These were: Chinese incursions along India’s borders, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership and central government policies, and the role of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in India’s social history.
Three sets of passages in Sonia Gandhi’s forthcoming memoir were at the centre of discussions between the Congress leader and Penguin Random House India before the publisher decided not to publish the book in the country, Congress sources have told NDTV.
The controversy now is over who’ll publish it in India even as pre-orders for the e-book format are open. American publisher Alfred A Knopf, an imprint of the global firm Penguin Random House, recently announced that the book would be released on November 10.
Penguin Random House India has not shared details of its reported denial – saying that it was keen to publish ‘Belonging: A Journey of Love’ but needed to “check facts” before it – but Congress sources have said the parts that came up during the manuscript stage related mainly to these three subjects.
The first was the China border dispute. The third is the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), parent body of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and an organisation Modi worked in before switching to full-time politics. It meant opening myself up, sharing moments and experiences I had always held deep inside. Yet as I gradually removed myself from the political sphere and looked back at all I had seen, the thread of love and loyalty that wove through my story began to define itself, from the simplicity of my childhood in small-town Italy, to the complexity of my years in India as the wife of Rajiv Gandhi and the daughter-in-law of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. “As a politician, she mentions how this issue was handled, but the publishers had problems with it. “As a publisher, it is both our prerogative and our responsibility to fact-check and provide authors with recommendations that are in the best interests of their books. This is a normal part of the publishing process. Throughout the relevant discussions, Penguin Random House India’s position was that we remained willing and keen to publish the book.”
Earlier reporting noted: “She has had a long career in politics, and therefore her memoir is expansive. Because gandhi declined editorial changes does not accurately reflect the circumstances, earlier reporting noted: PRHI issued a statement, maintaining that any suggestion that it decided not to publish the memoir. The book covers her life being upended by the assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984 and the killing of Rajiv Gandhi seven years later, her subsequent entry into politics, her tenure as the longest-serving Congress president, and her decision to turn down the party’s offer to become prime minister in 2004. Gandhi, 79, maintained that it is her story and there was no question of allowing any distortions to her telling of her life, a person aware of the matter said.
The book, these sources said, deals prominently with Chinese incursions into Indian territory and with the present situation on the border, an issue Sonia Gandhi and the Congress, led by her son Rahul Gandhi as Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, have raised repeatedly in Parliament and outside it. Sonia Gandhi has also questioned Narendra Modi’s leadership and working style, and several major policies of the central government, the sources said. The memoir carries her views on the influence of the RSS on national affairs and on India’s social fabric, according to Congress sources. On her creative process, she said: “Writing about my life did not come easily to me. She has certainly given her impressions of the Prime Minister and details of what happened when they met,” said the aide.
Earlier reporting noted: Sonia Gandhi’s Modi, RSS, China remarks at heart of Penguin India edit row Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s book deal with Penguin Random House India (PRHI) fell through as she refused to make changes or deletions of references to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s ideological fount, and Chinese intrusions, HT has learnt.
