Congress President Sonia Gandhi will have her memoirs, Belonging: A Journey of Love, released in India by HarperCollins India on November 10. For decades, the book was released internationally but not domestically until the announcement.
The Congress leader for the past 79 years was earlier linked to Penguin Random House India (PRHI). But the proposed publishing deal did not go through as reports suggested differences in how hints were given to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and incursions into Indian territory by China got mentioned.
It is said that Gandhi was adamant that the autobiography was her memoir and she did not want her memoirs to be altered in any way.
In announcing the book, HarperCollins India called Belonging one of the much-anticipated political memoirs of the times. The book, the publisher said, is an “extraordinarily personal” account of themes of love, identity, duty and belonging, as well as giving an “insider’s view of India’s journey.
The book will also hit the bookshelves abroad on November 10 on the Penguin Random House label Alfred A. Knopf.
In the meantime, PRHI has shown no contradiction that it did not publish it when Gandhi declined editing modifications. The publisher assured it still wanted to publish the book, and emphasized that fact checking and editorial suggestions are routine aspects of the publishing process.
Eventually, talks hit a snag on a “particular issue” on which PRHI does not comment because of the protection of confidentiality, PRHI said. The publisher claims that some of the changes suggested were accepted by both parties, while at other times, Gandhi prevailed in his stance and the changes were accepted by the publisher.
But the two sides could not agree on one thing. Later the representatives of Gandhi told PRHI that they were not interested to proceed with the publishing deal.