NEW DELHI: Leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi on Thursday penned an emotional note for his mother, Sonia Gandhi, ahead of the release of her memoir in November.In a deeply personal message on X, Rahul recalled the loss of his father, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, and spoke about the years Sonia spent navigating personal tragedy and public life after his assassination.“Mama, I last saw you and Papa together more than 35 years ago. Since the day Papa left, I have watched you face everything life threw at you with never-ending courage and dignity,” Rahul wrote on X.“Only Priyanka and I really know what you have been through, and how difficult your life after Papa truly was,” he added.Rahul said he was proud that Sonia Gandhi, known for maintaining a guarded private life despite decades in public affairs, had chosen to tell her story.“I am happy, and so proud, that your story — *Belonging: A Journey of Love* — will finally be read by the millions of people who love you. I know how hard it was for someone as private as you to tell the world your beautiful story,” he said.Rahul’s message for this mother came on Rajiv Gandhi’s birth anniversary, a detail Rahul invoked while concluding his message.“Today, on his birthday, I can see Papa smiling and looking down proudly at his beautiful Sonia,” he wrote.Sonia Gandhi’s memoir to release in NovemberPublisher Alfred A. Knopf announced earlier this week that Sonia Gandhi’s memoir, *Belonging: A Journey of Love*, will be published on November 10.The book is expected to offer a rare personal account of the Congress leader’s journey — from her childhood in post-war Italy and her meeting with Rajiv Gandhi in Cambridge to her life in India and the personal losses that eventually pushed her into a political role she had long resisted.The 79-year-old Congress veteran, who remains the party’s longest-serving president, is also expected to recount the assassinations of her mother-in-law, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and her husband Rajiv Gandhi, and how those events reshaped her life.
Share your thoughts in the comments
Be respectful · TOI community guidelines
The cover of the memoir features a black-and-white photograph of a young Sonia Gandhi.Describing the book, the publisher said ‘Belonging’ tells a story of “love, family, and an endlessly fascinating country: India”, while offering readers an account from a leader who has historically remained reticent about her personal life.“The once famously reticent Sonia Gandhi opens up with warmth and candor to narrate her remarkable life, from her childhood in small-town 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,” Alfred A. Knopf said in an Instagram post announcing the cover.Born in Italy, Sonia Gandhi was a 19-year-old student in Cambridge when she met Rajiv Gandhi in 1965. The two married on February 25, 1968.Her memoir is set to be released on November 10, 2026.
