Since the sudden announcement on 4 August that India's most powerful politician Sonia Gandhi was to undergo surgery in the United States, barely a word has leaked out about her health. The silence in most of the Indian media about the 64-year-old's condition and the refusal of the ruling Congress party to divulge information has raised some uncomfortable questions about transparency in the world's biggest democracy.

On India's boisterous cable news channels, which are normally quick to pressure and criticise the government, Gandhi has featured rarely, with news and debates focused on corruption or the national cricket team's recent defeats. The Italian-born Gandhi is the widow of assassinated former premier Rajiv Gandhi and wields enormous clout from her power-broking position as Congress party president and coalition chairperson.

Since she was admitted to hospital, aides to the leader have confirmed she spent 24 hours in intensive care and was recovering from successful surgery at an undisclosed location, believed to be New York. The government has argued that further disclosures would be made by the famously media-shy political boss if she desired. "Only that much information would be shared which they would want to share," Information Minister Ambika Soni said last week.

Speaking on Monday, Gandhi's politician son Rahul, who has been left jointly in control during his mother's convalescence, told journalists that "she is much better" without elaborating. In the absence of concrete information about the woman who heads the ruling party and chairs the ruling coalition, speculation has been rife on social networks. A few anonymously sourced news reports have attempted to fill the void. The investigative current affairs magazine Tehelka reported that Gandhi was operated on at New York's Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, while the Deccan Herald newspaper said she had undergone surgery for cervical cancer. And with no confirmation or refutal from the official sources, the mystery still persists around Sonia Gandhi's health.