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“Mama, I last saw you and Papa together more than 35 years ago. Since the day Papa left, I have watched you face everything life threw at you with never-ending courage and dignity,” Rahul Gandhi wrote. The Congress leader said that he and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were perhaps the only ones who could truly understand the difficulties their mother faced in the years following Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination. “Only Priyanka and I really know what you have been through, and how difficult your life after Papa truly was,” he said. Rahul Gandhi also welcomed the publication of Sonia Gandhi’s memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love, saying he was proud that her story would now be read by millions of people who have followed her public life. He noted that opening up about her personal journey could not have been easy for someone as private as his mother.