Sonia Gandhi memoir recounts family losses and India's widening political divisions
Belonging traces the Congress leader's personal grief and political life while describing strained relations with Narendra Modi and a disputed change of publisher.
By Hassan Ellis ·
Sonia Gandhi's memoir, Belonging, published on November 10, recounts her journey from a small Italian town into India's political leadership, bringing together memories of family tragedy and criticism of the country's changing political culture. The veteran Congress leader describes love as the reason she moved to India in 1968, when Congress dominated a secular republic that has since seen Hindu nationalism become the leading political force under Narendra Modi.
The book reveals experiences Gandhi has largely kept private, including the death of her first child shortly after birth. She also recalls grenades being discovered in a room at the family home after Operation Blue Star, the 1984 military operation against Sikh separatists at Amritsar's Golden Temple. Her account covers the assassinations of her mother-in-law, Indira Gandhi, in 1984 and her husband, Rajiv Gandhi, in 1991.
Gandhi also revisits the Emergency imposed by Indira in June 1975. During those 21 months, civil liberties were suspended, political opponents imprisoned and the press subjected to censorship. She writes that the decision divided the family, and describes Indira's profound loneliness in the preceding months. Gandhi recounts her own isolation after assuming the Congress leadership out of a sense of responsibility towards the family's political legacy.
Describing her relationship with Modi, Gandhi says they have had “practically no real contact” during his 12 years leading the country. She writes that he sometimes avoids eye contact when they share a room, although he has occasionally asked about her health following hospital treatment. She contrasts this with earlier relations between political opponents, recalling her call to then-prime minister AB Vajpayee to check on his safety after the 2001 attack on parliament.
The memoir portrays a political environment in which Gandhi believes those holding power increasingly demean their opponents. Her son Rahul has repeatedly been mocked by the BJP as inexperienced and naive. Gandhi also recalls a period when reporters could question prime ministers directly. Modi has held no solo press conference during his 12 years in office, although he has attended a campaign press briefing and joint press encounters with US presidents.
The book's publication has also prompted scrutiny of publishing decisions in India. Penguin Random House India withdrew from the memoir project in August. Gandhi told the Guardian that the company was uncomfortable with criticism of the government and abandoned publication after she rejected proposed edits. Penguin disputed that account, saying the suggestion that refused editorial changes prompted its decision did not accurately describe the circumstances.
HarperCollins is publishing Belonging in India, while Alfred A Knopf is releasing it in the United States. Despite its personal disclosures, the memoir leaves some disputes unexplained. Gandhi writes affectionately about the family's former closeness to Amitabh Bachchan's family without discussing their later estrangement. She also withholds the name of a politician she describes as dishonest, whom she trusted during Congress's unsuccessful effort to assemble a coalition government in 1999.
