Sonia Gandhi says her book is a story of her family's private life, not a political work

Senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi has finally responded to the discussion around her upcoming book. She clarified that it is not a political book but the story of her family's private life. According to her, the book honestly portrays different aspects of family relationships, struggle, experience and humanity.

On Sunday, Ms Gandhi made her first personal post on the social media platform X, with which she began her personal presence on social media. In the post, she recalled her late husband and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. She wrote that Rajiv Gandhi had a deeply charming personality and a gentle nature.

On Thursday, Ms Gandhi had also joined Instagram. There, referring to her upcoming book, she described it as "a story of love, duty, loss and the search for belonging".

Her 544-page book is titled "Belonging: A Journey of Love". It will be published globally on November 10. In India it will be published by HarperCollins India. Differences had earlier arisen between the author's representative and Penguin Random House India over publication. That hurdle is now reported to have been resolved.

On her decision to write the book, Ms Gandhi said in her X post that she wanted to present a more personal and truthful picture of her family. She said much had been written about the family, but little had been said about who they really were, what motivated them, what their struggles were and what their human limitations were. She clarified that the book attempts to present honestly the people she knew and loved.

The BJP, meanwhile, has raised questions about the book. It alleges that the book offers political criticism in place of personal experiences. Before the book's publication, Ms Gandhi had criticised the Narendra Modi government in an interview. She had alleged that the country's democratic institutions were suffering major damage because of the government. She had also said that the mainstream media was under control and that religion was being used for political gain.

Ms Gandhi had also supported the constitutional basis of the Emergency imposed in 1975. Following this statement, BJP leaders alleged that she was trying to justify the Emergency of the era of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Until now, Ms Gandhi had stayed away from personal social media accounts. Her statements and messages were mainly issued from the Congress's official X account. On the occasion of the book's publication, she has begun to be active on X and Instagram. This change in her public communication is therefore being seen as significant.