‘Practically no real contact’

Sonia Gandhi writes about Modi, their ideological divide, political rivalry in her memoir Published : 11 November 2026 • Updated : 11 November 2026, 03:00 The Statesman/ANN India’s Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi has described her political differences with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a clash between competing visions of India, while revealing that the two have had almost no meaningful personal interaction despite years of political rivalry.

In her memoir, ‘Belonging: A Journey of Love’, released yesterday, Gandhi attributes Modi’s political outlook to his upbringing and the influence of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), contrasting it with her own belief in secularism, inclusiveness and social justice. “We come from different ideological worlds; his idea of this country is vastly different from mine,” she writes, describing the values she says she inherited from the Nehru-Gandhi family.

Gandhi says PM Modi’s political beliefs were shaped by RSS ideologues and a worldview that, in her assessment, places his religious and cultural identity above others. “He was fighting for his vision of India, and I for mine,” she writes, describing her own position as one opposed to hegemony and committed to equality.

She also makes clear that she does not regard their differences as a personal quarrel. Gandhi writes that she and Modi have had little personal contact throughout his years as prime minister. Their encounters, she says, have largely been confined to official or semi-official gatherings, including meetings in the Lok Sabha Speaker’s chamber at the end of parliamentary sessions.

“To this day, I’ve had practically no real contact with him,” she writes. She describes their exchanges as formal greetings, contrasting them with an earlier political culture in which leaders from opposing parties maintained more cordial personal relationships. According to Gandhi, PM Modi tends to avoid eye contact during their encounters.

Gandhi also recalls the communal violence in Gujarat in 2002, when Modi was the state’s chief minister. The violence followed the February 27 burning of a coach of the Sabarmati Express near Godhra, in which 59 passengers died. Many of the victims were Hindu kar sevaks returning from Ayodhya.

In her memoir, Gandhi describes watching televised reports of the riots and receiving desperate calls from Congress colleagues in Gujarat. She alleges that the administration failed to respond adequately to the violence and recalls allegations involving extremist elements associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the RSS and the Bajrang Dal.

The publication of Belonging follows a dispute over the book’s Indian publishing rights. Penguin Random House India had initially been in discussions to publish the memoir but did not proceed with the arrangement. The Indian Express reported in September that the disagreement involved proposed edits and deletions relating to PM Modi, the RSS, communal violence and other politically sensitive subjects.

Penguin Random House India disputed suggestions that the decision was simply the result of Gandhi refusing editorial changes, saying that discussions had reached an impasse over an unresolved issue. HarperCollins India subsequently acquired the rights to publish the memoir in the Indian subcontinent and confirmed November 10 as its release date.

The memoir also revisits Gandhi’s decision to decline the prime ministership after the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) won the 2004 general election. In an excerpt published by The Indian Express yesterday, Gandhi recalls that Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra opposed her accepting the post, having lived through the assassinations of their grandmother Indira Gandhi and father Rajiv Gandhi.

She describes the pressure from alliance leaders who wanted her to lead the government and her concern that her foreign origin could become a source of political confrontation. Gandhi recounts ultimately informing her son that she would maintain her decision. She subsequently nominated Manmohan Singh to lead the Congress Parliamentary Party and become prime minister.

The 544-page memoir traces Gandhi’s childhood in post-war Italy, her meeting with Rajiv Gandhi in Cambridge, their marriage in 1968 and her subsequent life in India. It also examines the assassinations of Indira Gandhi in 1984 and Rajiv Gandhi in 1991, and the events that eventually brought her into active politics.

The book is published in India by HarperCollins and in the United States by Alfred A Knopf.