Sonia Gandhi shares first glimpse of memoir 'Belonging: A Journey of Love' on Instagram

Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday, October 22, shared a video of her first autobiography on the social media platform Instagram. The video offers a glimpse of her upcoming book, "Belonging: A Journey of Love". In her first Instagram post, she expressed gratitude while sharing the first look at the book.

In the caption, she spoke directly to her well-wishers. The post was made at 9 am on Thursday. It reads: "Namaskar, I am very happy to share my book with all of you. It is a story of love, duty, losing loved ones and searching for a place to belong. I am eager to share this book with all of you."

In the video, Sonia Gandhi is seen with her close friends and her daughter Priyanka Gandhi. Priyanka Gandhi is also seen feeding her mother sweets during the video.

The book traces Sonia Gandhi's journey from her childhood in Italy to her meeting with Rajiv Gandhi in Cambridge. It also describes the changes in her life after her marriage into the Nehru-Gandhi family and after the killings in the family.

"Belonging" begins with Sonia Gandhi's childhood in the Veneto region of post-war Italy. The book then recounts her stay in Cambridge and her meeting in 1965 with Rajiv Gandhi, grandson of Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister.

The autobiography also tells of her marriage to Rajiv Gandhi and her first meeting with her mother-in-law, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. It includes her experiences of adapting to life in India, from learning Hindi and wearing the sari to adopting Indian food.

The book also describes the major tragedies that changed the Gandhi family. These include Sanjay Gandhi's death in a plane crash, the assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984 and the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in 1991.

The autobiography also covers the political churn after the 2004 Lok Sabha election, in which the Congress-led alliance won. Sonia Gandhi then declined the post of Prime Minister and led the party and the alliance. The Congress-led alliance remained in power for the next 10 years.

Even after the assassination of her husband Rajiv Gandhi in 1991, Sonia Gandhi had chosen to stay away from politics. P. V. Narasimha Rao became Prime Minister. By 1996 the Congress had begun to weaken and several factions had formed in the party. To unite the Congress again, Sonia Gandhi took primary membership of the party in 1997. Sixty-two days later, in 1998, she became Congress president. She remained president until 2017, the longest tenure in the party's history.

In 2004, the Congress formed the UPA with 14 allies. After the election, the UPA had the support of 335 MPs, with backing from several parties including the Left parties. The allies backed Sonia Gandhi for Prime Minister, but she declined the post on May 18, 2004. Manmohan Singh then became Prime Minister.

The NDA had opposed her becoming Prime Minister by raising the issue of her foreign citizenship. As a result, Sonia Gandhi turned down the post and put forward Manmohan Singh's name. Manmohan Singh became Prime Minister. It is, however, said that Sonia Gandhi controlled the government from behind the scenes.