HarperCollins India to Publish Sonia Gandhi Memoir on November 10
3 sources · India
Who reported this
- Scroll.in
- The Hindu
- Hindustan Times
What the colours mean
- Left
- Centre-left
- Centre
- Centre-right
- Right
- A hatched block means the outlet is affiliated with, or controlled by, a state.
Political lean describes where an outlet sits within the politics of its own country. It is never a position on a single global scale.
Political lean is comparable inside one country and not across them, which is why the bar groups by country first. Publicly funded broadcasters are not marked as state-linked.
The owner of each outlet is listed as a matter of record, not as a judgement about the outlet.
Every source for this story reports from India.
HarperCollins India announced on September 4, 2026, that it will publish Congress leader Sonia Gandhi's memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love, on November 10. The book will be released in India on the same date as its international editions, which include a UK release by William Collins and a US release by Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Penguin Random House. The memoir provides a personal account of Gandhi's life, tracing her childhood in Italy, her marriage to Rajiv Gandhi, the assassinations of Indira and Rajiv Gandhi, and her leadership of the Congress party and the United Progressive Alliance following the 2004 elections.
The announcement follows a period of uncertainty after Penguin Random House India (PRHI) withdrew from the project. Reports indicate that an impasse occurred between the publisher and Gandhi's representatives over the manuscript. While PRHI stated that fact checking and editorial recommendations are standard and denied that the decision was based solely on a refusal to accept changes, other reports suggest the disagreement centered on references to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and Chinese intrusions into Indian territory. An aide to Gandhi specifically alleged that PRHI sought to remove recollections of meetings with Modi and a 2004 comment he made calling her a Jersey cow.
The fallout triggered a political dispute. Congress leaders, including Ashok Gehlot and Kamal Nath, alleged that PRHI bowed to government pressure. The BJP rejected these claims, with leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi questioning whether the work qualifies as a memoir or fiction. PRHI has denied any external interference. Rahul Gandhi expressed his pride in the upcoming release on the 82nd birth anniversary of his father, Rajiv Gandhi.
How each side framed it
- Left
- Focused on the transition between publishers and the rejection of editorial deletions requested by the previous publisher.
- Centre-left
- Framed the event as a resolution to uncertainty caused by a political controversy involving alleged government pressure on a publisher.
- Centre-right
- Highlighted the specific editorial disputes over content and included the BJP's dismissal of the book's credibility.
Sources
- Centre-right Hindustan Times: Sonia Gandhi's memoir ‘Belonging’ to be published by HarperCollins on Nov 10
- Left Scroll.in: HarperCollins to publish Sonia Gandhi’s memoir ‘Belonging’ in India after Penguin backs out
- Centre-left The Hindu: HarperCollins to publish Sonia Gandhi’s memoir in India on November 10
100% of the statements in this article were traced back to the source articles listed above.