Sonia Gandhi releases memoir 'Belonging'

Personal grief and the shadow of assassinations

The memoir covers the assassinations of Sonia Gandhi's husband, Rajiv Gandhi, and her mother-in-law, Indira Gandhi. Sonia Gandhi said she felt she failed her duty whenever she looked at photographs of them in her drawing room.

Following the 1984 assassination of Indira Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and her children lived with the expectation that Rajiv Gandhi would also be killed.

In her memoir, Sonia Gandhi recalls that two months before Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in May 1991, Rahul Gandhi warned her that if security was not improved, he would soon have to return for his father's funeral.

Entry into politics and the 2004 prime ministerial decision

Gandhi recalled crying when the Babri Masjid was demolished in 1992. In a February 2004 interview with Shekhar Gupta for NDTV, she said she never wanted to enter politics because she viewed it as a life associated with personal loss.

She entered public life in 1998 to stop the BJP's "divisive agenda" and because the Congress party was struggling.

Following the 2004 election, she told her children, Rahul and Priyanka, that she would "absolutely not" become prime minister. She nominated Manmohan Singh for the post after her children challenged her initial inclination to accept it, despite pressure from alliance leaders.

Critique of economic policies and political opposition

Gandhi rejected the Vajpayee government's "India Shining" campaign in 2004 due to concerns over unemployment and inadequate investment in agriculture. She argued for a combination of economic reforms and social-welfare programs during a 2004 interview.

The Guardian reported that the memoir also discusses the issue of press stonewalling during the administration of Modi.