New Delhi, October 22: For decades, Sonia Gandhi has been one of India’s most recognisable and least talkative public figures. On Thursday, she took a step that few might have expected: she joined Instagram.

Her first post is about her book. The Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson shared a video on her new verified account introducing her upcoming memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love. “I look forward to sharing it with you,” she wrote.

What the video shows

In the clip, Gandhi is seen receiving the first copies of her book and sharing sweets with her daughter, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. The memoir is due out worldwide on November 10.

Family members responded warmly. Reports quote Rahul Gandhi as saying he was happy and proud that her story would finally be read by the millions who love her. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra called her mother brave, loyal and compassionate, and also tough and fun-loving.

About the book

The memoir runs to 544 pages. According to its publishers, it traces Gandhi’s life from her childhood in Italy to her years in India after her marriage to Rajiv Gandhi, and tells what they call a dramatic and deeply personal story of love, identity, duty and belonging, with a rare insider’s view of India’s journey.

Reports say it also covers the tragedies that shaped the Gandhi family: the death of Sanjay Gandhi in a plane crash, Indira Gandhi’s assassination in 1984 and Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination in 1991. Alfred A. Knopf, which is publishing the book internationally, announced it on August 18 and released a cover with a black-and-white photograph of a young Gandhi. It has described her as someone who was once famously reticent and said the book offers warmth and candour.

The publishing dispute

Before the book had a firm date in India, it was at the centre of a controversy. Penguin Random House India (PRHI) had been expected to publish it, but said it was “not the publisher” of the book in India. Reports at the time claimed that the publisher had walked away after the author declined to accept proposed editorial changes.

PRHI rejected that account. It said any suggestion that it decided against publishing because the author refused editorial changes “does not accurately reflect the circumstances”, and that throughout the discussions it remained “willing and keen to publish the book”. It also said talks had reached an impasse over a particular issue, which it did not name, and denied that external pressure played a part.

The uncertainty ended last month, when HarperCollins India announced that it would publish the memoir in India on November 10. Its announcement called the book “one of the most anticipated political memoirs of our time”.

Why the Instagram move matters

Gandhi has rarely used personal social media, and Congress communications have mostly run through the party’s and her son’s accounts. Choosing Instagram to introduce a very personal book suggests a deliberate attempt to reach a younger and wider audience in the weeks before publication.

What to watch

The build-up will be closely watched. A memoir by a leader who headed the Congress for 19 years and sits at the heart of India’s political story is likely to draw intense interest, and scrutiny once it is out. What it says about the party, the family and the years in power will probably shape the conversation after November 10.

 

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