BJP accuses Sonia Gandhi of ‘camouflaging Congress sins’ in memoir

India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has accused opposition leader Sonia Gandhi of attempting to gloss over historical wrongs committed by her Congress party in her new memoir, sparking tensions ahead of crucial state elections. The Congress party has responded by accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP of creating a spectacle and giving the book a "political spin."

Entitled "Belonging," the memoir chronicles Italian-born Gandhi's life, from her early years in England, where she met her husband and Rajiv, to her integration into India's powerful political family that has governed the country for nearly 55 years since independence from British rule in 1947. At 79, Gandhi did not seek the prime minister's position in 2004, but her family continues to control the party that has ruled India for a combined total of nearly 55 years.

BJP spokesperson C.R. Kesavan claimed in a video statement that the motive behind the memoir is to "sugar-coat the historical wrongs perpetrated by the Nehru-Gandhi family and camouflaging the cardinal sins committed by the Congress party." He cited the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, which left nearly 3,000 people dead, and accused Congress of turning a blind eye and possibly orchestrating the violence.

In the book, Sonia describes the riots as a "tragic and shameful chapter," accusing some officials of either looking the other way or fueling the violence. She also defends her husband, Rajiv, who became prime minister after their mother's assassination, against allegations of complicity. Kesavan accused Sonia of "normalising and justifying" the Emergency imposed by her mother, Indira Gandhi, in 1975, a period marked by civil liberties suspension, press censorship, and opposition leader imprisonment.

While Gandhi has not yet responded to the accusations, she stated in the memoir's prologue that it is a "personal memoir, one for which politics is the background, a kind of framework." Since its release, the book has been a subject of intense debate on social media, reflecting India's deep political divide. It topped Amazon India's bestseller list, priced at $14, and has been extensively covered by newspapers, with many publishing excerpts on significant events throughout the last half-century.