Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi has said there is bound to be some “tamasha” when her memoir comes out, telling readers in a new teaser video that after decades of other people telling her story, it is now her turn. Her memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love, is due for release on November 10.
What happened on Tuesday
In her second post on X since joining the platform last week, Gandhi shared another short teaser for the book. In the video, which runs for about 1 minute 28 seconds, she is seen turning over the pages of the memoir and wondering aloud whether she should tell the whole story.
Her caption carried the line that has since travelled furthest: “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.”
The teaser follows her recent social-media debut. She joined Instagram last week with a first look at the book, describing it as a story of love, duty, loss and finding a place to belong, and posted her first message on X on Saturday, recalling how her relationship with Rajiv Gandhi began in 1965 at a small Greek restaurant in Cambridge.
What Sonia Gandhi said — and why she wrote the book
Gandhi said she decided to write the memoir because much of what had been written about her was, in her words, not quite correct — either invented or exaggerated. Writing it herself, she said, gave her the chance to set down her story and describe facts and things as they were.
“I don’t know if I should tell the whole story,” she says in the video, before recalling a moment she says she was totally against: her husband being asked to become prime minister.
She was equally plain about the reaction she expects. Some readers, she said, may change their view of her, and some may think worse of her. That, she said, is what happens when you write a book, or when you are in public life — there is bound to be a “tamasha”.
The word matters because it frames the book before it arrives. Gandhi is not presenting the memoir as a quiet personal record. She is presenting it as her own account, offered knowing it will be argued over, and she is asking to be judged on that account rather than on the versions of her life that have circulated for years.
What’s in Belonging: A Journey of Love
The memoir begins with Gandhi’s childhood in post-war Veneto, Italy, and follows her journey to Cambridge, where she met Rajiv Gandhi in 1965. The couple married in 1968.
It then traces her adjustment to life in India — learning Hindi, wearing saris, adapting to Indian food and culture — and her introduction to her mother-in-law, former prime minister Indira Gandhi.
The book also covers the tragedies that reshaped the family: the death of Sanjay Gandhi in a plane crash, Indira Gandhi’s assassination in 1984, and Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination in 1991. It goes on to the Congress-led alliance’s victory in the 2004 elections, when Sonia Gandhi declined to become prime minister and instead led the party and its alliance, which governed India for a decade.
What the memoir says in full about those years is not yet public. The teasers released so far offer memories and framing, not a contents list, and this article does not speculate beyond what Gandhi and her publishers have already shared.
The publishing row behind the India edition
The book will be published internationally by Alfred A Knopf. In India, HarperCollins India will publish it on November 10.
That arrangement followed a dispute with Penguin Random House India, which had initially been keen to publish the memoir but later stepped away. The publisher described the book as a hard-won acquisition and said it withdrew because of a stalemate over a particular issue, while maintaining there was no external pressure and declining to disclose the exact nature of the impasse, citing confidentiality clauses and its agreement with the author.
Some Congress leaders had raised concerns about governmental pressure and freedom of expression, with allegations that there was pressure to remove sections relating to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the RSS and China’s occupation of Indian territory. Those are allegations raised by others, not findings established in the reporting, and Penguin Random House India has said there was no external pressure whatsoever. The row is worth noting because it explains why the India publisher changed — not because it settles what the book contains.
Timeline: from social-media debut to release day
| Last week (Thursday) | Gandhi makes her Instagram debut with a first look at the memoir. |
| Saturday | Her first post on X recalls meeting Rajiv Gandhi at The Varsity restaurant in Cambridge in 1965. |
| Tuesday, October 27 | She posts the new teaser video and the “tamasha” message on X. |
| November 10 | Belonging: A Journey of Love is released, in India through HarperCollins India and internationally through Alfred A Knopf. |
What happens next
The next public moment is the release itself on November 10, just after Diwali. Until then, further teasers may add more memories, but the full text — and the passages most likely to draw political reaction — will only be known once the book is out.
Readers and reviewers will then be able to test Gandhi’s central claim: that the book corrects inventions and exaggerations, and tells her story as it really was. That test, rather than the teaser, is what will decide how the memoir is received.
Why this matters
Sonia Gandhi, 79, is the Congress party’s longest-serving president and one of India’s most written-about political figures. A memoir in her own words therefore carries weight beyond its personal story: it is a first-person account from someone who has mostly let the party’s channels speak for her, and who has now chosen to speak directly, on social media, in the run-up to publication.
It also lands in a political moment when the Congress leadership, its past and its record in government are all live arguments. A memoir that revisits the 2004 decision not to become prime minister, the years in government that followed, and the family’s losses will inevitably be read politically as well as personally — which is, in effect, what Gandhi herself predicted.
Related coverage: the Congress leadership’s recent rows are also covered in our report on Rahul Gandhi’s acquittal in the Sultanpur defamation case, and in our report on the row over Mallikarjun Kharge’s Patna remark. You can find more coverage like this in our World section.
FAQs
When will Sonia Gandhi’s memoir be released?
Belonging: A Journey of Love is due for release on November 10, published in India by HarperCollins India and internationally by Alfred A Knopf.
Why did Sonia Gandhi write her memoir?
She says much of what has been written about her was invented or exaggerated, and she wanted to put down her own story and describe facts and things as they really were.
What does the memoir cover?
Her childhood in post-war Italy, meeting Rajiv Gandhi at Cambridge in 1965, their marriage, her life in India, the assassinations of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, and the Congress-led alliance’s 2004 election victory, when she declined to become prime minister.
What did Sonia Gandhi mean by “tamasha”?
She used the word to acknowledge that the book will stir a public fuss, with readers reacting in different ways — some changing their view of her, some thinking worse of her — because that is what happens when a public figure writes a book.
Why did the India publisher change?
HarperCollins India will publish the book in India after Penguin Random House India stepped away, citing a stalemate over a particular issue while saying there was no external pressure. Some Congress leaders had alleged pressure, but that allegation is not established as fact.