'Different From The Past,' In Memoir Sonia Gandhi Says She Has Barely Had Any Personal Interaction With PM Narendra Modi

Sonia Gandhi has written that she has had almost no personal interaction with Prime Minister Narendra Modi despite years of political rivalry, describing their meetings as limited to formal greetings at official gatherings. In her 544-page memoir Belonging: A Journey of Love, she writes that the two usually meet in settings such as the Speaker's chamber and exchange a formal namaste.

"To this day, I've had practically no real contact with him. We meet at semi-official gatherings - for instance, at the Speaker's chamber," Gandhi writes. She adds: "When he comes face-to-face with me, we greet each other with a formal namaste. This is different from the past, when leaders across party divides would treat one another with cordiality. He tends to look away, avoiding eye contact."

Gandhi is Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson and a former Congress president. Her memoir reaches bookstores across India on Tuesday, November 10, bringing fresh attention to her account of her dealings with Modi and the wider political and personal story the book sets out.

Political And Ideological Divide

Gandhi frames her relationship with Modi as a political contest, not a personal feud. "He was fighting for his vision of India, and I for mine: an India against hegemony, an India that stands for inclusiveness, secularism, and social justice. It wasn't personal," she writes.

She also writes that she recognised something familiar in Modi's discomfort with Delhi's elite circles. "There were elements of his discomfort with the ruling elite of our times that I, too, had come to understand well," she writes.

Gandhi notes that Modi rose from an underprivileged background through the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). "He had certainly worked his way to power within the RSS from an underprivileged world," she writes. She also links Modi's critical remarks about Jawaharlal Nehru to what she describes as his conditioning within the RSS.

Memoir's Personal Arc

The book ranges well beyond current politics. Belonging: A Journey of Love follows Gandhi from her childhood in post-war Italy to her eventual place at the centre of Indian politics.

It revisits her early years in Italy and her time in the United Kingdom. It also covers her meeting with Rajiv Gandhi at Cambridge and their marriage in 1968, along with her recollections of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, her mother-in-law, and the circumstances in which she moved to India before marrying Rajiv Gandhi.

The memoir also recounts personal loss and illness. It includes the loss of her first-born child, the assassinations of Indira Gandhi in 1984 and Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 and her battle with breast cancer, including treatment in Milan. The book examines how those experiences and her relationship with India shaped her entry into public life and her rise within the Congress.

In an earlier statement shared on social media, Gandhi explained why she decided to write the memoir. "A long time ago Rajiv and I realised that there was no point in trying to keep up with all that had been written about us. But, as I say in the book, there came a time when I felt that I should tell my own story," she said in a statement to The Hindu.

Rahul Gandhi's Tribute

Ahead of the book's release, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi paid tribute to his mother in a post on X. "Sixty years in public life, and still the same person. Proud of you, Ma," he wrote.

He also shared an excerpt from Sonia Gandhi's interaction with The Hindu. "The values that I learnt growing up survive. I have tried my best to be true to them: loyalty to family and friends, sincerity and feeling for others, the idea of being dutiful and responsible," Sonia Gandhi said.

HarperCollins is publishing the memoir in India and reported on X on Monday that the book would be available at bookstores nationwide from 10 am on November 10. The publisher described it as the story of a woman who fell in love with a man and a country, rebuilt her life and eventually dedicated herself to serving India. The book will be sold through Bahrisons and Midland in Delhi, Higginbotham in Chennai, The White Crow and Title Waves in Mumbai, Mathrubhumi Books in Kerala, Blossoms and The Bookworm in Karnataka and Crossword outlets across multiple states.