Sonia Gandhi Memoir Belonging: Breast Cancer Battle and Secret Surgeries in Milan and Rotterdam Revealed

Sonia Gandhi has revealed for the first time that she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2010 and underwent surgery abroad in secret, and that a second operation followed a year later after doctors found a growth in her pancreas. The disclosure comes in her memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love, published by HarperCollins India and released in bookstores across India on Tuesday, November 10, 2026. The Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson, who turns 80 next month, had never spoken publicly about her medical conditions before the book.

Sonia Gandhi Memoir: The Breast Cancer Diagnosis in 2010

In the memoir, Gandhi writes that in 2010 she was advised to undergo an operation for suspected breast cancer. She says she had full confidence in the doctors at Delhi's Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, but decided to seek treatment abroad because of the media frenzy her illness would have created in India. She travelled to Milan, Italy, where the surgery was performed by renowned breast cancer specialist Dr Umberto Veronesi.

Describing the moment she arrived at the hospital with her daughter Priyanka Gandhi, she writes, "I felt my spirits sink at first as I walked into the dark and gloomy hospital reception as did Priyanka." In another passage she writes, "I felt shaken and worried, there was no time to lose, my children and I were told, and my mind began to race." According to reports on the memoir, the Milan surgery removed two tumours, including one that was not suspicious, and included intra-operative radiation to spare her five weeks of radiotherapy.

A Second Cancer Scare: The Pancreatic Growth in 2011

Just one year later, during routine follow-up tests in 2011, doctors detected a growth in her pancreas. Gandhi writes that she then underwent a second surgery, this time at the Erasmus University Medical Centre in Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, where pancreatic surgeon Dr Casper van Eijck treated her. A surgery in 2011 had been reported at the time, but the ailment behind it was never disclosed.

Before the diagnosis, Gandhi writes, her health troubles had been limited to occasional bouts of asthma, allergies and stomach problems, and she had no major health concerns. The two cancer diagnoses, and the surgeries that followed, were kept entirely private until the memoir.

Belonging: A Journey of Love — What the Memoir Covers

The memoir traces the arc of Gandhi's life, from her childhood in post-war Italy and her marriage into the Nehru-Gandhi family to the assassination of her husband Rajiv Gandhi and her own entry into politics. Gandhi has said the book is a personal account rather than a political one, describing it as her account of the place she came to call home.

Alongside the health revelations, the book covers family tragedies, political disagreements and personal struggles, as well as her observations of India's changing political landscape. The cancer chapters have drawn the most attention since the book reached stores, because they answer a question that had followed Gandhi for years: why she travelled abroad for treatment in 2010 and 2011, and what she had been treated for.

• Memoir: Belonging: A Journey of Love, published by HarperCollins India, released November 10, 2026.
• 2010: diagnosed with breast cancer; surgery in Milan under Dr Umberto Veronesi.
• 2011: a growth detected in the pancreas during follow-up tests; second surgery in Rotterdam under Dr Casper van Eijck.
• Gandhi had never spoken publicly about either diagnosis before the memoir.
• The book traces her life from post-war Italy to the Nehru-Gandhi family and her entry into politics.

Why Sonia Gandhi's Cancer Revelation Matters

Gandhi is one of India's most prominent political figures, a former Congress president and the chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party, and her health has been a subject of public speculation for more than a decade. By writing about the two diagnoses herself, she has put the full account on record for the first time, including the fear she felt at the time and the reasons she chose to keep the treatment private.

The revelation has also made the memoir the most talked-about book in India on its first day. Belonging: A Journey of Love went on sale on November 10, and the cancer disclosure, reported by The Indian Express, Deccan Herald, The Economic Times and other major outlets within hours of release, has become the defining story of the book's launch.

Belonging: A Journey of Love is now on sale across India. With the memoir's biggest revelation now public, the book's first day has already made its mark: a deeply personal account of illness, fear and recovery from one of India's most private public figures.