Great damage done to India's fabric under Modi government, people now recognising it: Sonia Gandhi

New Delhi: Congress leader Sonia Gandhi has alleged that "great damage" has been done over the last 12 years to the fabric of India, its democracy and its institutions, asserting that people are now beginning to be restless and recognising the damage.

In an interview with The Hindu ahead of the launch of her book "Belonging: A Journey of Love", Gandhi said she is optimistic and knows that the people of India will welcome a return to proper governance.

The Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson asserted that her party never made any compromises with the BJP and the RSS and "we never will".


"Over the last twelve years great damage has been done to the fabric of our country, our democracy and our institutions. Even after this government goes, it will take time to restore our systems back to health and great effort from political parties," she said.

People are now beginning to be restless and recognising the damage, the former Congress chief said.

Asked about the decline of the Congress and her assessment of its present condition and prospects, Gandhi said, "I am not so pessimistic. Consider that the Congress party and other opposition parties have not had a level playing field since this government came to power.

"Take into account the complete stranglehold they have on all institutions, especially the Election Commission, their control of mainstream media, their money power and their exploitation of religion."

"Yet, our party is fighting and making progress; in fact, it is the only party that has had the resilience to withstand this onslaught," Gandhi said.

She alleged that Congress workers and leaders "have faced persecution of all kinds".

"And yet, in every village and every district, Congressmen and women are still fighting for the values enshrined in our Constitution," she said.

"What is more, it has been amply proved in recent months that many elections have been stolen, and people are now more aware of it," she alleged.

The Congress is working with like-minded parties, and its prospects are improving day by day," she said.

Tagging a link to her interview, son Rahul Gandhi said on X, "Sixty years in public life, and still the same person. Proud of you, Ma."

Daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also shared the link to the interview and said, "From personal memories and formative influences to defining political decisions and the state of Indian democracy, CPP Chairperson Smt. @SoniaGandhi ji answers a range of questions from N. Ram of The Hindu ahead of her book launch, Belonging: A Journey of Love."

Published by HarperCollins India, "Belonging: A Journey of Love" is a personal memoir with politics providing the background or "a kind of framework", as Gandhi puts it in the book.

On Prime Minister Narendra Modi and what lessons the Congress should draw from his rise, Gandhi said, "It's true that he comes from a very different ideological world. But there are many ways that people succeed in politics within the Congress party, take for example Dr. Manmohan Singh and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge. I don't think we have much to learn from the RSS."

On whether she wonders how UPA policies and Congress strategy might have differed had she accepted to become prime minister in 2004, Gandhi said, "No, not at all. That has never crossed my mind. Our experience was by and large a very positive one. We worked as a team, and our roles were distinct, with him (Singh) leading the government and I leading the party."

Gandhi stressed that the values that she learnt growing up survive.

"I have tried my best to be true to them: loyalty to family and friends, sincerity and feeling for others, the idea of being dutiful and responsible. I think I can say that in these I am the same person Rajiv met sixty years ago. But I used to smile and laugh a lot more then," Gandhi said.

She recalled that when she arrived in India as a young bride, she knew nothing about the country.

"All that I am and know today, I learnt from them (Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi). Their courage, their empathy, their commitment to a secular and democratic India and most of all, the pull of duty that was greater than any other for both of them was something that inspired me and held me steadfast during times of difficulty and doubt," she said.

Talking of political compromises, Gandhi said realistically in politics compromises are at times unavoidable.

"Sometimes we were faced with difficult political choices, when we were obliged to join hands with some who did not share our political ideology.

It never sat easy in my mind. But one thing I am perfectly clear: we never made any compromises with the BJP and the RSS and we never will," she said.

Asked about colleagues such PA Sangma, Sharad Pawar and Tariq Anwar bringing up the issue of her foreign origin, Gandhi said, "Of course, I felt hurt. These were my colleagues and they'd had my trust, but then it turned out that I didn't have theirs. It came as a shock that they still saw me as an outsider. Looking back, I can see they may have had their own reasons. But this was early in my political life, and the idea of prime ministership couldn't have been further from my mind."

"Yes, I did resign, but then after some soul-searching I realised that I could not let my personal feelings divert me from my larger purpose. I had to continue," she said.

Admitting that there have been some within the party who felt that the Congress should not be so black and white on the issue of secularism, Gandhi said that is not the party view.

"In our policies and actions, I believe we have been steadfast in standing with the constitutional right of our people to worship and practise their religion and belief without fear," she asserted.

Gandhi said a long time ago Rajiv and her realised that there was no point in trying to keep up with all that had been written about us, but there came a time when she felt that she should tell her own story.

On how much time she took to write the book, Gandhi said, "It's been such a long time that I've lost track, but it has certainly been more than a decade since I first wrote a bit. I only started writing in earnest about five years ago. It wasn't an uninterrupted process. There were times when words and thoughts flowed, others when nothing would come out, and would throw my hands up in frustration."

On her life story turning out to be stranger than fiction, Gandhi said that is one reason she had no desire to talk about it for so long.

"But it is not only a love story between the two of us, it's also the story of how I grew to love Rajiv's family and the country to which they belonged, and then I too came to belong in it. And of how this love brought me into public life, when I saw the purpose of all the sacrifices they had made being threatened, and the party was weakening. I felt I had to do something," she said.

HarperCollins India is publishing the 544-page memoir in India on November 10, ending the uncertainty over the book's domestic publication following an "impasse" between the author's representatives and Penguin Random House India.