New Delhi: In her newly released autobiography, Belonging: A Journey of Love, former Congress President Sonia Gandhi has shared deeply personal reflections on significant political events, including the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition. A particular excerpt detailing her emotional reaction to the incident has already sparked widespread political discussions, especially with the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections slated for 2027.
Writing about the events of December 6, 1992, Sonia Gandhi revealed that she was moved to tears while watching television footage of the disputed structure being brought down in Ayodhya. She penned that at that very moment, she realised a long and arduous battle would be required to protect the secular fabric of the India envisioned by Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru.
In her book, she openly acknowledges the failures and complacency of the Congress party alongside the rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its Hindutva politics. At the time of the demolition, the Congress party was in power at the Centre, with P.V. Narasimha Rao serving as the Prime Minister. Historically, the Gandhi family has held Rao responsible for the government’s failure to protect the structure.
Political analysts are now weighing the potential impact of these revelations on the upcoming 2027 Uttar Pradesh elections. The Congress party has been largely marginalised in the state since 1989, losing its traditional Muslim vote bank to regional players like the Samajwadi Party (SP) in the aftermath of the Babri incident. Sonia Gandhi’s candid admission in the book is being viewed by some experts as an attempt to regain the trust of minority voters.
However, the political landscape in Ayodhya has shifted significantly in recent times. Despite the grand inauguration of the Ram Temple, the BJP lost the Faizabad (Ayodhya) Lok Sabha seat in the 2024 general elections. This defeat indicated that voters were heavily influenced by local grievances, unemployment, constitutional issues, and social dynamics, rather than just the temple-mosque narrative.
While it remains to be seen if the three-decade-old Babri issue will polarise voters in 2027, the BJP has already launched sharp political attacks over the book’s contents. If the Congress and Samajwadi Party contest the upcoming state elections as an alliance, this historical excerpt is expected to feature prominently in the campaign discourse.