New Delhi:
The first copies of 'Belonging: A Journey of Love', Sonia Gandhi's memoir, are here. The 79-year-old was, of course, the first recipent of the much awaited book, which is set for worldwide release on November 10.
"You are carrying a very heavy weight," Sonia Gandhi told her publishers as they arrived with a few hardback copies.
Sonia Gandhi was then presented with her first copy, along with a box of sweets.
"Here," Sonia Gandhi, with a smile, posed with the hardback as those around her delivered a solid round of congratulatory claps.
Sonia Gandhi with her copy of 'Belonging: A Journey Of Love'
Photo Credit: Image posted on Instagram by Sonia Gandhi
Browsing through it, Sonia Gandhi, turning the book around, said "lots of pictures, Priyanka" while showing the book to her daughter.
"Hello everyone, I'm truly grateful to share this moment with you all; the first look of Belonging: A Journey of Love. It is a story of love, duty, loss and finding a place to belong. I look forward to sharing it with you," Gandhi, who also made her Instagram debut today, said in a post, along with a video.
In another frame, Priyanka Gandhi can be seen offering sweets to her mother and the two could be seen hugging.
"One of the most anticipated political memoirs of our time, Belonging is a dramatic and deeply personal story of love, identity, duty and belonging, and offers a rare insider's view of India's journey," HarperCollins, the India publisher of the book, had said in an earlier post.
Earlier, Penguin Random House India backed out from publishing the memoir amid reports that Sonia Gandhi refused "editorial changes" to the manuscript. The publisher though denied any such motive behind the move.
"Much has been written about my family, but few narratives were able to reach into the truth of their motivations, their actions and even their very human failings," Sonia Gandhi said in a statement issued through Alfred A Knopf, the book's US publisher.
"In many ways, this book is a homage to their humanness. My story also offers readers a unique perspective of the social and political changes I have witnessed for six decades in the beautiful country of my belonging."
In "Belonging," Gandhi writes of her life being upended when Indira Gandhi, her mother-in-law, is assassinated in 1984 and succeeded by Rajiv Gandhi who seven years later was also murdered.
Sonia Gandhi eventually entered politics and became the longest-serving president of the Congress while also turning down her party's offer to become prime minister. Her party lost power to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP in 2014.
"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 in her statement.