Congress leader says her upcoming book, Belonging: A Journey of Love, will share her personal account of key moments in the Gandhi family’s life and India’s political history.
Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi has revealed that she was “totally against” her husband Rajiv Gandhi becoming Prime Minister, adding that her upcoming memoir is likely to spark considerable public and political debate.
In a video shared on her social media accounts, Sonia Gandhi reflected on Rajiv Gandhi’s entry into the country’s highest political office and explained why she decided to write her memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love.
“When my husband was asked to become Prime Minister, which I was totally against,” she said, recalling her opposition to the decision.
Explaining her motivation for writing the book, Sonia Gandhi said the memoir offered her an opportunity to present her own account of events as she experienced them. She acknowledged that readers might change their opinions about her after reading it.
“Some people may change their view about me. Some people’s view may become worse, but that’s what it is,” she said, adding that a book written by a public figure was bound to generate a “tamasha”, or commotion.
Memoir to Explore Sonia Gandhi’s Personal and Political Journey
Scheduled for publication on November 10, Belonging: A Journey of Love traces Sonia Gandhi’s journey from her childhood in Italy to her decades at the centre of Indian politics.
The memoir is expected to explore significant personal and political events involving the Nehru-Gandhi family, including Rajiv Gandhi’s entry into politics, the tragedies that shaped the family and Sonia Gandhi’s own rise as a political leader.
Her latest remarks offer a personal perspective on Rajiv Gandhi’s elevation to the Prime Minister’s post, a subject that has previously featured in accounts of the family’s history.
Sonia Gandhi Makes Social Media Debut
Sonia Gandhi shared the video on October 22, marking her debut on Instagram and X. The move represented a departure from her longstanding practice of communicating with the public primarily through official Congress platforms.
In the video, she is seen receiving copies of her memoir and sharing sweets with her daughter, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. The post offered a glimpse into the book ahead of its scheduled release.
Sonia Gandhi also followed the accounts of her children, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, along with the Congress party. Several senior party leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, followed her account.
Describing the memoir, Sonia Gandhi characterised it as a story of “love, duty, loss and finding a place to belong”.
From Italy to India: A Life Shaped by Personal Tragedy
The memoir begins with Sonia Gandhi’s childhood in post-war Veneto, Italy, and follows her move to Cambridge, where she met Rajiv Gandhi in 1965. It recounts their marriage, her introduction to her mother-in-law, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and her gradual adjustment to life in India.
The book also revisits several tragedies that profoundly affected 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.
Beyond these personal losses, the memoir examines Sonia Gandhi’s emergence as a political leader, her efforts to rebuild the Congress and her leadership of the party and the United Progressive Alliance (UPA).
The 2004 Prime Ministerial Decision
Another significant episode in Sonia Gandhi’s political journey was her decision not to become Prime Minister after the Congress-led UPA defeated the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the 2004 general election.
Despite leading the Congress back to power, Sonia Gandhi stepped aside, and Manmohan Singh became Prime Minister. The decision became one of the defining moments of her political career.
Her latest comments about opposing Rajiv Gandhi’s appointment as Prime Minister add a personal dimension to the memoir’s exploration of the Gandhi family’s relationship with political power.
With its combination of personal recollections, family history and political experiences, Belonging: A Journey of Love is expected to draw considerable public interest when it is released.