Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi believes there is more to her story than what has been written about her over the years. Her upcoming memoir Belonging: A Journey of Love will offer her account, though she expects readers to have differing reactions, the Congress leader said on Tuesday.
“There’s bound to be some tamasha when this book comes out,” Gandhi said in a video. She explained that much had been written about her over the years, but some of it was “invented or exaggerated”. The book is scheduled to be released on November 10. Sonia Gandhi said the decision to write the book came from a desire to describe events as they actually happened, rather than leave her life and experiences to be defined by accounts written by others.
“Well, I felt that since a lot had been written about me and a lot of it was not quite correct, you know, it was either invented or exaggerated. So it gave me a feel of being able to now put down my story and describe facts and things as they were, as they really were,” she said.
Clarifying that she did not want to describe her account merely as a version of events, Gandhi added, “Or let us say my, not version, I wouldn't say version, but my story. People have different views.”
She acknowledged that the book could influence how readers perceive her, saying some might change their opinion while others could develop a more negative view.
ALSO READ | Sonia Gandhi makes Instagram debut, shares first look of upcoming memoir ‘Belonging: A Journey Of Love’
“Some people may change their view about me. Some people's view may become worse, but that's what it is. That's what happens when you write a book or when you are in public life,” she said.
Gandhi also briefly referred to the political circumstances surrounding her husband, former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, saying she had been completely opposed when he was asked to become prime minister. “I don't know if I should tell the whole story,” she said at the beginning of her remarks, before referring to the episode.
The memoir traces Sonia Gandhi’s journey from her childhood in Italy to her life in India as the wife of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and daughter-in-law of former prime minister Indira Gandhi.
It also revisits the personal tragedies that shaped her public life, including Indira Gandhi’s assassination in 1984 and Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination in 1991, as well as her eventual entry into politics. Gandhi has described the book as an account of the love, loss and sense of belonging that shaped her life over six decades in India.