Do we know the real Indira Gandhi?

Few would doubt her skill at winning elections but did she lack vision in office? Was she a superb politician but a poor stateswoman?

If she had been alive today Indira Gandhi would be 101. No doubt the papers will carry advertisements marking this. I, however, want to raise specific questions. What lay behind her greatest successes and worst failures? And how different was the private Indira to the public Mrs Gandhi?

Let’s start with Indira the politician. Opinion polls suggest she’s considered our most respected but was she a great prime minister or simply a long serving one? 

Most people agree the high point of her prime ministership was the Bangladesh crisis of 1970-71 and the surrender of East Pakistan. She had the