New Delhi, Sep 4: HarperCollins India has announced that it will publish former Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s memoir Belonging: A Journey of Love in India on November 10, days after Penguin Random House India stepped aside from the project amid a dispute over parts of the manuscript.
HarperCollins described the book as “one of the most anticipated political memoirs of our time” and said it would offer a personal account of Gandhi’s life, political journey and experiences at the centre of Indian politics.
“The long-awaited memoir will be published in India on 10 November 2026. One of the most anticipated political memoirs of our time, Belonging is a dramatic and deeply personal story of love, identity, duty and belonging, and offers a rare insider’s view of India’s journey,” the publisher said.
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The memoir is expected to address Gandhi’s Italian origins and the prolonged scrutiny over her Indian identity, her entry into politics, the Congress-led victory in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections and her role in building the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), which remained in power until 2014.
It will also reportedly cover her political equations with former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as well as some of the more private aspects of her life.
The Indian publication of the memoir had become controversial after Penguin Random House India decided not to publish the book, with reports saying the publisher had sought changes or deletions from certain portions of the manuscript that Gandhi’s team did not accept.
The controversy began after US-based Alfred A Knopf, an imprint of Penguin Random House, announced the book’s worldwide release for November 10. Penguin India later clarified that it was not the publisher of the book in India.
Congress leaders subsequently alleged that Penguin had sought the removal of passages concerning Modi, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and India-China relations, and questioned whether political pressure was behind the decision.
Senior Congress leader and former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot accused Penguin of seeking changes to passages concerning Modi, the RSS and China, calling the episode “the murder of democracy”.
Congress deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi also criticised the decision, saying, “No doubt there are those in the BJP government who have now become afraid of a book being read by the people of India.”
Penguin, however, denied that any external pressure was involved in its decision.
The publisher said there had been an impasse over “a particular issue” during discussions, while maintaining that it had been keen to publish the memoir.
A representative of Penguin said the book was “really keen on publishing” and described it as a “hard-won acquisition”.
“Since the content of the book is confidential and under embargo, there was no external pressure whatsoever,” the representative said.
Sonia Gandhi served as Congress president for nearly two decades, making her the longest-serving president in the party’s history. She later stepped aside, with her son Rahul Gandhi taking over the post before eventually resigning. Mallikarjun Kharge was subsequently elected Congress president.
