Sonia Gandhi memoir row : Congress alleges pressure to remove Modi, RSS references
A political controversy has erupted over Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s upcoming memoir Belonging: A Journey of Loveafter Penguin Random House India (PRHI) denied reports that it dropped the book in India because the author refused proposed editorial changes.
According to people familiar with the matter cited by Hindustan Times, Gandhi’s publishing arrangement with PRHI fell through after she declined to alter or remove three or four passages referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Chinese intrusions into Indian territory.
One of Gandhi’s aides told the newspaper that the manuscript contains her recollection of remarks allegedly made by Modi about her, including a reported reference to him calling her a “Jersey cow” during a 2004 rally in Gujarat. Congress sources cited by The Federal claimed the publisher had also sought changes to passages concerning the RSS and its alleged role in undermining India’s syncretic character.
Gandhi is learnt to have told the publisher that the memoir was her own account of her life and that she would not agree to the proposed changes.
The controversy surfaced after a report by The Indian Express on August 28. PRHI issued a clarification the same day, saying it “was not the publisher of Belonging in India” and rejecting the suggestion that it had decided against publishing the book because Gandhi declined editorial changes.
“Any suggestion that Penguin Random House India decided not to publish ‘Belonging’ because the author declined editorial changes does not accurately reflect the circumstances,” the publisher said.
PRHI said fact-checking manuscripts and making recommendations to authors were part of the normal publishing process. It added that throughout the discussions, it remained “willing and keen” to publish the book, while declining to comment further on confidential discussions with the author.
The clarification drew criticism from several Congress leaders. Former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot questioned why the book could not be published in India in the same form as its international edition. He alleged that there had been pressure to remove references to Modi, the RSS and China, describing such alleged interference as “tantamount to the murder of freedom of expression”.
Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath termed the publisher’s position a matter of “grave concern”. The Congress’s Kerala unit also criticised the development, while the Indian Youth Congress accused the publisher of yielding to pressure and used the hashtag “SOLD”.
The BJP hit back at the Congress. Former BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya questioned what in Gandhi’s memoir required fact-checking and raised what he described as a “blurred line between fact and fiction”.
The identity of the eventual Indian publisher of Belonging remains unconfirmed. HarperCollins is reportedly close to finalising a deal to publish and distribute the memoir in India, although the publisher has not commented on the reports. An e-book listing on Amazon India, priced at ₹2,615, credits the book to William Collins, a HarperCollins UK imprint.
Belonging: A Journey of Love is scheduled for worldwide release on November 10 through Alfred A Knopf, a Penguin Random House imprint. The book has an announced first print run of one lakh copies.
