Before Sonia Gandhi’s Belonging, 5 memoirs in the recent past that sparked a political row in India

MEMOIRS OF NOTABLE PERSONALITIES often generate considerable buzz, and have done so across generations, examples of which are plenty across the globe. The revelations, personal anecdotes, and informal interactions put forth in these memoirs not only capture the imaginations of the present, but also effectively reinvent the descriptions of the past.

Likewise, Sonia Gandhi’s memoir, “Belonging: A Journey of Love,” have sparked a major stir across political circles in India, with the accounts of personal relationships, political events such as that of the emergency, 1984 Anti-Sikh riots and the right-wing’s ascendency, and the idea of belonging to a country as an outsider forming the major themes of discussion, debate and deliberation, ever since the book hit the markets in India. 

In this light, let us look at a few other memoirs that struck a similar chord, and sparked a major buzz, traversing the domains of politics, society, and culture in India. 

Former Army Chief General M.M. Naravane’s memoir “Four Stars of Destiny,” which is yet to be published, has sparked a major political controversy in the country, following Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s remarks in the Parliament which reportedly cited some parts of the unpublished memoir. 

The book has not been published, as it remained under the scrutiny of the Defence Ministry. Naravane’s memoir reportedly details India's political and military leadership’s key decisions across events of national importance, particularly the border crises, and the movement of Chinese Troops in eastern Ladakh and the Galwan Valley clash in June 2020. 

One of the most circulated parts of the yet to be published memoir was the interaction between Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and General Naravane during the border clashes with China. “Jo uchit samjho, woh karo" (do whatever you deem appropriate), was the phrase from their interaction that caught major attention, as criticisms of poor accountability from the political executive came to the fore.   

Subsequently, the controversy went beyond the four-walls of the parliament, after Penguin Random House, India, — the book’s publisher — clarified that the memoir had not been officially released for print or digital formats on account of pending clearances.  

The second memoir would be former President Pranab Mukherjee’s “The Presidential Years” published on January 5, 2021 by Rupa Publications. Detailing his political engagement over the years, Pranab Mukherjee spilled the tea on how, according to him, the congress leadership lost political focus after his elevation as the President of India, explicitly mentioning Sonia Gandhi’s inability to control the affairs of the party. 

The controversy took a firm shape in 2021, out of the revelations made by former Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, at a book launch event of the memoir’s first instalment in 2017. 

Speaking at the event, Singh stated that Mukherjee was “upset” when the former was chosen as the Prime Minister in place of the widely speculated candidature of Pranab Mukherjee.

Additionally, the book also revealed a “diplomatic issue” that took place in 2015, when the then United States’ President Barack Obama had come to visit India. The US Secret Service and higher authorities expressed their intent to have Obama and Mukherjee travel in a specially armoured car brought along from the United States. Mukherjee, however, stuck to the provision of travelling by the car designated for India’s head of State. 

Another book that has made the headlines this year would undoubtedly be former Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul’s memoir, “Without Fear or Favour.” The book was published in November 2026, by Juggernaut Publications, and has been the centre-piece of discussions surrounding the role of judiciary and legal institutions of the country.

Of them, Kaul’s anecdotes about former Chief Justice of India (CJI), DY Chandrachud that has stirred a major row across the country. The timing of the book is such that, the discourse on the role of India's institutions such as the Election Commission, or the Supreme Court of India, has been boosted further.

Mr Kaul provided some insights into his relationship with the former CJI DY Chandrachud, which traveled back to the economics classes in St Stephens, to the corridors of Delhi University’ law faculty and finally in the courtrooms of the apex court in the country. 

The controversial parts, however, arrive during their professional engagement in the field of law. Mr Kaul explicitly mentions his exchanges with Chandrachud over judicial appointments, the collegium system and the PMLA case. He felt that Chandrachud was “too deferential” to the government’s opinion regarding judicial appointments, which Mr Kaul felt was constraining the Collegium’s role in judicial appointments. 

Kaul mentioned that Chandrachud had once asked him to take a “middle path” while deliberations on the PMLA (money laundering) case were in session. 

On the cases of appointment, Kaul said that the Ex-CJI (Chandrachud) was engaged in discussing the proposed names for judicial appointments with the Government prior to the Supreme Court’s Collegium officially deliberating and taking a decision. This practice, Kaul felt, was equivalent to taking the government’s “pre-approval.” ‘

There was another instance, Sanjay Kaul notes, when a case regarding delays in judicial appointments was withdrawn from his bench. Justice Kaul was trying to push the Union Government to act on the pending collegium recommendations, but the case was suddenly re-allocated. Justice Kaul was informed by the Registrar of the Supreme court that this matter was assigned to him two years ago without a formal permission from the CJI. Thereby, prompting them to withdraw the matter.

Romila Thapar, one of the most eminent marxist historian around the world published her memoir “Just Being: A Memoir”  on May 6, 2026, and has set in debates on the production of knowledge, history and the overarching influence of the right-wing Hindutva force in India. The memoir reflects on her career pathways, her travels and her experience as an individual amid the political developments in the country.

Although highly criticized by the right-wing dispensations, her work has played a primary role in crafting our ideas of India’s past as well as its present.

Taking a sharp aim at the hindu right-wing, Thapar notes in her memoir that it is particularly “sad to see symbols of post-independence India being reduced to rubble. Alongside the critique of the historiography of the right-wing political organizations, she also stated her experience of being abruptly removed from her role at the Prasar Bharati Board.

In 1997, she alongside Rajendra Yadav was appointed, but was abruptly retired from the board on November 22, 1999, by the then Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government. During this period, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had come into power, with Arun Jaitley as the Information and Broadcasting Minister. 

Carrying these instances of how political dispensations, particularly the BJP, curbed her professional pursuits, Thapar’s memoir had brought forth the realities of ideological contestations, and how they manifested in her life. 

JS Deepak’s memoir, “I Dared to Dial Differently: An Insider’s Account of the IAS” certainly makes it to the list, as one of the most nuanced anecdotes of India’s politics and bureaucracy. 

Deepak notes his journey as an officer in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), who was sacked in late 2007 as the director of Uttar Pradesh’s Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. In his memoir, Deepak claims how his advances into the reformation of the school system was met with an opposition by certain influential ministers and politicians in the then Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav’s cabinet. 

He had filed FIRs against more than 200 schools who were cheating on the central subsidies. This list of schools included ones owned by the influential politicians of the Uttar Pradesh Cabinet, and hence, was asked to withdraw the FIRs. Deepal, however, stood his ground and refused to withdraw the complaints. 

However, his eventful career did not stop at the school education, as he joined as the joint secretary in April 2008, where he would deal with the aftermath of the 2G scam in the Telecom Department, which incurred a loss of nearly Rs 2 lakh crore — as opposed to the Rs 1.76 lakh crore data given by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).

^[OG/AR/RS]

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