Sonia memoir sparks fresh battle over free speech and publishing
A day after it was reported that Penguin Random House India will not publish Sonia Gandhi’s memoir Belonging: A Journey of Love due to disagreements over editorial changes, the publisher on Friday posted on X, “Penguin Random House India is not the publisher of Belonging in India. 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 clarifications days after American publisher Alfred A Knopf, an imprint of Penguin Random House, announced that memoir would release on November 10.
“As a publisher, it is both our prerogative and our responsibility to fact-check and provide authors with recommendations that are in the best interests of their books. This is a normal part of the publishing process. Throughout the relevant discussions, Penguin Random House India’s position was that we remained willing and keen to publish the book,” the publisher’s post on X said further.
The post, which led to several Congress leaders bringing up issues of Government pressure and freedom of expression, added that the company will not comment further on “confidential discussions with the author”. Even as the status of the book’s distributor in India remains uncertain, a page on the e-commerce website Amazon showed an e-book version of “Belonging” up for pre-order at Rs 2,615. According to the e-commerce website, the e-book is published by William Collins, an imprint of HarperCollins UK.
The book’s India release has been a matter of much speculation since Alfred A Knopf’s announcement.
The Congress leader, one of India’s most discussed political figures, will be sharing her intimate story of marrying into one of India’s most powerful political families, the tragedy of losing Rajiv Gandhi that threw her into the “public world of politics,” and turning down prime ministership in 2004, among other things, according to Alfred A Knopf. Several Congress leaders lashed out at Penguin Random House India, asking what prevented it from publishing the memoir in India when it was being published worldwide by its imprint.
Senior Congress leader and former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot said “pressuring and stopping” the book is akin to “murdering the freedom of expression”.
He claimed that pressure was put on Penguin India “to remove sections on Modi, RSS and those related to the occupation of Indian territory by China during the Modi regime”.
Senior party leader and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath also said the publisher’s “refusal” to publish the autobiography is a matter of grave concern.
“Will the publisher decide what a senior figure like Mrs. Gandhi will write and what she will not? The question also arises whether the publisher is saying this on its own or if there is pressure from someone on it?” Nath said in his post on X in Hindi.
Congress’ deputy leader in Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi slammed Penguin India’s statement on the issue as “weak”.
“Such a weak statement. Penguin India is more than happy to publish ‘Exam Warriors’ and several books on RSS. No doubt there are those in the BJP government who have now become afraid of a book being read by the people of India,” Gogoi said on social media.
The Seva Dal, on it official handle, took a swipe at Penguin India, posting, “Paltu Penguin.”
The Indian Youth Congress said, “Dear SOLD Penguin, nobody asked whether you were ‘keen’. Tell us what changes you wanted, and why. The rest is corporate grammar.”
PRHI is the Indian subsidiary/operating company of Penguin Random House (PRH), the global publishing group.
