Sonia Gandhi's memoir fuses private memory with sharp political critique, N Ram says
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Former The Hindu editor N Ram told NDTV that Sonia Gandhi's autobiography, released Tuesday, weaves family recollections together with pointed reflections on current political issues, though it was not crafted as an election pamphlet.
Sonia Gandhi's autobiography "Belonging: A Journey of Love" was released on Tuesday, presenting a deeply personal account of her life with the Gandhi family while also addressing political subjects such as the BJP, the RSS, the Election Commission and worries about vote-stealing, former The Hindu editor N Ram said in an exclusive interview with NDTV.
Ram, who read the manuscript before publication and interviewed Gandhi, said the political references surfaced naturally within the narrative rather than being designed as a campaign weapon for the 2029 Lok Sabha elections.
"It happened suddenly. There are inputs for the elections in this, particularly what she says about the BJP and the RSS and how people are restless, how there's been vote stealing, how institutions have been damaged or destroyed," Ram told NDTV's J Sam Daniel Stalin.
He added that Gandhi’s comments on the Election Commission and other matters reflect long-standing public anxieties, but the book’s timing was driven by her wish to finally tell her own story after years of other people speaking for her.
"Others have spent decades telling my story. Now it is my turn," Gandhi wrote on X and repeated in the interview.
According to Ram, Gandhi began drafting the memoir about a decade ago, worked on it intermittently, and devoted the last five years to completing it. He said she spoke with her late husband Rajiv about the flood of books written about the family, and they decided they would simply not pay attention to them.
The memoir also recounts Gandhi’s decision not to become Prime Minister in 2004, describing a period of hesitation and opposition from her children Rahul and Priyanka, who feared for her safety after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.
Ram highlighted Gandhi’s reflections on the Emergency, the Bofors controversy, and her relationships with figures such as former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and former Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi. He said the book presents her as a social democrat who values dialogue across ideological lines rather than narrowing politics into rigid camps.
On contemporary politics, Gandhi is reported to argue that even if the BJP loses power, damage to institutions could leave lasting consequences, and she expresses ideological differences with Prime Minister Narendra Modi while acknowledging his modest background. She dismisses the RSS as offering little of value to learn from.
Ram described the memoir’s style as direct and unadorned, stressing its personal focus with politics kept in the background, and said Gandhi’s candour challenges the idea that she is a guarded figure.