06 September,2026 09:00 AM IST | Mumbai | Debjani Paul
A panel from Joe Sacco’s The Once And Future Riot. Pic/courtesy LeftWord Books
Nothing has shaken the literary world like news of Sonia Gandhi exiting a book deal with Penguin Random House India (PRHI) over cuts she was reportedly asked to make to her autobiography. The suggested cuts, claims Congress MLA and ex-CM of Rajasthan Ashok Gehlot, were likely in sections about the Prime Minister, the RSS, or China's occupation of Indian territory.
While we may never know the full truth of the matter, these events have raised questions that go far beyond one book. Most alarming are the concerns over censorship.
Gandhi's book, Belonging: A Journey of Love, is not the only book deal Penguin India has backed off of recently. In June, reports surfaced of PRHI pulling the plug on another much anticipated title: The Once and future Riot, award-winning journalist and cartoonist Joe Sacco's graphic novel on the Muzaffarnagar riots.
Sonia Gandhi's memoir has been picked up by HarperCollins India
Sacco's book, like Gandhi's manuscript, already has an international publisher (Metropolitan Books). PRHI was to distribute it in India, but reportedly backed out over an inaccurate map of India, and some alleged censorship requests. "[In the book], I talk about [how] since the BJP has taken power, Hindu hegemony has been firing on all cylinders. And they [PRHI] said this needs to be removed for the Indian edition, as it will be construed as inflammatory and causing religious offense," Sacco says in an Instagram video posted on Thursday.
The graphic novel has now been picked up by independent publisher, LeftWord Books. Managing Editor Sudhanva Deshpande says that he jumped at the chance to possibly work with Sacco.
"Come on, it's Joe Sacco!" he says, "And it's an important subject. To our great delight, he chose to publish with us. If all goes well, we should be in print by the end of this month." The only changes to the book, he says, "are some minor corrections. A map had to be redone, and some details had to be updated."
Joe Sacco's latest is now open for pre-order
As for political pressure over controversial books, he says, "Across the industry, there are many publishers - some small, like us; some pretty large - we've all continued to publish books of various ideological and political persuasions, including many books that are critical of the government. Of late, for instance, many people who've gone to jail [Sudha Bhardwaj, and her Bhima Koregaon case co-accused, Anand Teltumbde] have published their prison memoirs. These are all people who've been critical of the government."
But when the biggest publishers back off from such projects, it "puts a cross on our backs", he says. "It does nothing but draw attention to something nobody even objected to in the first place."
In their most recent statement, Penguin has said there was no external pressure on the Sonia book. "So no one forced them; they're admitting it's self-censorship. This is worse than the Emergency, when the press crawled when asked to bend. Here, no one is even asking Penguin to bend, and yet they are crawling," says Deshpande.
Sonia Gandhi's memoir will be out in November
Readers may remember the uproar in 2014 when Penguin India withdrew and pulped all copies of Wendy Doniger's The Hindus: An Alternative History following a lawsuit by a right-wing group alleging insult to religious sentiments. A year later, Doniger's book was published again - with zero cuts - by another independent player, Speaking Tiger. "When you publish a book, you have to stand by it," the publisher posted on Instagram last week, while announcing a new edition of the book.
There were similar shocking allegations of censorship by PRHI's legal team when it came to Telugu poet and Bhima Koregaon accused Varavara Rao's translated poetry collection in 2022-23, reportedly removing certain poems, as well as words such as "Hindutva" and "saffronisation".
Juggernaut Books has published imprisoned activist Umar Khalid's debut book, Fractured Communities
"This kind of thing has been happening in the publishing industry more often in the last few years," shares Kanishka Gupta, founder of the literary agency Writer's Side, "Now fiction, too, undergoes legal reads. A friend was asked to change the name of a political party to a fictitious one in her novel. Anything to do with Kashmir, and with ex-bureaucrats and intelligence officers, is also scrutinised. But it's not just publishers being overly cautious; there is genuine fear of strict action by the government."
