Maintaining that there was no external pressure behind its decision not to publish Sonia Gandhi’s memoir, Penguin Random House India on Monday (August 31, 2026) said there was an impasse over “a particular issue” during discussions on the “Belonging: A Journey of Love” .
This is a book that we at Penguin Random House India were really keen on publishing as it was a hard-won acquisition,” Pallavi Narayan, spokesperson of PRHI, said in an exclusive statement to PTI . Several Congress leaders have raised issues of governmental pressure and freedom of expression. Former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot alleged that pressure was put on Penguin India to remove sections relating to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the RSS and China’s occupation of Indian territory during the PM Modi regime. In its latest statement, PRHI specifically rejected suggestions that the decision was driven by outside intervention. “We feel it is important for us to correct certain misrepresentations regarding the forthcoming memoir ‘Belonging’. “On some, they agreed to changes and on others, we accepted the author’s position.
The fresh clarification comes amid a controversy over the Indian publication of the Congress leader’s much-anticipated memoir following an announcement by the U.S.-based Alfred A Knopf, an imprint of Penguin Random House, that the book would be released worldwide on November 10.
“Since the content of the book is confidential and under embargo, there was no external pressure whatsoever,” the publisher said. PRHI said the manuscript had gone through its “normal editorial process”, during which several points were raised and deliberated upon with the author’s representatives. Unfortunately, and ultimately, an understanding could not be reached on a particular issue,” it said.
