Sonia Gandhi’s Memoir Reveals Cancer Battle; Congress Hails Book, BJP Calls It Contradictory

Sonia Gandhi’s memoir, “Belonging: A Journey of Love,” has sharpened the political divide since it went on sale on Tuesday. Congress leaders praised it, while the BJP said it is full of contradictions between what she writes and what happened in real life.

Published by HarperCollins India, the book traces her path from a childhood in post-war Italy and her time with Rajiv Gandhi at Cambridge to her life in India, and the losses that shaped her bond with the country, including the assassinations of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.

“SOUGHT TO KEEP PERSONAL SPACE PRIVATE”

In the book, Gandhi reveals for the first time that she was diagnosed with cancer and underwent surgery in 2010. “Our second UPA term brought me some personal challenges,” she writes. Apart from occasional asthma and allergies, she had no serious health problems until then.

Doctors at Delhi’s Sir Ganga Ram Hospital advised surgery, and she chose to have it abroad. “I wasn’t keen to be at the centre of a media frenzy that would have inevitably accompanied a surgery in Delhi,” she writes. “I had always sought to keep my personal space private, and the thought of my illness being discussed in the media was painful to me—even infuriating. True, I had become a public figure, but did that mean I wasn’t to be allowed even a modicum of privacy?”

She recalls that on the day of the operation, “Rahul and Priyanka held my hand and kissed me on the forehead, assuring me that all would be well.” The surgery was successful, but the cancer returned a year later and she was treated in Rotterdam. “I was agitated and worried about the operation,” she writes. “What if it turned out to be a metastatic growth? Would I come through it?”

In August 2011, the Congress said she had undergone surgery in the United States and did not say what the illness was.

“SHE DECLINED THE POST”

Telangana government adviser and senior Congress leader V Hanumanth Rao said Gandhi embraced Indian culture and followed in the footsteps of Indira and Rajiv Gandhi. “There was a time when she had the opportunity to become the Prime Minister of India. However, she declined the position,” he told ANI. “Her priority was to work for the welfare of the poor, not to hold a position of power.” He urged young people, especially young women, to read the book.

In an excerpt, Gandhi writes that neither Rahul nor Priyanka felt she should become Prime Minister. “They looked relieved and I, too, felt lighter.”

THE MODI PASSAGES

In the memoir, Gandhi describes her long rivalry with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a contest between two visions of India and not a personal feud. She acknowledges the NDA government’s expansion of digital public infrastructure, which has brought millions of poor people into the banking system, but raises concerns about its implementation. “The government’s own audit agency, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), has pointed to widespread misuse, corruption, and failures in implementation,” she writes.

Congress MP Digvijaya Singh called her praise of Modi “a great gesture of magnanimity,” but said the two sides remain apart. “Our ideologies have never aligned, nor will they do so in future,” he told reporters.

THE BJP’S RESPONSE

BJP Telangana chief spokesperson NV Subash said the book contradicts real events. “In the book, she has stated that she was initially not interested in her husband, Rajiv Gandhi, entering mainstream politics and eventually becoming Prime Minister. However, due to the circumstances, she herself later became the President of the Congress Party,” he said. “We believe there are several contradictions between what has been stated in the book and the events that unfolded in real life.”

Subash said Gandhi has long hoped that her son Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, would become Prime Minister. “The people have not given him that mandate, and even within the Congress Party, there are differences over his leadership,” he said. “This book does not inspire people in the country, nor does it set any benchmark for those aspiring to enter politics.”

With inputs from ANI