Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) Chairperson Sonia Gandhi has shared her love for Indian food, saying that though she initially took time to adjust, she eventually “fell in love” with cuisines from different parts of the country.

This comes a day after her memoir “Belonging: A Journey of Love” hit bookstands worldwide.

A video posted on the official X account of the veteran Congress leader on Wednesday shows her, along with her daughter and party MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, interacting in the garden of 1, Safdarjung Road residence of the late former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

During the conversation, Priyanka Gandhi also made her mother fondly recall that the latter had even made the Gujarati dish ‘Khaandvi’ for her and her brother, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, during their childhood.

Sharing her fondness for Indian dishes, Sonia Gandhi said: “I love Bengali food. Believe it or not, I love Gujarati food, from Surat.”

However, given her Italian roots, Gandhi said: “It took me time to get used to Indian food. It was difficult for me to enjoy Indian food right at the beginning. I didn’t know how to cook when I came. But later, slowly, I learned.”

The senior leader said that now she loves having kababs, chicken tikka, tandoori chicken, dal makhni, Kashmiri kofta and the ‘haakh’.

To this, Priyanka Gandhi added: “…and ‘Daal Chawal’, we used to have it every day.”

Sonia Gandhi further said: “From the day I came to this house till today, the only dal cooked is ‘arhar ki daal’, nothing else.”

The Wayanad MP then asked her mother about the Gujarati cuisine ‘Khaandvi’ that the latter used to make when the Gandhi siblings were younger, saying: “Didn’t you use to make Khaandvi while we were kids?…can you imagine?”

The CPP Chairperson then said on a lighter note, “Making Khaandvi is easy”.

Further, Priyanka Gandhi recalled: “But, Dadi couldn’t cook,” referring to late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

However, Sonia Gandhi asserted that even though her mother-in-law couldn’t cook, she had a very acute sense of how to make a dish better.

“She knew exactly how to improve something,” she said.

Meanwhile, in the post accompanying the video, the veteran leader shared she fell in love with her husband, former Prime Minister late Rajiv Gandhi, while looking for a good meal.

“Food has always had a special place in my story. It was while looking for a good meal that I met Rajiv, and fell in love,” Sonia Gandhi said.

She added: “Years later, India came to me the same way, one meal at a time. At first the variety amazed me and the spice scared me. Now dal chawal is the taste of home, and I can’t go a day without it.”

The investigation into last year’s Red Fort car blast in Delhi unearthed several crucial details about the attack and the manner in which the Faridabad module had been established.

Investigators were particularly struck by the meticulous planning behind the attack and the precision with which members of the Faridabad module had carried out their assigned tasks.

The members of the module not only managed to stay under the radar of security agencies but also procured thousands of kg of ammonium nitrate without attracting suspicion.

Despite the elaborate planning, however, the Red Fort blast was triggered prematurely, and the execution of the attack ultimately fell short of what the perpetrators had intended.

An official said that the bigger picture that one needs to look into is the radicalisation aspect.

“The module was not merely planning a major attack aimed at causing mass casualties. It had a much larger agenda, which was to overthrow the government in New Delhi,” the official added.

The literature recovered from the Faridabad module, also known as the ‘Doctor’s module’, along with its plans, points to an agenda that went far beyond carrying out terror attacks.

According to the official, the module also intended to impose Sharia law in India. To achieve this objective, its members had allegedly planned to overthrow the Union government, the official said.

Another official said that the mindset of these doctors part of the Faridabad module was dangerous.

“However, the bigger danger is that many more within the country may try and replicate what this module did or may be in the process of doing so,” the official said.

Such radicalisation modules tend to create a chain effect.

Outfits such as the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda inspire such modules to come up in large numbers across the country.

These terror groups are aware that to throw out a government and implement the Sharia law cannot be undertaken by one single module. The idea is to have scores of such modules across the country.

Although these modules would not be interconnected their goals would remain the same, the official said.

An Intelligence Bureau official said that one must also take into account the modus operandi of the Faridabad module.

“They were not just planning on creating an uprising by relying heavily on propaganda material. This group operated in seclusion and planned on a series of deadly attacks across North India. The idea was to inflict maximum damage and then pressurise the government to step down,” the official added.

Post the multiple blasts, such modules usually tend to focus on messaging.

The attack coupled with propaganda makes a module extremely dangerous. Such a modus-operandi also tends to stress out the security mechanism in the country.

Now imagine if multiple such modules are in operation and carry out similar activities simultaneously.

