go for their meals. And that is where I met Rajiv in that very restaurant," the former Congress chief said.
"When I first met him, I felt almost immediately that, you know, he was someone I would really love to be with. And, of course, I learned that it was the same for him," Gandhi recalled in the video.
She said that a common friend had introduced her to the former prime minister.
"Then, you know, we became friends. Then going to parties with friends or going to see sights or we went to a Valentine's party where there were lots of students.
"He was a very gentle-looking person. Of course, he was very good-looking, but that gentleness came through. So that was something which really touched me and struck me. So that of course, I'll never forget when I first met him," she said.
This is Gandhi's first foray into social media. Before this, she did not have any account on X, Instagram or Facebook. She has so far been using the X handle of the Congress to release her video statements or messages to share with the public.
The Congress leader has followed the X handles of the Congress, her son Rahul Gandhi, daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and party chief Mallikarjun Kharge. She has quickly garnered a lot of followers within a few hours as several Congress leaders and others began following her handle.
Sonia Gandhi on Thursday made her Instagram debut with posts on her upcoming book, which she said is a "story of love, duty, loss and finding a place to belong".
HarperCollins India had said last month that it will publish Gandhi's memoir "Belonging: A Journey of Love" in India on November 10, ending the uncertainty over the book's domestic publication following an "impasse" between the author's representatives and Penguin Random House India.
"Belonging" begins with Gandhi's childhood in post-war Veneto, Italy and traces her journey to Cambridge, where in 1965 she met Rajiv Gandhi.
The memoir recounts her marriage to Rajiv Gandhi and her introduction to her mother-in-law, former prime minister Indira Gandhi, as well as her efforts to adjust to life in India, including learning Hindi, wearing saris and adapting to Indian food and culture.
It covers the major tragedies that transformed the Gandhi family, including the death of Sanjay Gandhi in a plane crash, Indira Gandhi's assassination in 1984 and Rajiv Gandhi's assassination in 1991.
The book also delves into political events surrounding the Congress-led alliance's victory in the 2004 elections, when Sonia Gandhi declined to become prime minister and instead led the party and its alliance, which governed India for a decade.
Sonia Gandhi has been the longest-serving Congress president, having steered the grand old party for almost two decades.