Sonia Gandhi’s memoir “Belonging” reviewed within hours by BJP leaders, who say it should have been called something else
Shashi Tharoor with Sonia Gandhi book Belonging in New Delhi. (Image Tharoor on X)
By KUMAR VIKRAM
BJP Leaders React to Sonia Gandhi’s Memoir “Belonging” Within Hours of Release
New Delhi, November 11, 2026 — Publishers call it the fastest book-review cycle in Indian history. Sonia Gandhi’s memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love, went on sale Tuesday through HarperCollins India, and by lunchtime the BJP had issued several critical verdicts. Literary editors are examining whether the nation has discovered a new reading speed or a new genre.
The first review was a retitling. BJP spokesperson C.R. Kesavan said the memoir could have been called “Whitewashing.” He argued it sugar-coats historical wrongs by the Nehru-Gandhi family. It is a clean pun and a tidy marketing idea. The reviewer gets the last word on the cover before the reader opens it.
Kesavan also said the book tries to justify the Emergency. Gandhi describes the 1975 Emergency as a mistake. It is possible to whitewash by calling something a mistake, but it is a high-difficulty move. Critics will wait to see which page performs it.
BJP spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari used the occasion to ask why Gandhi was silent on Bofors, a subject the memoir does not appear to cover, and to accuse her of appeasement over the Babri Masjid. He is, strictly speaking, reviewing the book’s absences. Reviewing a book by what it leaves out is a respected tradition, and it has the advantage of needing no reading.
Haryana minister Anil Vij criticised the memoir by questioning her eligibility to become prime minister, citing her Italian citizenship. The book is called Belonging. The review, in effect, argues she does not. Critics of the review say it is the only one of the day that engages the title.
Congress did not hold back. Gandhi herself reportedly called the controversy a “Tamasha.” Congress leaders said the BJP was scratching old wounds. Salman Khurshid and Rajeev Shukla defended her reflections on the Babri demolition, citing regrets from Vajpayee and Advani. Congress leaders also urged people to read Sonia Gandhi and understand her, advice that applies equally to opponents who review before the first chapter.
Experts on political reading identify a pattern. The memoir’s account of the 2004 prime ministership decision and Rahul Gandhi’s intervention would ordinarily command a thoughtful review. It has instead produced press statements on Emergency, Bofors, Babri and citizenship, none of them involving 2004. It is a four-chapter review of a book with a different table of contents.
As a publishing event, Belonging has done what most memoirs dream of: it has been discussed before it has been read. As a political event, it shows that a Congress book and a BJP spokesperson are a reliable pairing. The first writes the past. The second reviews it in time for the evening news.
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