:: P.C. Alexander

A misunderstood loner

By P.C. Alexander

Oct 31 : October 31, 2009, marks the conclusion of 25 years after Indira Gandhi’s assassination at the hands of her own security guards. Only a few among the new generation which has grown up in India after this tragic event would have had the opportunity of seeing her or listening to her. The image of Indira Gandhi in the minds of most of them is that of a strong-willed person, an iron lady unwilling to make any concession to her political rivals and always ready to take risks by doing what she believed to be necessary in the interest of the country.

She has been described as Durga, even by her political adversaries, in admiration for her courage in taking hard decisions. Some others saw this courage as stubbornness or recklessness. The image of her as Prime Minister has generally been that of a hard-hearted dictator who trusted few and wished to concentrate power in herself. However, for those who worked with her closely, this image of her is a mockery, far removed from reality. I would say without any exaggeration, of her personality and style of working, that she was an exceptionally humane person, ever willing to listen to those in whose integrity and experience she had trust.

In order to fully understand her personality and style of working, one has to look into how she grew up and the problems she encountered in the early years of her life.

Though born into a family of great riches and fame, hers was a very lonely life. Perhaps it was this loneliness that made her cultivate a defensive mechanism in her personal and public life.

There were certain unfortunate facets of Indira’s childhood which affected her general outlook. Very early in life she discovered that her aunts did not have very cordial relations with Kamala Nehru, her mother, who was suffering from tuberculosis. Since Kamala Nehru was not as educated as them, Jawaharlal Nehru’s sisters thought her to be unsophisticated and tended to dominate her. This soured Indira’s relations with her aunts. She also sometimes felt that her aunts considered her a competitor for her father’s affections and this strongly influenced her relationship with them. If Indira was seen as a very lonely person, a part of the blame should go to the cold relationship she and her mother shared with her aunts.

Whatever may be the situation in which she grew up, the fact is that Indira Gandhi remained a loner in both her family and the society. This, in her case, made her unwilling to make compromises or adjustments in her life or to accommodate the wishes of others.

The circumstances of her marriage to Feroze Gandhi illustrate this trait clearly. Even her father was not very happy for a variety of reasons with the idea of her marrying Feroze Gandhi. However, once she had made up her mind that she would not marry anyone else, and made this known to everyone who mattered in her life, others had to fall in line with her wishes. Of course, if her marriage with Feroze Gandhi did not prove to be a great success, the fault cannot be attributed only to Indira Gandhi; her husband also must share a good part of the blame.

Indira Gandhi’s insistence, after she became Prime Minister, to have a decisive voice in the selection of the Congress Party’s candidate for the post of the President of India is another example of her readiness to take any manner of risk to meet her objective. While it was a fact that her election as Prime Minister was possible only after the demise of Lal Bahadur Shastri, she was not prepared to be merely one who reigned while members of the syndicate ruled. She had made it clear to everyone in the party that she would be Prime Minister in her own right. She was fully aware of the risks involved in going against the wishes of senior party leaders in their preference for Sanjeeva Reddy as the presidential candidate; but she was not prepared to surrender her right in selecting her party’s candidate. Ultimately Indira Gandhi succeeded in having her nominee, V.V. Giri, elected as the President of India, although the party split on this issue. This was a turning point in her life and she became more convinced than ever that even if she was alone in asserting her rights as Prime Minister, she would do so instead of making any compromises with the principle which she considered most important.

Very soon Indira Gandhi established her credentials as leader of the common people in India and this enabled her to play a very important role as the Congress Party’s powerful vote-getter in the various elections which followed. Of course, the Emergency which was declared in 1975 throughout the country and the excesses that were indulged in by some persons close to her, dented her image very substantially with disastrous results for her party.

The defeat of her party in the northern region of India in 1977 and the loss of political power for the party at the Centre and in most northern states became a good opportunity for introspection. In the general election of 1980 the nation could see a leader in whom it could bestow its trust once again.

A most unfortunate development in her new phase as Prime Minister was the Akali Dal agitation against her. Many people have not fully understood the various conciliatory moves made by Indira Gandhi for enlisting the support of the Akali Dal for her stand against organised terrorism unleashed by certain new leaders of the Sikh community. Indira Gandhi tried her best to reach a reasonable settlement with the Akali Dal on its various demands, but with little success. It was after exhausting all chances of arriving at an amicable solution that the unfortunate confrontation with the terrorist groups took place.

Critics of Indira Gandhi at that time blamed her for not being firm enough in dealing effectively with such groups. Those who are familiar with the facts relating to the negotiations with the Akalis know that she showed great patience and willingness to accommodate the legitimate demands of peace-loving sections of the Sikh community. It is ironic that her good intentions were misunderstood by some sections and she was blamed for alleged lack of will to deal with the agitations, while some others criticised her for trying to suppress the agitation by use of force. One can only hope that history will be more kind to Indira Gandhi when all facts are known to the people.

P.C. Alexander was Principal Secretary to Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi & Rajiv Gandhi