Sonia Gandhi's memoir 'Belonging: A Journey of Love' released

11 November 2026 · English

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Current affairs of 11 November 2026 (Shanmugam IAS Academy) – explained for UPSC, TNPSC and other competitive exams

News

The memoir of Sonia Gandhi, Chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party and a Rajya Sabha member, 'Belonging: A Journey of Love', was released on 10 November 2026. It is published by HarperCollins India in India and by Alfred A. Knopf in the United States; the Knopf edition runs to 544 pages. According to the publisher, it traces her childhood in post-war Italy, her 1965 meeting with Rajiv Gandhi in Cambridge, her move to India, family losses, her entry into politics and her decision in 2004 to decline the prime ministership. The Indian edition was earlier to be published by Penguin Random House India; after that deal did not go through, HarperCollins India announced on 4 September 2026 that it would publish the Indian edition. Ahead of the release, Sonia Gandhi joined Instagram in October 2026 and shared the book's first look. Knopf announced an initial print run of 100,000 copies (Newslaundry).

Key facts for the exam

Background

• Sonia Gandhi was born in Italy in 1946, married Rajiv Gandhi in 1968 and became an Indian citizen in 1983. Articles 5–11 of the Constitution deal with citizenship; Article 11 gives Parliament the power to regulate citizenship by law. Accordingly, the Citizenship Act, 1955 lays down five modes – birth, descent, registration, naturalisation and incorporation of territory.
• The Indian National Congress held its first session in Bombay (Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College) on 28 December 1885, presided over by W.C. Bonnerjee; A.O. Hume was among its founders. Sonia Gandhi was president from 1998 to 2017 and interim president from 2019 to 2022, the longest tenure in the party's history.
• On 25 June 1975 a National Emergency was proclaimed under Article 352 on the ground of 'internal disturbance'. The 44th Amendment (1978) replaced that phrase with 'armed rebellion'; the grounds now are war, external aggression and armed rebellion, and the Cabinet's written advice is mandatory.
• After Nehru's death in 1964, Congress president K. Kamaraj played a key role in choosing Lal Bahadur Shastri, and in 1966 Indira Gandhi, as Prime Minister, earning the title 'Kingmaker'.

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Sources: Business Standard (11 Nov 2026) – business-standard.com; Penguin Random House (Knopf book page) – penguinrandomhouse.com; Newslaundry (4 Sep 2026) – newslaundry.com; The News Minute – thenewsminute.com; IANS (4 Sep 2026) – ianslive.in; Business Today (22 Oct 2026) – businesstoday.in; Scroll (1885 Congress session) – scroll.in; ThePrint (Kamaraj) – theprint.in; Constitution of India. Compiled by Shanmugam IAS Academy.

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