Congress leader Sonia Gandhi made her debut on social media on Thursday, joining Instagram and sharing a video offering the first look at her much-awaited memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love, a book that has already been at the centre of a publishing controversy over editorial changes sought by its former publisher.
In her first post, the Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson shared a video in which she is seen sitting in a library surrounded by bookshelves, turning the pages of the book, looking at photographs, and smiling as she shares the moment with her daughter, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. The two share a hug as Gandhi remarks on the many photographs in the book.
"Hello everyone, I'm truly grateful to share this moment with you all; the first look of Belonging: A Journey of Love," Gandhi wrote in her caption. "It is a story of love, duty, loss and finding a place to belong. I look forward to sharing it with you."
Within hours of joining Instagram, Gandhi, a Rajya Sabha MP, saw her follower count rise steadily. She is following only three accounts so far: those of her son Rahul Gandhi, daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and the Congress party. Rahul, the MP from Uttar Pradesh's Rae Bareli, has 16.3 million Instagram followers, while Priyanka has 2.9 million. The Congress party's Instagram page has 15.9 million followers, marginally fewer than Rahul.
Sonia Gandhi, who will turn 80 in December, had largely stayed away from social media for much of her political career. Her decision to join Instagram comes as social media plays an increasingly influential role in Indian politics, particularly in reaching younger voters, with its impact also evident in recent youth-led protests in Delhi.
While Rahul and Priyanka are already on X and Facebook, with Rahul commanding 28.6 million followers on X and 15 million on Facebook, and Priyanka, the MP from Wayanad in Kerala, holding 5.9 million followers on X and 5.5 million on Facebook, Sonia had remained absent from both platforms. One report said she had also opened an account on X under the handle @SoniaGandhi but had not posted anything on it.
The memoir itself is being presented as Sonia Gandhi's most personal account of her life. It begins in Cambridge, England, in 1965, when Sonia Maino, then a 19-year-old student, met Rajiv Gandhi. The two married in 1968, after which she moved to India and began a new life in the country, a journey that forms the spine of the book's title and theme.
According to the publisher's description, the memoir explores her transition from life in Italy to becoming part of the Nehru-Gandhi family. It covers her introduction to her mother-in-law and former prime minister Indira Gandhi, as well as her efforts to adapt to Indian life and culture, a new country, a new language and a new way of life.
The narrative also revisits the personal tragedies that shaped her life and eventually pulled her into politics: the death of Rajiv's younger brother Sanjay Gandhi in a plane crash in 1980, Indira Gandhi's assassination in 1984, and Rajiv Gandhi's assassination during an election campaign in Tamil Nadu in 1991.
In an earlier statement released by the publisher Knopf, Gandhi said much had been written about her family, but few narratives had captured the motivations, actions and human failings of its members. "It was heartbreak and loss that threw me into the public world of politics. Up till then I had guarded my privacy fiercely," she said.
The book also reflects on the political and social changes Gandhi has witnessed in India over six decades. The publisher describes it as a personal story of love, family and identity that also offers an insider's perspective on the country's journey.
One description of the 544-page volume called it a "surprising, richly told memoir that seamlessly weaves the personal with the political to tell a riveting story: of love, of family, and of an endlessly fascinating country, India".
The memoir also explores her decision to stay in India after Rajiv's assassination, her rise to become the longest-serving president of the Congress party, and her decision to decline the prime minister's post after the party's victory in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, one of the most consequential and debated decisions of her political career.
Even before publication, the book has been in the news for its troubled publishing history. Penguin Random House India, which was the initial publisher, said it would not bring out the book in the country after a disagreement over proposed editorial changes and deletions to portions of the manuscript, which Gandhi's side did not accept. HarperCollins India later acquired the rights to publish the book in India.
Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group under Penguin Random House, had announced on August 18 that the memoir would be published globally.
The book is set to hit the shelves on November 10, while pre-orders have been opened. The staggered announcements, from the publisher dispute in August to the rights acquisition by HarperCollins India and now the Instagram first look, have kept the memoir in the headlines for months.
For the Congress party, the memoir's release comes at a significant moment. As the party's longest-serving president and one of the most consequential political figures of the past quarter-century in India, Sonia Gandhi's personal account is expected to be scrutinised not only as a family memoir but as a primary document of the country's recent political history.
Her entry into social media is itself a marker of how the political communication landscape has shifted. A leader who built her public life almost entirely through the traditional politics of rallies, roadshows and press conferences is now reaching for the same platforms her children and party colleagues have used for years.
Whether the Instagram account becomes a regular channel of communication or remains a book-promotion vehicle is yet to be seen, but the debut itself was unmistakably a moment, watched by millions within hours.
(Reporting based on The Indian Express, Business Today and Deccan Herald.)