Sonia Gandhi’s memoir to reveal family’s human failings and loss that drew her into politics

Congress leader and Rajya Sabha Member Sonia Gandhi is set to publish a memoir this November, offering a personal account of her life, her marriage into the Nehru-Gandhi family and her long political career.

Publisher Alfred A Knopf announced on Tuesday that Gandhi’s Belonging: A Journey of Love will be published on November 10. The memoir will reflect on the promise and tragedy of becoming part of one of India’s most prominent political families. 

Gandhi said the book would look beyond the established political narratives surrounding the Nehru-Gandhi family and explore the motivations, actions and personal failings of its members.

“Much has been written about my family, but few narratives were able to reach into the truth of their motivations, their actions and even their very human failings,” Sonia Gandhi said in a statement issued through Knopf.

She described the memoir as a tribute to the family’s human side. It will also recount the social and political changes she witnessed during six decades in India.

From Italy to the Nehru-Gandhi family

Gandhi, 79, was born in Italy and was studying in Cambridge, England, when she met Rajiv Gandhi, who later became her husband and Prime Minister of India.

Rajiv Gandhi was the son of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and grandson of Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister.

Her marriage brought Sonia Gandhi into a family that had played a central role in India’s political history. Her life changed dramatically after the assassination of her mother-in-law, Indira Gandhi, in 1984.

Rajiv Gandhi became Prime Minister following his mother’s assassination. Seven years later, he too was assassinated.

‘Heartbreak and loss’ led her into politics

Sonia Gandhi said personal tragedy eventually pushed her into public life, despite having fiercely protected her privacy until then.

“It was heartbreak and loss that threw me into the public world of politics. Up till then I had guarded my privacy fiercely,” she said.

She later took on a central role in the Congress and became the party’s longest-serving president. She also declined the Congress party’s offer to become Prime Minister.

The Congress subsequently lost power to the Bharatiya Janata Party, led by Narendra Modi, in the 2014 Lok Sabha election.

Sonia Gandhi is currently a Congress leader and Rajya Sabha Member.

Memoir looks back on six decades in India

Gandhi said writing about her life was difficult because it required her to revisit experiences she had kept deeply private.

“Writing about my life did not come easily to me. It meant opening myself up, sharing moments and experiences I had always held deep inside,” she said.

She said that gradually stepping away from the political sphere gave her an opportunity to look back at the events she had witnessed.

The memoir, she said, traces a thread of love and loyalty running from her childhood in Italy to her years in India as Rajiv Gandhi’s wife and Indira Gandhi’s daughter-in-law.

Rahul and Priyanka remain in active politics

The Nehru-Gandhi family continues to have a presence in Indian politics.

Sonia Gandhi’s son, Rahul Gandhi, is a Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP, while her daughter, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, is also a Congress MP in the Lok Sabha.

Both are active members of the Congress as the party continues its role as a major opposition force against the BJP-led government.

Belonging: A Journey of Love is scheduled to be published on November 10. The memoir will give readers Sonia Gandhi’s account of the personal and political experiences that shaped her life in India.