Author: Indo-Asian News Service
Publication: Yahoo News
Date: October 23, 2002
URL: http://in.news.yahoo.com/021023/43/1wqvd.html
Former Indian prime minister Indira
Gandhi may still be held in great esteem but she was a woman of many weaknesses
who encouraged corruption and was intolerant to dissent, says a new book
by a former aide.
And the worst traits in her personality
came to the fore under the influence of her politically ambitious younger
son Sanjay Gandhi, particularly during the infamous emergency rule of 1975-77,
says the book by B.N. Tandon, who was joint secretary in the Prime Minister's
Office from 1969 to 1976.
"No doubt she had tremendous energy
to put in long hours of work, but this did not make up for other inadequacies,"
says Tandon in his introduction to the book titled "PMO - Diary I: Prelude
to the Emergency" and published by Konark.
Gandhi ruled the country for 16
years in two spells until she was assassinated on October 31, 1984.
Tandon quotes Indira Gandhi aide
D.P. Dhar as saying Gandhi "was shy, diffident and ill at ease in sitting
through detailed arguments. She was unable to take part in discussions
that involved complex issues.
"Nor did she find it easy to converse
with officials who did not come in her contact often. She would call even
the cabinet secretary for consultations only rarely."
Tandon, who kept a meticulous diary
during his years with Gandhi, said the former prime minister - described
by admirers as an Iron Lady - was proud and arrogant.
"By various acts of omissions and
commissions, she encouraged corruption and protected it," says the author,
who sought voluntary retirement from government service in 1983 and is
now director of the K.K. Birla Foundation.
"Her political belief," Tandon says,
"was that any kind of means are permissible in a fight for power."
Tandon says Indira Gandhi rarely
trusted reports prepared by the Intelligence Bureau and was passionately
opposed to both the Jana Sangh (present day Bharatiya Janata Party) and
the Communist Party of India-Marxist.
The book says Indira Gandhi's contempt
for democratic values plummeted from 1975, by when she was faced with massive
anti-government protests across India, particularly in Gujarat and Bihar.
"From the beginning of 1975, the
situation began to deteriorate rapidly. Long established decision-making
processes were beginning to be set aside.
"The earlier practice was to put
up the files, papers and correspondence for the PM's orders after a thorough
examination.
"Normally Indira Gandhi did not
take very long to give her decisions but now all the papers began to be
entrusted to Sanjay (Gandhi) for his opinion...
"Later, during the emergency (rule),
a situation was reached when even a top level change in the prime minister's
secretariat was made quietly."
Indira Gandhi clamped an internal
emergency in June 1975, jailing thousands of political opponents and suspending
civil liberties. She was voted out in the general election called in March
1977. She stormed back to power in January 1980.
Tandon, however, says that it would
be wrong to blame Indira Gandhi alone for the debasement of democracy in
the government and the Congress party.
"After the Congress split (of 1969)
and the events thereafter, her senior colleagues also ceased to participate
in discussions. I have seen any number of meetings when even during discussion
on important subjects they spoke very little."
Tandon says some of Indira Gandhi's
loyalists later turned against her and curried favours with governments
led by parties that bitterly opposed her. One such man, he said, is today
the governor of a state.
