Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday said her mother and former Congress president Sonia Gandhi had the right to tell her own story, defending a newly released memoir against criticism from the BJP and the RSS. Speaking to reporters in her Lok Sabha constituency, she said her mother had stayed quiet for years while claims she described as fabricated were made about her, and that she was pleased her critics were now reading the book.
Belonging: A Journey of Love, published on November 10, combines Sonia Gandhi's personal story with her time in public life and has drawn applause and censure in equal measure. The BJP has alleged that it attempts to justify the 1975 Emergency and offers a clean chit to her husband Rajiv Gandhi, the former prime minister, on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. The party has also reportedly said the volume would have been better titled "whitewashing", and accused her of selective outrage over violence and national security issues.
Priyanka Gandhi said the pushback was expected and that her mother had used the book to set out her explanations and her point of view. "She has a right to tell her story," she said, adding that the BJP was bound to call the account false and that she was glad it was being read. "Everyone has their own story," she said.
The Congress has backed her freedom to give her own version of events, and the exchange has turned the release into a political flashpoint between the two parties. Priyanka Gandhi's comments came during her first visit to Wayanad since the memoir was published.
She is on a three-day tour of the constituency, where she will open development projects and inspect work in progress. On Thursday she met the family of Cheruvayal Raman, a seed conservationist who received the Padma Shri, at Mananthavady, and was due to open two Smart Anganwadis at Kammana and Thrissillery.
She represents Wayanad in the Lok Sabha, having won the seat in a 2024 by-election after her brother Rahul Gandhi vacated it to keep Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh.
(Compiled from media reports with the help of our in-house AI tools, and edited by our desk)