Published : 05 Sep 2026, 10:26 PM
Updated : 16 Sep 2026, 11:47 AM
HarperCollins India has acquired Sonia Gandhi’s memoir “Belonging: A Journey of Love” and will publish it in India on Nov 10, The Independent reports.
The book’s Indian publication had been uncertain after Gandhi’s representatives objected to “editorial changes and deletions” proposed by original publisher Penguin Random House India over politically sensitive passages, including sections concerning Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Penguin Random House India denied that the proposed changes were the result of external pressure.
It said it had remained “willing and keen to publish” the memoir but acknowledged that it was no longer the book’s publisher in India.
HarperCollins described “Belonging” as a “dramatic and deeply personal story of love, identity, duty and belonging” that also offers an insider’s view of India’s political journey.
The memoir covers Gandhi’s childhood in northern Italy, her marriage to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, and the assassinations of her husband and his mother, former prime minister Indira Gandhi.
It also traces her initially reluctant entry into politics and her interactions with senior political figures, including Modi.
Gandhi, the widow of Rajiv Gandhi, was the longest-serving president of the Indian National Congress and is the mother of opposition leader Rahul Gandhi and Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
HarperCollins said the “famously reticent” Gandhi writes with “warmth and candour” about her childhood in post-war Veneto, her relationship with Rajiv Gandhi, her move to India and her relationship with Indira Gandhi.
The memoir also recounts her adjustment to life in India, including learning Hindi, wearing sarees and adapting to Indian cuisine.
Penguin Random House India said fact-checking and recommending changes were part of the normal publishing process and were the publisher’s “prerogative and responsibility”.
