IndiaPosted at: Oct 27 2026 6:04PM


Sonia Gandhi’s ‘Belonging’: A journey through love, loss and memory

New Delhi, Oct 27 (UNI) “There’s bound to be some tamasha when this book comes out,” Sonia Gandhi says in a clip posted on Instagram. “After all, others have spent decades telling my ‘story’; now it’s my turn.”
That line captures the spirit of Belonging: A Journey of Love, her forthcoming memoir. After years of being analysed, criticised and interpreted by others, Sonia Gandhi is preparing to tell her story in her own words.
The book traces a life shaped by love, family, public duty and loss. Born in Italy, she came to India after marrying Rajiv Gandhi in 1968 and gradually made the country her home. She became part of one of India’s most influential political families while living through events that transformed both her family and the nation.
A short film accompanying the book features black-and-white photographs of Sonia, Rajiv Gandhi, Indira Gandhi and their family. These images offer more than a record of history. They preserve ordinary moments that have gained poignancy with time: familiar faces, shared spaces, and a family life that now belongs to another era.
Asked about writing her own story, Sonia recalls being “totally against” Rajiv Gandhi becoming prime minister. Her memory reveals the private anxieties behind a decision that changed the course of Indian politics. History remembers the office, the government and the events that followed. Families remember the doubts, conversations and emotional costs.
Rajiv entered politics after the death of his younger brother, Sanjay Gandhi, in 1980. Following Indira Gandhi’s assassination in 1984, he became prime minister. For Sonia, the shift from private life to the centre of national affairs came through tragedy and immense responsibility.
She says she wrote 'Belonging' because much of what had been written about her was “not quite correct”, and was “either invented or exaggerated”. Her aim is not necessarily to settle every controversy, but to offer her own account of the life others have long described.
“People have different views,” she says. “Some people may change their view about you. Some people’s views may become worse.” It is a clear-eyed acknowledgement that a memoir cannot control how it is received. Readers will bring their own loyalties, assumptions and memories to the book.
The title points to a deeper theme. Belonging is not always inherited; it can be chosen and built over time. For Sonia, it grew through marriage, family, shared experiences and the gradual transformation of India into home. It was also tested by grief. Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination in 1991 left a personal loss that became part of the nation’s collective memory.
Sonia later entered active politics, became Congress president in 1998, and remained a central figure in public life for decades. Yet the intimate measure of her journey lies beyond offices held and political battles fought. It can be found in preserved photographs, remembered conversations, and the people whose absence remains present in memory.
Belonging offers a chance to look beyond the political image of Sonia Gandhi — as Congress leader, member of the Nehru-Gandhi family or controversial public figure — and consider the person behind it. Her story includes the ordinary intimacies of family life alongside extraordinary circumstances, unexpected responsibilities and profound loss.
There will likely be debate, criticism and the “tamasha” she anticipates. But beneath the noise is a quieter purpose: to reclaim a voice that has often been missing from the story told about her.
After decades in which others have told her story, Sonia Gandhi is saying: now it’s my turn. Through memories, photographs and reflections on love and loss, Belonging invites readers to see history not only through public events, but through the private lives shaped by them.
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