Indira Gandhi - The Iron Lady of India

Before I write this article, I have a confession to make. When I started writing about Indira Gandhi, I was biased, pre-judiced and bent highly upon disfaming her. But, when I started collecting information about her, right from her birth to death, I am left with mixed feeling.

I am amazed at seeing her fore sight and courage in ordering the army to enter the Golden Temple to restore the law and order in Punjab as well as keeping the soverignty of the Indian Union. At the same time, I am vexed at seeing the sheer audocity of her to downplay the Allahabad high court's order and proclaim emergency in India for the first and only time in Independent India.

It was highly difficult for me to guage this unusual lady. I am always under the impression that a single man/woman is not capable enough to deciede what is right and what is wrong for the whole nation. That is why, I condemn any unilateral decisions made by any great men in history, may it be the Mahatma or his pet or his leutinant or even Bose or whoever it may be. The same applies to me also. How can I, an individual deciede what she did was right or wrong for the whole country in course of time? Anyhow, right or wrong, I have made an attempt at guaging this Iron Lady. However when I finally did it, I have tried to be as neutral, unbiased and fair as possible.

Remember, the suffix Gandhi stuck not for her love for Mahatma, but from her husband Feroz Khan, who changed his name to Feroz Gandhi in the England gazette before marrying her in London.

In her childhood days Indira was a very shy and reserved kid. Very few if not none, would have expected/predicted that oneday it would be that India is Indira and Indira is India.

After Nehru's death, Lal Bahadur took over as the PM and Indira was the Information and broadcasting Minister. After Shastri, no one wanted Gulzarilal Nanda or Morarji Desai. Kamaraj could have become the PM. But, he being a straight forward not so literate man thoguht that it would be better for India if Indira takes over. He became a king maker for the second time and supported her. She was elected. Kamaraj had not reckoned with her innate political sense or that being Prime Minister has its own power. She soon sidelined everyone. People would say the Cabinet has only one man (Indira Gandhi) and that the rest are all eunuchs, but the fact is she reduced them to that level.

She was very smart. I should say street smart. Her greatest moment, the triumph in her life, was the way she handled the Bangladesh crisis, where all her skills came together. She made a complete fool of the Pakistanis.

India faced a huge crisis with a flood of refugees entering the country. She tried to garner international support and went round the world telling them what was happening but got no backing except from the Soviet Union, which any way was with us.

Then, when she realised the crisis had to reach a climax, she proved very astute. For instance, an Indian Airlines plane was hijacked. Today we know that it was the Indians who manoeuvred to get the plane to land in Lahore. Then, in Lahore, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto (then Pakistan's foreign minister) proved stupid enough to have the plane blown up in his presence. This gave India the excuse it needed to stop flights between West Pakistan and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) over India, something that gave India a clear edge as the war drew nearer. Pakistani planes had to fly all the way round India and refuel in Sri Lanka to communicate between the two wings.

Indian Army built the Mukthi Bahini with her support and by the time Yahya khan realised what happenned and declared war, the Indian Army was marching well inside Bangladesh. In less than a fortnight, the Pakistani army surrendered. After the creation of Bangladesh in 1971, Vajpayee, who was the Leader of the Opposition, stood up in Parliament and congratulated Indira Gandhi for her courage and vision and praised her as Durga. That was her reckonning moment in life and thats when the Gods smiled at India. Everything went in our side until the war was won by India. And she deserves every bit of it. The credit goes entirely to her for taking a bold quick decision which gave India her best victory ever. It was by all accounts a master strategy and Indira Gandhi very deservedly got the Bharat Ratna.

But, the problem with her or anybody for that matter for being at the peak of popularity is that, there is no up. You have to come down from the peak. What she did after winning the war is that she missed a golden oppurtunity in winning the war decisively. She gave back the land that we won in war and gave back the all of 90000 POW to pakistan for what? For nothing. The simla agreement stands useless today. Only India respects and stands by it. But, did pakistan ? Not yet. Not yet.

After 71, we had the emergency. But when it came to the Emergency, the Opposition too behaved very recklessly. There was no doubt that the country was fast sliding into chaos. Schools not opening, colleges not opening, huge processions, riots.

Jayaprakash Narayan made a mammoth mistake when he led this huge rally in New Delhi where he told the people to gherao legislators, not allow them to attend office. Worse, he asked the police and the Indian Army personnel to remove the legislators. There are limits to protests in any democracy and this was exceeding the limits altogether.

Allahabad high court judgment came through and she clamped the Emergency. SHE WAS RIGHT AND THERE WAS NO OTHER CHOICE. But, who created the whole mess in the first place ? She herself. She did the same mistake in punjab as well. I believe that when she imposed the Emergency, she had every right then because leaders of the Opposition were behaving in a total reckless, irresponsible and anti-national manner, just enjoying the spectacle. I heard that, when the Emergency was imposed, there was a general sense of relief throughout the country. Schools reopened, colleges reopened, trains ran on time, and there was a sense of gratitude that the country was back to normal. Of course, the freedom of the people had been taken away. The Emergency was made into a monster. She lost the next elections.

Sanjay's death in 1980 she dithered, she couldn't make up her mind, she became nervous. She started grooming Rajiv, who was until then considered to be politically dumb.

