Sonia Gandhi's memoir recounts personal tragedies and her role in shaping Congress

Sonia Gandhi’s memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love, offers a personal account of the violent events that thrust her into Indian politics and her subsequent leadership of the Congress party. She describes hearing gunshots on 31 October 1984 while in the prime minister’s residence, moments before Indira Gandhi was assassinated, and later recounts Rajiv Gandhi’s warning that both she and he could be killed. The book details her grief after Rajiv’s 1991 assassination and the emotional toll of public duties that followed.

Gandhi writes that she initially resisted taking charge of Congress, citing the party’s “ambition and greed, hypocrisy and treachery” and her outsider status. She eventually accepted leadership after reflecting on the Bhagavad Gita’s teaching of duty without attachment, concluding that she had to act where her duty called.

The memoir also covers the 2004 election aftermath, when party colleagues pressed her to become prime minister. Gandhi recounts refusing the role, choosing Manmohan Singh instead, and explaining that accepting the premiership could have amplified opposition attacks on her foreign birth.

In assessing contemporary politics, Gandhi contrasts her vision of an inclusive, secular India with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s approach, which she says is shaped by the RSS and emphasizes “hierarchy, order, and control.” She notes Modi’s limited personal interaction with her and acknowledges his rise from modest origins, while critiquing the growing intolerance she perceives in Indian politics.

The memoir includes anecdotes of meetings with world leaders, such as Vladimir Putin and Nicolas Sarkozy, and underscores her ongoing commitment to the values she associates with her family’s political legacy. Now a member of the Rajya Sabha, Gandhi reflects that despite her efforts, she has not succeeded in fully countering the forces she set out to oppose.