 "Congress President Sonia Gandhi paying floral tribute to former prime minister Indira Gandhi on her 99th birth anniversary at AICC in New Delhi.")
President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday walked down the memory lane as he remembered former prime minister Indira Gandhi, who had initiated him into politics.
“I had the privilege of working with her. Her life was the saga of conviction and courage,” Mukherjee said while delivering the Indira Gandhi centennial lecture organised by the Congress party at the All-India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters to mark Gandhi’s 99th birth anniversary.
While Mukherjee described Indira as a “brave, courageous and visionary” leader, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi hailed her as the child of India’s freedom struggle.
To highlight Indira’s personality, the President recalled various anecdotes. He mentioned the 1971 Bangladesh liberation war and the imposition of Emergency in 1975 to highlight the grit and determination of Indira, who “never compromised on principles”.
Mukherjee, who was a minister in Indira Gandhi’s Cabinet when she had imposed Emergency, said the former prime minister never passed the buck on to anybody when she addressed the Congress Working Committee meeting later; she took full responsibility for the decision that led to a period often described as a dark phase for Indian democracy.
“I have been criticised by some columnists, but I don’t want to enter into a debate,” the President said, referring to the volume I of his memoirs – The Dramatic Decade — The Indira Gandhi Years, where he has recalled the Emergency period.
Noting that Gandhi moved almost the whole of the world to support the liberation struggle of Bangladesh, then East Pakistan, Mukherjee said she countered Pakistan and its mentor, the US, by urging the UN Security Council to define aggression. According to him, Indira’s point of view won India the support of the then Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).
“She took tremendous risks, given that Pakistan was being supported by the US and China,” he said.
Recalling how Gandhi bounced back in 1980 after losing the 1977 polls, Mukherjee said her famous ride on an elephant back to Belchi in Bihar, where a few dalits had been killed by the upper castes, was a remarkable gesture.
Described Indira as the child of India’s freedom struggle, Sonia Gandhi remembered living with the former prime minister under the same roof as her daughter-in-law, and how Indira died in her arms.
“Indira Gandhi was not a figure of history for me; she was my mother-in-law. We lived under the same roof, and shared joys and sorrows. It is from her that I learnt about India, its culture, its values. It is from her that I imbibed my earliest political lessons. She was the prime minister of India, but to me she was a mother, a mentor, a friend. It was in my arms that she drew her last breath,” she said.
“When Indira Gandhi spoke, she spoke for all Indians, men and women of all religions, regions, and backgrounds. No language was a barrier. She celebrated our magnificent diversity, battling those forces that fostered division and strife among our people,” she said.
Mukherjee apologised for a broken voice, saying he was suffering from a bad cold, which he had caught during his early morning walks. “I knew I had to deliver the lecture but I could not improve my condition,” he said.
Thanking him, Sonia said few statesmen now alive could claim to have worked as closely with Indira Gandhi as Mukherjee. Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar lauded the President for sharing his “lived experiences”.
Among others who paid rich tributes to the former prime minister at the AICC headquarters on Saturday were Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi, former PM Manmohan Singh, and several other senior leaders.
