Penguin India says it is not the publisher of Sonia Gandhi's memoir

Penguin Random House India said on Friday that it is not the Indian publisher of Sonia Gandhi's memoir Belonging: A Journey of Love. It also rejected the claim that it walked away because the author refused editorial cuts.

“Any suggestion that Penguin Random House India decided not to publish ‘Belonging’ because the author declined editorial changes does not accurately reflect the circumstances,” the company said. It added that fact-checking and recommendations are a normal part of the work, that it stayed “willing and keen” to publish during the talks, and that it would not discuss confidential conversations with the author.

The statement followed an Indian Express report that the Indian arm had asked for changes and deletions in part of the manuscript, that Gandhi declined, and that the house then stepped back from the Indian edition. The same report said HarperCollins was close to a deal to publish and distribute the book in India. No contract has been announced.

What is scheduled, and where

Alfred A. Knopf, a New York imprint of Penguin Random House, announced on 18 August that it will publish the memoir in the United States on 10 November 2026. Knopf has listed an initial print run of 100,000 copies. That announcement has not been withdrawn.

Knopf and Penguin Random House India sit in the same global group, owned by Bertelsmann. They do not automatically share an Indian rights deal. PRHI's note leaves the Indian publisher unnamed. Until a house files a catalogue listing, Indian readers do not know who will print the book, at what price, or on what date.

What the manuscript is said to cover

Public descriptions from Knopf and from Indian reporting say the book follows Gandhi from a post-war childhood in Italy to Cambridge, her meeting with Rajiv Gandhi, marriage into the Nehru-Gandhi family, the assassinations of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, and her later years as Congress president and parliamentary leader.

Congress leaders treated the Express report as evidence of pressure. Ashok Gehlot said the publisher had asked to remove passages on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the RSS, and what he called Chinese occupation of Indian territory. Kamal Nath called the episode a serious threat. Gaurav Gogoi described PRHI's clarification as weak and asked whether the government had leaned on the firm.

Those claims about specific cuts come from party leaders and from unnamed sources in the first report. Penguin India did not confirm or deny the subject of any suggested edits. Gandhi has not issued a detailed public reply on the Indian rights file.

Why the Indian edition is the live question

A US hardback from Knopf can be imported. The commercial and political fight is over a local edition: translation rights, pricing, bookstore placement, and whether an Indian house will stand behind passages that name living political organisations.

Indian publishers routinely legal-vet manuscripts that discuss sitting governments, banned outfits, or territorial claims. That work is ordinary. What is unusual is the split inside one global group: the American imprint proceeding on a fixed date while the Indian sister company says it is not the publisher and will not describe the talks.

Rahul Gandhi has said he is proud that his mother is telling the story. That comment does not settle the contract.

What is still unknown

Three facts are on the record. Knopf will publish in the United States on 10 November. Penguin Random House India says it is not the Indian publisher and denies the “she refused cuts, so we dropped it” account. HarperCollins has been named by reporters as a possible buyer and has not confirmed a deal.

The open questions are narrower and more useful than the party statements. Who holds Indian English rights. Whether a Hindi or other language edition is attached. Whether any passage flagged in the Express report survives in the Knopf text that will be sold worldwide. And whether an Indian house will print that text without a separate legal cut.

Those answers will arrive as contracts, not as television lines. Until then, the book has a New York date and no named Indian publisher.