It was a meeting of the minds fit for Hollywood. Or Bollywood as the case may be. Two of the world's most prominent women, representing two of the world's most famous political dynasties, coming together for an hour in 2006 under the torrid New Delhi sun.
On one side: California's own Maria Shriver, taking her Kennedy credentials on a visit to India (where she would ultimately convince the Dalai Lama to speak at her Women's Conference). On the other: Sonia Gandhi, president of the Indian National Congress. Both her late husband and mother-in-law once served as prime minister, and she has declined opportunities to do the same.
Details of the wide-ranging conversation were made public last month in a candid State Department cable released by Web-based whistleblower WikiLeaks, whose slow trickle of more than 250,000 cables has driven national headlines since late November.
The cable, which originated from the U.S. embassy in New Delhi, described a personal, casual conversation in which Shriver and Gandhi apparently established a welcome but unexpected rapport. As the cable notes:
Sonia Gandhi is often stiff and detached when in public. This was a more relaxed Sonia, possibly because she felt a personal rapport with Maria Shriver. In this more relaxed setting, Sonia Gandhi revealed a left of center political orientation which stresses the strong role of the government in ensuring social progress and her inherent opposition to the social conservatism of the Hindu right.
The cable, marked confidential, was headlined: "A GARRULOUS SONIA GANDHI OPENS UP TO MARIA SHRIVER."
The two leaders spent much of their time discussing women's issues. Shriver invited Gandhi to her annual Women's Conference, but she made no commitment to attend.
Shriver pointed out that her trip had made her aware of the 'great contradiction' between a society in which women occupied many leadership positions, including, at times, Prime Minister, but still were denied many basic rights. Mrs. Gandhi agreed with Shriver, noting that several Indian states had female Chief Ministers, and that an increasing numbers of Indian women are CEOs of major corporations, doctors, and scientists, and 'we will keep fighting.'
Whether it was her intent or not, Shriver seemed to extract information that the cable's author deemed valuable – for one, putting to rest the apparently pervasive rumor that Gandhi had set her eye on the prime minister's post.
India media also have highlighted Gandhi's candid admission that her parents objected to her marriage to Rajiv Gandhi, who became prime minister in 1984 and was assassinated in 1991, and that she would "write a book someday about the whole story" about why she didn't run for prime minister in 2004.
The cable also notes that Shriver was traveling to India in part to lay groundwork for a trade mission scheduled by her husband, then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. A late-session legislative blitz on health care, water issues and redistricting ultimately caused him to call off the trip, which had been scheduled for late 2007.
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