Sonia Gandhi’s Memoir Recalls Palmist’s Prediction That Rajiv, Not Sanjay, Would Become Prime Minister

NEW DELHI— A palmist’s unexpected prediction decades ago that Rajiv Gandhi, rather than his younger brother Sanjay, would one day become India’s Prime Minister is among the unusual episodes recalled by Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi in her newly released memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love.

The incident, which initially appeared amusing, later acquired a haunting significance following a series of tragedies in the Gandhi family, including the deaths of Sanjay Gandhi, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.

In the memoir, released on November 10, Sonia recounts the episode from the late 1970s, when the Gandhi family lived at Bungalow No. 12 on Willingdon Crescent in New Delhi, a period she refers to as the “Baara Number days”.

Indira Gandhi had moved into the four-bedroom residence with her family after losing power in the 1977 general election. The house had been vacated for her by family friend Mohammad Yunus.

At the time, Rajiv Gandhi was working as a commercial pilot and had little interest in politics, while Sanjay Gandhi was widely seen as his mother’s political successor.

Recalling one of the unusual visitors to the residence, Sonia writes that a palmist entered their portion of the house without permission and tried to persuade her to let him read her future.

“One day, a fat man dressed in white forced his way onto our side of the house and began calling out to me, brandishing a paper with the imprint of a palm…I didn’t believe in astrology, I told him. I asked him politely to leave — I had no time to waste, I had work to do, I knew my past, and I was not interested in knowing my future,” she writes.

When the man refused to leave despite her objections, Sonia says she angrily tried to chase him away. As he made his exit, he turned around and shouted:

“Nahi, nahi, Sanjay nahi — aapke pati Rajivji ek din pradhan mantri banenge! (No, no, not Sanjay, your husband Rajiv will become prime minister one day!)”

The episode took another unexpected turn when Sonia discovered that Rajiv had already met the palmist and allowed him to examine his palm.

“Then I saw Rajiv, laughing heartily, with the imprint of the palmist’s ink on his palm. He’d been waylaid by the astrologer and humoured him, thinking it was a great joke. I rushed to my room and tried to calm down, but burst out crying instead,” she writes.

The prediction later appeared in a different light after Sanjay Gandhi died in a plane crash in June 1980. Following the assassination of Indira Gandhi in October 1984, Rajiv was sworn in as Prime Minister within hours.

According to Sonia’s account, Rajiv accepted the responsibility despite her tearful appeals against his entry into politics. He told her, “They will kill me anyway.”

Although Sonia says she was not superstitious, the memoir describes other occasions when she wondered whether seemingly unrelated events carried a deeper meaning.

One such incident occurred during Rajiv Gandhi’s 41st birthday celebrations in August 1985. During dinner, the family received news that Akali leader Harchand Singh Longowal had been shot dead in Punjab.

“I couldn’t share what was going through my mind, that this was a tragedy but also a bad omen,” she writes. “Why on Rajiv’s birthday — was that just a coincidence, I wondered, or a warning?”

The memoir also revisits the couple’s decision to move into 10 Janpath on February 5, 1990, where Sonia Gandhi continues to reside. Several of Rajiv’s colleagues had reportedly advised against choosing the residence, describing it as “inauspicious”.

A mound behind the property’s rear gate was believed to contain an elephant’s grave, while the grave of a Sufi pir was located opposite the house. Rajiv and Sonia, however, dismissed the concerns.

“Neither he nor I were superstitious and laughed it away,” she writes.

Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in May 1991, about 15 months after moving into 10 Janpath. (Source: IANS)