The Congress on Friday raised questions over Penguin Random House India (PRHI)’s alleged reluctance to publish party leader Sonia Gandhi’s much-anticipated memoir Belonging: A Journey of Love , asking why the same reservations did not apply to Penguin Books’ global release.
Knopf earlier announced an initial print run of one lakh copies. The Indian division of the global publication, however, junked the report. “Penguin Random House India is not the publisher of Belonging in India. Belonging: A Journey of Love reportedly chronicles Gandhi’s journey from her childhood in post-war Italy to her move to India and marriage to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.
The memoir is scheduled for an international release on November 10 through Alfred A Knopf, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Because the author declined editorial changes does not accurately reflect the circumstances,” a company spokesperson said, any suggestion that Penguin Random House India decided not to publish Belonging.
“If Penguin Books worldwide can publish, then Penguin’s claim of ‘factchecking’ is ridiculous,” a Congress spokesperson said, in an apparent reference to PRHI’s statement that fact-checking and offering guidance that serves an author’s best interests is both a right and a duty that comes with being a publisher. The spokesperson also said the publication will “not comment further on confidential discussions with the author”. In the publisher’s announcement, Sonia Gandhi said, “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 human failings…My story also offers readers a unique perspective of the social and political changes I have witnessed for six decades.”