And then Operation Bluestar hapenned. This single event which occurred in Punjab almost to the day shook the Republic of India to its very foundations. She did the right thing. That was a very bold decision. It had to happen. Though I believe that sikhs are the most patriotic lot who have given their everything to save our motherland, I think they erred in this.

Though Jarnail Singh Bindranwale is Indira's own creation, she had to remove him for what a Franinstein monster he had become. It was time when but for a few states, Congress was ruling the most of India. Just because Congress's hold loosened in Punjab, she tried to split Akali Dal and created Bindranwale. But He tuned again her in due course.

Sikh extremists seeking to carve an independent country had been slowly but surely taking control of the state over the next couple of years, striking terror in the hearts of politicians, law-enforcers, and the general population. The killings began in 1983 with a murder here, a shootout there. Through the year, however, the frequency of attacks and the toll kept rising and by May 1984 dozens of innocent people were being murdered daily in cold blood, all in the name of 'freedom.'

A massive religious cleansing movement was underway in Punjab, which had become India's granary after the Green Revolution of the mid-to-late 1960s. Law and order had collapsed, and the corrupt and demoralised Punjab police was simply not up to the task of restoring it.

Heading this bloody movement was Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, a preacher turned separatist who ran his terrorist campaign from the confines of the Golden Temple, the holiest shrine of the Sikhs, in Amritsar. Bhindranwale openly defied the Indian State from his sanctuary. But the police dared not enter the temple complex, for fear of outraging the sentiments of the Sikhs, arguably India's most dynamic and popular minority community.

With the situation rapidly getting out of hand, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi took a momentous decision. She ordered the Indian Army to move into Punjab and decisively clear the terrorists who were armed and aided by Pakistan.

To flush the terrorists and their masterminds out of the Golden Temple complex, the army launched what is possibly its most controversial action, Operation Bluestar, under the command of Major General Kuldip Singh Brar.

The decision had to be taken, and she took it. She deserves every credit to take the decision. I miss her for not being with us when the Kashmir armed struggle started in 89. She reckons when there is a national problem. She peaks whenever the nation is facing a disaster. But, at times of peace, she did terrible mistakes.

In her insecurity to be at the helm, she destroyed the institutions of democracy. She packed Parliament with her supporters with loyalty being more important than ability; she superseded judges; she corrupted the civil service. Favouritism became a great sport with her.

She was incapable of tolerating any criticism and she picked up an aversion to some persons because she thought they were challenging her, among them Jayaprakash Narayan, a good, honest man. She couldn't stand him because he was a challenge to her as the leader of the country, especially as people grew disillusioned with her rule. There were problems, droughts, challenges and Jayaprakash Narayan had emerged as a leader. It is a democracy if only there are many leaders to choose from.

During her reign, corruption increased to enormous levels. She was really very tolerant of corruption, which was another negative mark against her. She knew perfectly well that some of her ministers were extremely corrupt, yet she took no steps against them till it suited her.

If she knew someone was corrupt, she tolerated him but if it suited her, she used the same corruption charge to get rid of him. She really had no strong views on corruption, which went sky high during her time. She nationalised the banks, the airlines and manythings along with that.

So, its very difficult to guage her with all these pros and cons. Ms.Jayalalitha is playing the same game today. Infact an even more worse game. She is capable of so much. Yet she is not doing enough to her potential.

After Nehru, Indira had 16-year-long rule. She had an enormous influence. She had enormous potential. Yet she didn't use all of them. Her street smartness came in handy while playing with another street smart, Pakistan. But, when it comes to Magnanimity she became an ordinary Indian and gave the POW and the land back. She should have got back the POK and then should have given the land and POWs. Anyhow, it is history and we surely miss her in teh late 80s for not being effective with the Kashmiri militants. And the worse we had an inept political setup in Delhi during 89-90.

But whatever may be said and done, she has a lot of feathers in her collar. She initiated the first Pokran test. The way she handled the Bangladesh war and the Punjab crisis was simply marvelous. She deserves every bit to get the Bharat Ratna. Four months and three weeks after the Operation Bluestar, Indira Gandhi paid the penultimate price for ordering Operation Bluestar. Her own guards shot her on Oct 31st 1984.

Indira Gandhi is remembered for 1971, 1974 and 1984. We should also remember the kind of things she did which are difficult to undo even today. She legitimised corruption as a way of politics. She undermined the roots of democracy. Sanjay who was just a PM's son went beserk during emergency. She played split politics with anybody and everybody. But for her NTR wouldn't have been so successful. Punjab wouldn't have seen so much blood. At the same time, we need such a lady to handle Kashmir which we missed in the form of a puny Rajiv or chandrasekar. Even in the 1971 war, instead of winning a decisive war, she fumbled with the advantages. She became a soft deity in the form of giving away everythign for nothing. Yes, the decision to return was correct. Instead of being an occupying force in Pakistan, we gave back. That was the roght thing to do. But, for what ? For nothing? That was the only time, we could have got back POK without resentment. But, we missed the golden oppurtunity. They say oppurtunity knocks the door once. That was the moment it knowcked. But we didn't recognise it. What becasue of her/or whoever advised her's short-sightedness.

- Murali