New Delhi: Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s much-awaited memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love, will now be published in India by HarperCollins, ending uncertainty over its Indian edition after Penguin Random House India stepped away from the project.
HarperCollins India will publish and distribute the memoir in the country on November 10, 2026, coinciding with its worldwide release. The international edition is being published by Alfred A. Knopf, a US imprint of Penguin Random House.
Penguin Row Preceded Publisher Switch
The development comes days after Penguin Random House India (PRHI) confirmed that it would not publish Belonging in India amid reports of a disagreement between the publisher and Gandhi’s team over parts of the manuscript.
Reports suggested that Penguin had sought editorial changes and deletions in some politically sensitive portions of the memoir. Gandhi’s team was reportedly unwilling to accept significant alterations, resulting in an impasse over the Indian edition.
The reported disagreement triggered a political controversy, with Congress leaders alleging that passages concerning Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and India-China relations were among those that had attracted scrutiny. However, neither the precise contents of the disputed sections nor the changes allegedly sought have been publicly disclosed.
Penguin Random House India denied suggestions that it had simply “dropped” the memoir because Gandhi refused editorial changes. The publisher said fact-checking, editorial assessment and recommendations were routine parts of the publishing process and maintained that it had remained “willing and keen” to publish the book.
PRHI subsequently said the two sides had reached an impasse over a “particular issue”, but declined to disclose further details, citing confidentiality obligations.
Allegations Of External Pressure
The controversy also prompted Congress leaders to allege that external pressure may have influenced the publishing process, raising questions over editorial independence and freedom of expression. The BJP and government representatives rejected the pressure narrative, while Penguin categorically denied any external interference.
With HarperCollins taking over the Indian edition, the memoir is now set to reach readers as originally scheduled on November 10.
Belonging is expected to offer an intimate account of Gandhi’s journey from Italy to India, her marriage to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, the assassinations of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, her eventual entry into politics and her decision to decline the prime minister’s post in 2004.
The change in publisher is likely to generate further interest in a memoir that has already emerged as one of the most closely watched political books of the year.
