‘Others have spent decades telling my story, now it’s my turn’: Sonia Gandhi on memoir

Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi has said her upcoming memoir will offer her own account of her life after decades of others telling her story, adding that its publication is bound to create some “tamasha”.

“There’s bound to be some tamasha when this book comes out. After all, others have spent decades telling my ‘story’, now it’s my turn,” Gandhi said in a post on X on Tuesday, sharing a preview video of her memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love.

In the 1-minute-28-second video, Gandhi is seen turning the pages of the book and reflecting on whether she should tell her entire story.

“When my husband was asked to become the prime minister, which I was totally against...” she says before trailing off.

Gandhi says much has been written about her over the years, but some accounts were inaccurate, either “invented or exaggerated”. She said she wanted to record her own story and describe events as they happened.

She acknowledged that readers might change their opinions of her after reading the book, but said that was part of writing a memoir and being in public life.

The book is scheduled to be published in India by HarperCollins India on 10 November.

Memoir traces life, family and political journey

Belonging: A Journey of Love begins with Gandhi’s childhood in post-war Veneto, Italy, and traces her journey to Cambridge, where she met former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1965.

It recounts their marriage, her introduction to her mother-in-law and former prime minister Indira Gandhi, and her efforts to adapt to life in India, including learning Hindi and adjusting to Indian food and culture.

The memoir also covers major tragedies that shaped 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.

It also discusses the Congress-led alliance’s victory in the 2004 general election, when Sonia Gandhi declined to become prime minister and instead led the party and its alliance, which governed the country for the next decade.

Publication follows dispute with earlier publisher

HarperCollins India announced last month that it would publish the memoir, ending uncertainty over its Indian release following an impasse between Gandhi’s representatives and Penguin Random House India (PRHI), which had initially been keen to publish the book.

The dispute emerged amid reports of differences over editorial changes to the manuscript. Some Congress leaders alleged that pressure had been exerted on Penguin India to remove passages concerning Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the RSS and China’s occupation of Indian territory during the Modi government.

PRHI denied any external pressure, describing the memoir as a “hard-won acquisition” but saying it had decided to withdraw because of a “stalemate over a particular issue”. The publisher declined to disclose further details, citing confidentiality obligations.

Gandhi joined X last week, having previously used the Congress account to release video statements and public messages. In her first post on the platform, she recalled Rajiv Gandhi as a gentle and good-looking person. She also made her Instagram debut last Thursday with posts about the memoir, describing it as a story of “love, duty, loss and finding a place to belong”.