00:00But tonight's top story, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi's autobiography, Belonging, A Journey of Love, was finally released and is out
00:10in the bookstores.
00:11The book has made many revelations, many headlines, some of which were known in the past, some of which are
00:17new.
00:17Now, I was lucky enough to get a PDF copy of this book two weeks ago, so managed to read
00:25the book, which is finally out.
00:27So, I can claim to be one of the few news anchors to have actually read the 526-page book.
00:34At the very outset, therefore, I want to tell you what other things I learned, the revelations from the book,
00:40for me at least.
00:41Number one, Sonia Gandhi's father wasn't keen on her to go to India to meet Rajiv Gandhi after they had
00:51first met in Cambridge,
00:52much less to marry an Indian, even if he happened to be the then Prime Minister's son.
00:59Number two, and this is something I learned in the book, Sonia Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi lost their first child
01:07soon after delivery in 1969.
01:10Sonia Gandhi was distraught and insisted that the child would not be thrown into the river, as some were planning
01:18to.
01:18The child was instead buried in the Meheroli farmhouse of Feroz Gandhi instead.
01:25Takeaway number three, Rajiv Gandhi was firmly opposed to the emergency, according to Sonia Gandhi,
01:33unlike Sanjay Gandhi, who fully endorsed it.
01:36And when it was finally lifted in 1977, Rajiv was amongst those who persuaded his mother, Indira Gandhi,
01:45insisting it was the right call she had taken.
01:50Number four, revelation.
01:52Rajiv Gandhi admitted that forcing out the then Foreign Secretary AP Venkateshwaran at a press conference
01:59when he was a Prime Minister was a blunder.
02:02He said this apparently in a personal conversation as per the book to Sonia Gandhi.
02:09Number five, revelation.
02:11Rahul Gandhi had a premonition, according to the book, of his father's death two months before it happened in 1991.
02:19He was leaving for America where he was studying and he warned that he could soon be back
02:24and said that the lax security would be fatal for his father.
02:30Number six, revelation.
02:32Sonia Gandhi experienced dark suicidal moments after Rajiv's assassination in May 1991.
02:41But when her sister tried to persuade her to return to Italy,
02:46Sonia Gandhi said a firm no, saying India was the country of her family.
02:52She belonged to India.
02:53Through all these years, though, very interestingly,
02:57Sonia Gandhi reveals that she has never seen or got down to seeing any pictures of Rajiv Gandhi's dead body.
03:07Revelation, next revelation.
03:09When the Babri Masjid was demolished in 1992,
03:12Sonia Gandhi says she was distraught and became teary-eyed watching the pictures on TV.
03:20Another revelation.
03:21When Sonia Gandhi finally decided to turn to politics in 1998,
03:27after having opposed her husband's entry,
03:30she turned to readings and guidance from the Bhagavad Gita before she decided to take the plunge.
03:37She also admits in the book that there was a fleeting moment in May 2004
03:43when she was almost pressurized into accepting the Prime Minister's job by her fellow congresspersons.
03:51But her children, Rahul and Priyanka, firmly told her not to do it.
03:56And that's when she, in a way, responded, as she claims, to her inner voice.
04:02Another revelation.
04:04Pranam Mukherjee, the former president, in 2010, suggested to Sonia Gandhi that there was a need for a change at
04:12the top.
04:13This was when Manmohan Singh was Prime Minister, remember?
04:16And Sonia Gandhi says it shocked her and it suggested that Pranam Mukherjee was looking for the top job.
04:24Sonia Gandhi also, at a personal note, reveals that she has had two surgeries now for cancer.
04:30One for breast in Turin, the other for pancreatic cancer in Rotterdam.
04:36So that's what the book reveals.
04:39What does the book now not tell us in great detail?
04:42Number one, what went wrong between the Gandhis and the Bachans?
04:48In fact, in the book, Sonia Gandhi says that Teji Bachan, Amitabh Bachan's mother was among those
04:54who really gave her a lot of comfort in her early years in India.
04:59Remember, the families went on holidays together and then something went horribly wrong.
05:03What went wrong? Sonia Gandhi doesn't tell us that.
05:07What really happened behind the scenes during the Bofor saga?
05:11There is certainly no mention of Otavio Quattroki.
05:14Many believe he was the real, one of the major beneficiaries of his proximity to the Gandhi family at the
05:22time.
05:23We also don't know from the book, why did relations between Sonia Gandhi and Narsimha Rao break down?
05:30To the point where, remember, Mr. Rao's body was not even allowed at the Congress headquarters after he passed away.
05:38We also don't know from the book who was the close Congress leader who Sonia Gandhi refers to,
05:44who misled her during the push for power in 1999 when the Vajpayee government fell
05:50and Sonia Gandhi suggests that she had 272 MPs.
05:55We also don't really get to know what went so horribly wrong with UPA2 that eventually led to that government
06:04falling
06:04and Narendra Modi taking over in 2014.
06:07To be honest, therefore, this isn't quite a tell-all biography, but more a personal memoir,
06:15where the personal seems to matter even more at times than the political.
