Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi has said she was "totally against" her husband Rajiv Gandhi becoming Prime Minister, adding that her upcoming memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love, is likely to trigger a "tamasha (commotion)" as it offers her account of events.
"When my husband was asked to become Prime Minister, which I was totally against," Sonia Gandhi said in a video posted on her social media platforms on Tuesday. Explaining why she decided to write the memoir, she said the book gave her an opportunity to put down her account of events as she experienced them.
"Some people may change their view about me. Some people's view may become worse, but that's what it is. That's what happens when you write a book or when you are in public life. There's bound to be a tamasha, as you would say it here," she said.
The remarks offer an early indication of the potentially sensitive personal and political ground covered in the memoir, which traces Sonia Gandhi's journey from her childhood in Italy to her decades at the centre of Indian politics and is set to be published on November 10.
Her account is expected to revisit the defining moments of the Nehru-Gandhi family, including Rajiv Gandhi's entry into politics, the tragedies that shaped the family and her own decision to decline the Prime Minister's post after the Congress-led alliance won the 2004 general election.of events.
SONIA GANDHI RECENTLY MADE HER INSTAGRAM AND X DEBUT
Sonia Gandhi shared the video on October 22, marking her Instagram and X debut and breaking from her longstanding practice of using the Congress party's official social media platforms to release statements, letters and other public messages.
In the video, she is seen receiving copies of her memoir and sharing sweets with her daughter, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. The post introduced the book to a wider audience ahead of its publication and offered a personal glimpse into a project that has already attracted considerable political attention.
Sonia Gandhi, who has largely stayed away from social media, also followed the accounts of her children, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, along with the Congress party. Several senior party leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, followed her account.
Describing the memoir, she called it a story of "love, duty, loss and finding a place to belong".
Sonia's memoir begins with her childhood in post-war Veneto, Italy, before tracing her move to Cambridge, where she met Rajiv Gandhi in 1965. It recounts their marriage, her introduction to her mother-in-law, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and her gradual adjustment to life in India.
The narrative also covers the tragedies that marked the Gandhi family. These include the death of Sanjay Gandhi in a plane crash, Indira Gandhi's assassination in 1984 and Rajiv Gandhi's assassination in 1991.
Beyond the personal losses, the book also examines Sonia Gandhi's emergence as a political leader, her role in rebuilding the Congress and her leadership of the party and the UPA during the decade that followed its 2004 electoral victory.
SONIA GANDHI'S MEMOIR TO ADDRESS PRIME MINISTER POST DENIAL IN 2004
One of the most consequential episodes covered in the memoir is Sonia Gandhi's decision not to become Prime Minister after the Congress-led UPA defeated the BJP-led NDA in the 2004 general election.
Despite leading the Congress back to power, Sonia Gandhi stepped aside, and Manmohan Singh became Prime Minister. The decision was one of the defining moments of Sonia Gandhi's political career.
Her latest remarks about having opposed Rajiv Gandhi's elevation to the top post offer a personal dimension to the family's complicated relationship with political power.
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(Written by Avinash Kateel)