For the first time, senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi has made her debut on the popular social media platform Instagram. On Thursday, right after opening her Instagram account, the leader revealed the first look of her much-awaited autobiography ‘Belonging: A Journey of Love’. Within just a few minutes of opening the account, more than four and a half thousand people started following Sonia Gandhi. So far, she has followed only three accounts, which include her son Rahul Gandhi, daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and the official page of the Congress party.
In her first published post, Sonia Gandhi wrote, “Hello everyone, I am truly delighted to share this moment with you. First look of my book ‘Belonging: A Journey of Love’. This is a story of love, duty, the pain of loss and finding one’s own shelter.” In the shared video, the leader is seen holding the 544-page book, opening the cover and flipping through the pages. Seeing the collection of childhood photos of her children Rahul and Priyanka in the book, she smiles at her MP daughter Priyanka sitting beside her and says, “There are so many photos, Priyanka.”
It may be mentioned that the autobiography, which is scheduled to be released on November 10, had triggered a huge political controversy in August. Initially, Penguin Random House India was supposed to publish the book, but the publishing house withdrew from publishing the book after failing to reach an agreement over some edits. Congress had alleged that the publishing house was pressured by the government to delete some important portions related to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, RSS and India-China relations. However, Penguin denied any external pressure.
After the controversy, the book is now ready to be published in India by HarperCollins. From her childhood days spent in post-war Italy to her arrival in India, marriage to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, tragic personal tragedies like the assassinations of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, entry into politics and historic aspects like rejecting the Prime Minister’s post in 2004 – Sonia Gandhi has presented all these from her own perspective in this book.