'Wanted to portray my family honestly': Sonia Gandhi explains reason behind writing her memoir

Sonia Gandhi, Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson, has revealed the driving force behind writing her upcoming memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love, emphasising that she wanted to offer an honest account of her family.

Writing in The Hindu ahead of the release of her book, Gandhi said that it is not a political book but a personal one. She said that she had largely kept her personal thoughts private throughout her life. Even when grief drew her into politics, she tried to preserve her privacy and found the idea of openly sharing her life difficult.

Also Read | Sonia Gandhi recalls pleading with Rajiv not to become PM after Indira’s assassination: ‘They will kill you’

"Only after stepping back from the daily churn of public life could I see my own story clearly," Gandhi said.

Looking back, she said love and the loyalty that comes from it had been the defining themes of her life.

"It all began in England, where a 19-year-old woman from a small Italian town met a young Indian student. It carried me into a new country and a new family, into a deep bond with my mother-in-law, and through the years of raising our children," she wrote.

She added that love also helped her endure personal tragedies, including the deaths of her mother-in-law and husband.

"It also carried me through the unbearable, when I lost first my mother-in-law and then my husband to violence," she added.

Gandhi said what remained to sustain her was her love for her husband and for India, the country where she felt she truly belonged.

"It also came with a sense of duty strong enough to lead her into public life, against every instinct I had," Gandhi said.

Also Read | Democratic rights curtailed during Emergency, but it was done constitutionally: Sonia Gandhi

Not a political book but a personal one: Sonia Gandhi

Describing the book as a personal rather than political account, Gandhi noted that she wanted to offer an honest portrayal of her family, as the people she knew and loved.

"This is not a political book. It is a personal one. Much has been written about my family, but rarely with real insight into who they were, their motivations, their struggles, their very human flaws. I wanted to portray them honestly, as people I knew and loved," the former Congress president said.

She further asserted that the book is her account of the place she came to call home.

"I also hoped to share what I witnessed over more than five decades in India. I watched a country transform, at first from the margins and later from its very centre," she said.

"This book is my account of that journey, and of the place I came to call home," Gandhi said.

Sonia Gandhi's memoir

Published by HarperCollins India, Gandhi's memoir will be released in India on November 10.

Also Read | Kashmiri food, phuljhadis from Old Delhi: Sonia Gandhi reminisces Diwali at ex-PM Indira's home

The memoir covers some of the major tragic moments in the Gandhi family, including Sanjay Gandhi's death in a plane crash, the assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984 and Rajiv Gandhi in 1991.