3 Review(s)

Indira Gandhi was India’s Prime Minister for 16 years. Her legacy is highly controversial. She caught the imagination of the people with the liberation of Bangladesh and defeating Pakistan in the ensuing war, but what was gained in the Bangladesh War was lost in the Simla Accord with Pakistan. Her most significant achievements were in the field of national security – the first atomic explosion in 1974 and active support to space programme. However, it was not easy to remain at the peak of popularity and the descent was quick and perilous. Indira Gandhi was the anti-thesis of her father. While Nehru nurtured parliamentary democracy, was instrumental in giving the country constitutional rights, norms and proprieties, and was an institution-builder, Indira Gandhi mindlessly destroyed institutions vital for sustenance of democracy, imposed emergency and rewrote even the basic structure of the Constitution, only to consolidate her power base. She had scant regard for rule of law and refused to take any responsibility for her actions. The book brings out the invidious role played by Pranab Kumar Mukherjee, the then Minister of State for Revenue (who later became President of India), in the detention of Maharani Gayatri Devi and raids on certain corporate houses during the emergency. With her massive popular mandate, it was blatant majoritarianism at work. But, significantly, she did not take any action on important issues, namely, appointment of Lokpal, electoral reforms, curse of defections, black money, and separation of religion from politics. It was one-woman rule, with family dynasty firmly entrenched. Her sham garibi hatao (remove poverty) slogan was her password for winning elections. Her strident leftist policies led the country astray. Her split personality is mystifying. While she was a ruthless politician with no regard for scruples, she was a highly sensitive, evolved and caring human being with love for fine arts, music, poetry, paintings, nature, literature and so on. The enigma remains to this day.