October 31 marks the 40th anniversary of the tragic assassination of Indira Gandhi, India’s most consequential prime minister, by her personal security guards at her official residence in New Delhi. Four decades later her profile and contribution merit recall and objective review, more so when more than 60 percent of Indians are below age 40 and would not have been born at the time of this ghastly killing – and the bloody aftermath.
Operation Blue Star and its aftermath
The context to the assassination was the storming of the Golden Temple in Amritsar by Indian security forces in June 1984 to flush out Sikh separatists who were hiding in the temple and while the operation was successful – the price paid was heavy. Indira Gandhi as PM had issued orders for this operation codenamed Blue Star to be prosecuted and media reports placed the death toll as between a few hundred to almost a thousand civilians being killed.
Four months later, two Sikh security guards took it upon themselves to take revenge against PM Indira Gandhi and she was shot dead almost point-blank. India was devastated and leaderless. In the days that followed, the most vicious and hatred-laden communal violence against Sikhs was launched in Delhi and a few other locations.
To its abiding shame, the state abdicated and in certain instances it colluded with the perpetrators. Some victims were burnt alive and this writer (then a young military officer) was witness to the fear and chaos that gripped the city. The death toll (as per government estimates) in the three days following the assassination, approximately 3,350 Sikhs were massacred and of this 2800 were in the capital city.
Misread by Congress old guard
October 31, 1984 was a blood-stained closure to the life of a remarkable leader who had her fair share of tribulations, triumphs and transgressions. Born in November 1917, Indira Gandhi, the only child and daughter of India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, had a relatively lonely and unhappy childhood and bore the cross of the Indian freedom struggle with fortitude. Her father was in prison for long periods or caught up in the whirlwind of the freedom movement and Indira lost her ill mother in 1936. She was 19 at the time.
Nehru died in May 1964 and was succeeded by Lal Bahadur Shastri, whose demise in September 1965 led to a bitter internal Congress party struggle. The old guard were opposed to Indira Gandhi but she out-witted them and assumed office as the prime minister in January 1966.
Demonstrating rare political acumen, she managed to defeat the ‘Syndicate’ opposed to her (they called her 'goongi gudiya'- dumb doll) and ensured that her candidate VV Giri became the President in 1969. Her other radical decisions include abolishing privy purses and nationalizing banks.
She was the PM till 1977 and came back to office in 1980 till her assassination. Indira Gandhi was sworn in four times and has the unique distinction of being India’s first elected woman PM and skilfully navigating a male dominated socio-political eco-system.
December 1971, the high point
Among her accomplishments as PM, the one that is distinctive and unparalleled in the annals of 20th century history is the creation of Bangladesh in December 1971. India’s most emphatic military victory was achieved in the face of daunting domestic, regional and global hurdles and as PM – Indira Gandhi remained resolute –and the birth of a free nation from the embers of erstwhile East Pakistan can be characterized as her most triumphant moment.
Post World War II, no other nation has been broken into two and in this case Pakistan and its murderous army leadership that had embarked on a pogrom that turned into genocide (estimates vary but almost a million Bengali citizens of East Pakistan were killed ) was compelled by India with Indira Gandhi at the helm to pay this price.
Green Revolution locks in food security
Indira Gandhi’s other major accomplishment was steering India’s Green Revolution which was almost co-terminus with her first 11 years in office. Dependent on food imports (from the US), as PM Indira Gandhi resolved to change this dependency status and was ably supported by her core team comprising C Subramaniam, agriculture minister at that time, and Dr. MS Swaminathan – the professional domain expert. Within a decade (1967–77), India achieved this remarkable feat – of becoming self-sufficient in food production and the ignominy of being dependent on imports soon became history.
Emergency, the low point
But where history will censure Indira Gandhi is the manner in which she became increasingly authoritarian in the political path she traversed and the normative democratic principles she trampled. In the period 1966-77, as PM Indira Gandhi used the provisions of Article 356 as many as 39 times to unseat elected Chief Ministers and thereby weakened the spirit of federalism. Her critics labelled her a dictator and this came true in mid-1975.
The low point for Indira Gandhi, in my view, was the imposition of the Emergency in June 1975. It was a shock for Indians and the world that the principles of freedom and democracy so dear to India’s first PM Nehru were cast aside by his daughter and a dark 21 months followed. The Emergency was lifted in March 1977 and Indira Gandhi went into political wilderness.
Tragic end
To her credit she went back to the people and came back as the prime minister in January 1980, but in this tenure she made a Faustian bargain with the militant Sikh clergy (Bhindranwale) and this ultimately led to her assassination in October 1984.
In retrospect, while assessing the Indira Gandhi profile, the triumphs are no doubt creditable but the indelible Macbeth stain of the Emergency remains. Indira Gandhi also began the dynasty syndrome in Indian politics by favouring her son Sanjay Gandhi and while he died in a tragic air crash (July 1980) – this trend alas, has become the norm in Indian politics.
Unhappy in her personal life, beset with many insecurities yet imbued with extraordinary fortitude and steely resolve in dealing with matters of grave national import, Indira Gandhi had her flaws but her contribution as Prime Minister will remain consequential and distinctive.
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