Penguin India drops Sonia Gandhi’s memoir over comments on PM, RSS and India-China ties

Penguin Random House India announced on Friday (August 28, 2026) that it is not publishing Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s much-awaited autobiography, Belonging: A Journey of Love, with industry sources saying that the publisher and author had differences regarding content related to her impressions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi from official meetings, his handling of India-China ties, and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and its activities.

Responding to news reports, the Indian publisher issued the following statement on Friday (August 28, 2026): “Penguin Random House India is not the publisher of ‘Belonging’ in India. Any suggestion that Penguin Random House India decided not to publish ‘Belonging’ because the author declined editorial changes does not accurately reflect the circumstances.”

It added, “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.”

Legal scrutiny vs self-censorship

Sources said that Mrs. Gandhi’s manuscript ran into trouble at the stage of legal scrutiny, which has become a trend over the last decade. When the legal team’s feedback to remove or alter the sections related to the PM, the RSS, and Mrs. Gandhi’s opinion on India-China relations was communicated to the author, they were reportedly told that this is a story of her life, and she would not alter anything in the manuscript, as self-censorship would interfere with the storytelling process.

Mrs. Gandhi has been working on the book for several years and had consulted her close friends, including a few authors, in the process of her research and writing, The Hindu has learnt. Mrs. Gandhi’s office has not commented on the matter.  

International edition unchanged

The book, charting Mrs. Gandhi’s journey from Italy to India, will be published for international readers on November 10, Alfred A. Knopf announced on August 18. ”In this revelatory book, the once famously reticent Sonia Gandhi opens up with warmth and candor to narrate her remarkable life, from her childhood in post-war Italy, to the romance that brings her to India, to the shattering losses that will reshape not only her own future but also that of her adopted home,” it said.

It is understood that the content which Penguin Random House India found objectionable will feature in the international edition of the book. Under the present circumstances, this international edition will be available to Indian readers willing to pay the international price to buy the book.

Controversial record

This is not the first controversy that has thrust Penguin Random House India into the spotlight this year. It had been expected to publish former Army Chief Manoj Mukund Naravane’s memoir Fours Stars of Destiny earlier this year, but the book remained unpublished, reportedly over the author’s description of the standoff between Indian and Chinese forces at Galwan in 2021. Subsequently, hard copies of the book as well as digital copies of the manuscript became available and created controversy about its exact status. The publisher then asserted its rights over the material, saying that the “book has not gone into publication”. Publishing industry sources said that, similar to Mrs. Gandhi’s book, General Naravane’s memoir also faced hurdles at the stage of legal scrutiny.

Graphic novelist Joe Sacco’s book, The Once and Future Riot, based on the Muzaffarnagar riots of 2013, was also pulled by Penguin Random House India, allegedly over the use of an “inaccurate” map of India. However, Mr. Sacco later said that the publisher was trying to find “excuses” to pull out of the project. “It’s embarrassing that the Indian publisher does not want to distribute a book like this because of the current political climate in India. Perhaps they are being leaned on,” he said in an interview with The Wire.