Congress leaders on Friday alleged that Penguin Random House India succumbed to pressure from the Union government with respect to former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi’s memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love.Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot alleged that the publisher was under pressure to remove portions from the book related to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the alleged “occupation of Indian territory by China”.The RSS is the ideological parent of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.In a social media post, Gehlot questioned why Penguin Random House India wanted changes to be made to the book before its publication in India if Penguin Worldwide was ready to publish it in its original form globally.He said that “suppressing” Gandhi’s book was akin to the murder of freedom of expression and democracy.Penguin Worldwide is ready to publish Smt. Sonia Gandhi ji's upcoming book worldwide in its original form, but Penguin Random House India wants changes made to launch it in India. After all, what is the reason or what pressure is there that what is being published across the…— Ashok Gehlot (@ashokgehlot51) August 28, 2026
Earlier on Friday, The Indian Express reported that Penguin Random House India dropped Gandhi’s memoir as she rejected certain “editorial changes and deletions” that the publisher wanted in the manuscript.Penguin India, however, said that any suggestion that it decided not to publish the book because the author declined editorial changes was not accurate.“As a publisher, it is both our prerogative and our responsibility to fact check and provide authors with recommendations that are in the best interests of the book,” it said on social media. “…Throughout the relevant discussions, Penguin Random House India’s position was that we remained willing and keen to publish the book.”The publisher, however, declined to comment on “confidential discussions” with the Congress leader.Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi described Penguin India’s statement as “weak”, saying that the publisher was willing to publish Exam Warriors and several books on the RSS.Exam Warriors is a book by Modi, written for young students to help them deal with the stress of exams.“No doubt there are those in the BJP government who have now become afraid of a book being read by the people of India,” Gogoi wrote on X.Written by Anamika Pathak. Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.
