Congress leaders have claimed that Penguin Random House India has been “pressured” to drop Sonia Gandhi’s memoir, inviting a sharp response from the ruling BJP.
The war of words began after Penguin Random House India on Friday said it was not the publisher of the book, ” Belonging: A Journey of Love “, days after American publisher Alfred A Knopf, an imprint of Penguin Random House, announced that the memoir would release on November 10. It said it had been keen to publish the memoir throughout “the relevant discussions”, but it is their “prerogative and responsibility” to fact-check authors, a statement that came amid reports that the leading publisher backed out after Sonia Gandhi refused “editorial” changes.
“Such a weak statement. Penguin India is more than happy to publish ‘Exam Warriors’ and several books on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) RSS. No doubt there are those in the BJP government who have now become afraid of a book being read by the people of India,” he wrote on X.
The BJP said the Congress leaders were trying to “spin stories and manufacture a false narrative of fear” over the memoir. The second issue was about Sonia Gandhi questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership and working style, and several major policies of the central government, the sources said.
Gaurav Gogoi, Congress’ deputy leader in Lok Sabha, slammed Penguin India’s statement and called it “weak”.