Is there a middle ground, then? How do you make changes in a way that the author is protected from potential legal action, but at the same time, the message they're trying to convey is not diluted?
"One has to make a distinction between censorship and valid legal vetting," says Gupta, "If a publisher's comments make sense, I'm inclined to tell my author to make those changes. For instance, I'm working with a public figure on their autobiography, and their book has run into a legal obstacle over one chapter. And I am in agreement with the publisher in this instance. Why would you want your book to be injuncted even before it's in bookstores?"
On the other hand, he mentions another of his authors who cancelled their contract with a publishing house and decided to go with another firm due to disagreements over changes.
A worrying pattern he's observed in recent years is that a few publishing houses hire external legal representatives for legal readings. "In-house lawyers do this day in and day out, but external lawyers may not have the experience and sensibility to understand nuance, and they tend to be over-cautious. In such cases, it's important for the commissioning editor to talk to the lawyers and back the author. That's why it's crucial for controversial or politically sensitive books to have an editor who has experience working on such titles."
"Frankly, I feel that there should not have been this much caution exercised for Sonia Gandhi's book. Who's going to do anything to her?" he adds. On Friday, another giant, HarperCollins India, confirmed: "HarperCollins India will publish Belonging: A Journey of Love by Sonia Gandhi. The long-awaited memoir will be published in India on 10 November 2026."
Chiki Sarkar
Meanwhile, Penguin India has come under harsh criticism, including memes on its logo - one of them has rechristened the publisher's famous mascot as another fowl altogether: a chicken.
Just like alternative news platforms have come to the rescue of citizens amid âThe Great Disillusionment' with legacy news media, many authors and readers are now turning to indie publishers to take bigger swings with subaltern and dissenting voices.
Chiki Sarkar has seen both sides of the industry, first as the founding editor in chief of Random House India, then publisher of Penguin India, before stepping away to build indie publishing house, Juggernaut Books.
"Most Indian publishers tend to publish a wide spectrum of politics. They might publish poetry by a BJP minister this month, and then publish someone critical of the government next," she says.
A quick glance at the 2026 catalogues shows Sarkar's assessment holds true for PRHI as well; their releases this year have maintained a balance between Left and Right. If anything, they might be slightly more weighted to the Left.
So how does a publishing giant go from releasing two books on love jihad back to back (Love Jihad by Sameena Dalwai, Under a Saffron Sky by Ismat Ara), to then demanding alterations to two high-profile voices like Gandhi and Sacco within weeks?
"Some bigger publishers might simply be more conservative about high-profile or politically sensitive books," Sarkar offers, adding, "The rest of publishing is neither brave nor cowardly. I would not characterise myself as either one. The only reason that it's easier on an independent company is that we don't have to worry about getting through layers of bureaucracy for clearance."
In June, Juggernaut took a gamble of its own, and published Fractured Communities by the country's most prominent political prisoner, activist Umar Khalid. "This man is an icon. I published it because I knew there are thousands of people like me who feel angry about his imprisonment. It's my biggest hit of the year, and is expected to sell 50,000 copies by the end of the year."
Despite Sarkar's nonchalance, just reading a book - let alone publishing it - can invite violence these days. A fortnight ago in Ahmedabad, students reading I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai and The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank were beaten up by right-wing groups, who called the memoirs "anti-national".
This intolerance is exactly why publishers have a moral responsibility to stand up for different voices, or bibliodiversity, says Deshpande. "Sure, it's a business. But what does it produce? Ideas. How can you not be mindful of the impact on society? And the bigger the firm, the more privilege and legal muscle you have, the bigger your responsibility is."
Penguin Random House India refused to comment on queries from Sunday mid-day, but forwarded their most recent statement on the book: "Since the content of the book is confidential and under embargo, there was no external pressure whatsoever⦠Unfortunately, and ultimately, an understanding could not be reached on a particular issue... Since we are bound by an agreement, and author confidentiality is paramount to us, we will not divulge details of what led to the impasseâ¦"