They manage to cover the length and breath of the country, while also posing an immense challenge to the security agencies, the official said.

With their ground operations severely curtailed, the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda have increasingly focused on region-specific radicalisation efforts, aiming to establish Faridabad-style modules in different pockets across states.

These modules are designed to function independently, without any operational links with one another. This makes it difficult for investigators to establish connections between them and trace the wider network behind their activities.

In many ways, such modules resemble lone actors. Their members operate without direct contact with other groups, acquire the skills required to manufacture explosives on their own and independently arrange the materials needed for their activities.

They are also largely self-funded, leaving investigators with little or no financial trail to follow. Modules inspired by the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda have been structured to function much like lone actors, thereby making detection and investigation more challenging, an official said.

Another woman has died following childbirth in Kota, Rajasthan, taking the number of maternal deaths reported in the district to four in just 15 days. The latest victim, 28-year-old Pushpa Bairwa, succumbed to complications arising from severe postpartum haemorrhage, which led to Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation (DIC) and respiratory failure.

Despite intensive treatment and the efforts of doctors from multiple departments, she could not be saved. The successive deaths have raised serious concerns about maternal healthcare and the management of childbirth-related complications in the region.

Pushpa Bairwa, a resident of Baran district, died on Monday night while undergoing treatment at the Super Speciality Hospital of Kota Medical College.

She had been admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Nephrology Department and was on ventilator support.

According to medical details, her condition deteriorated after she developed uncontrolled bleeding following childbirth. Investigations revealed that she had developed Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation (DIC), a serious condition that disrupts the body’s blood-clotting mechanism and can cause life-threatening bleeding.

The complications severely affected her kidneys and lungs, eventually leading to respiratory failure. This was the fourth maternal death reported in Kota within 15 days. Pushpa was experiencing motherhood for the first time.

She had been admitted to a hospital in Jhalawar, where she delivered a healthy baby girl through a normal delivery on October 27. However, barely an hour after childbirth, she began experiencing severe and uncontrollable bleeding. Doctors attempted to control the haemorrhage and administered five to six units of blood, but the bleeding could not be brought under control.

As her condition continued to worsen, she was referred to a hospital in Kota for advanced treatment. Dr Vikas Khandelia, Head of the Nephrology Department at the Super Speciality Hospital, explained that Pushpa had developed DIC, a condition that severely disrupts the body’s normal blood-clotting process. Continuous blood loss caused her blood pressure to drop, affecting the functioning of her kidneys and lungs.

Her platelet count and haemoglobin levels also fell significantly. Following dialysis and other medical interventions, her kidney function showed some improvement, with urine output reaching approximately three litres per day.

However, her lung condition continued to deteriorate. She developed severe respiratory distress and could not be taken off ventilator support. Specialists from several departments, including Internal Medicine, Cardiology, Anaesthesia, Pulmonology and Gynaecology, were involved in her treatment.

Despite their combined efforts, she could not be saved. Pushpa’s death is the latest in a series of maternal deaths reported in Kota over the past fortnight.

The deceased women include Shabnam Bano (26), a resident of Chhabra in Baran district, who died at JK Lon Hospital on October 25. She had delivered a baby girl through a Caesarean section on October 23.

On October 17, Roshan Bairwa died following excessive bleeding after a Caesarean section. On October 16, Reshma (40) died due to kidney failure following a Caesarean section.

The four deaths within such a short period have raised questions about the management of childbirth-related complications and the availability of timely emergency medical intervention. Kota witnessed another alarming series of childbirth-related complications in May.

Between May 5 and May 7, several women developed serious health complications following Caesarean deliveries. A total of 12 women reportedly suffered kidney failure. Five of these women died, while the remaining patients recovered following treatment and were discharged from the hospital.

The repeated maternal deaths have raised serious questions about the effectiveness of emergency obstetric care, timely referrals, access to blood transfusions and the management of life-threatening complications following delivery.

Postpartum haemorrhage is a medical emergency that requires immediate intervention. If bleeding cannot be controlled promptly, it can lead to severe blood loss, organ damage and potentially fatal complications such as DIC.

Although the precise circumstances surrounding each death need to be established through medical investigations, the recurrence of such cases highlights the need to examine emergency response systems, early diagnosis, referral arrangements and the availability of specialised care.

The most pressing question remains: Why are so many women losing their lives after childbirth in Kota, and what measures are being taken to prevent further maternal deaths?