Sonia Gandhi memoir to be published by HarperCollins after Penguin India talks collapse

HarperCollins India has announced it will release the Indian edition of Sonia Gandhi's memoir, stepping in after negotiations with Penguin Random House India broke down over content disagreements.

The 79-year-old Congress leader, who is the matriarch of the Nehru-Gandhi family and has three former prime ministers among her relatives, has not publicly commented on the publishing saga. Her son, Rahul Gandhi, currently serves as the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.

Reports in Indian newspapers suggest that Penguin and Gandhi's team could not see eye-to-eye on certain passages, including references to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 12-year tenure. The breakdown in talks led the Congress party to allege censorship.

Penguin Random House India, however, has pushed back against these claims, stating that the manuscript went through its standard editorial process without any external interference. A spokesperson for the publisher said an agreement could not be reached on a particular issue, after which the author's team decided not to proceed. The publisher declined to elaborate on the specific point of contention, citing confidentiality.

Meanwhile, members of the Bharatiya Janata Party have accused the Congress of politicising the memoir, questioning what required fact-checking in the book. Requests for comment from BJP spokespeople and the Prime Minister's Office went unanswered.