Indira Gandhi and her political journey

By K. Natwar Singh

Do people remember Indira Gandhi well? Yes, they do. Which is the most visited memorial in the country? Well, it is the Indira Gandhi Memorial at 1 Safdarjung Road in New Delhi. Busloads come every day. They come from all parts of the country. They and their children come to pay homage to Indira ma.

I was the vice-chairman of the Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust for over 15 years. The trust organised annual conferences in various parts of the country — Mumbai, Pune, Guwahati, Mount Abu, Srinagar, Thiruvananthapuram and other cities. Invitees were men and women of high distinction, politicians, authors, academicians, artists, scientists and businessmen.

Sonia Gandhi presided over these conferences. These were, to use a tired phrase, big hits. The papers read there were of high quality. These were compiled in a handsome volume.

Today is Indira Gandhi’s 100th birthday. In 1917, end of the First World War was nowhere in sight. Gandhi was well on the way to become Mahatma, Jinnah was an active member of the Congress and the Russian Revolution was a few weeks old. The whole of Africa (except Ethiopia, Liberia and South Africa) and large parts of Asia were under the colonial rule. Lloyd George was the Prime Minister of Great Britain, Woodrow Wilson was the US President and George Clemenceau was the French President.

Life expectancy in India was 25 years. Literacy rate for men was 15 per cent and for women 1 per cent.

Was Indira Gandhi a very great prime minister or only a great prime minister? She would have been the former, but for Emergency and Operation Bluestar. The former dented her reputation, the latter her life. For history’s judgement, we must wait for a few more decades. I guess it will be favourable. 

I shall now come to the ultimate act of immodesty by quoting myself. In the chapter on Indira Gandhi in my book Profiles and Letters, I wrote: “When she was assassinated on October 31, 1984, the spring went out of my life. She inspired in me a lasting affection and a degree of respect, verging on veneration…. I owe her more than I can say. Probably, much more than I know.”

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I first met Robert Mugabe in the early 1980s at a hidden location near Harare. I was then High Commissioner to Zambia. He was the leader of ZANU — Zimbabwe African Nationalist Union. By then it was clear that he would be prime minister of Zimbabwe. This he did in April 1980. Indira Gandhi attended the independence day celebrations of Zimbabwe. I accompanied her. The 89 years of the British rule ended. Ian Smith, the outgoing white prime minister of Southern Rhodesia, had claimed that there would be no black rule in that country for 1000 years. He found himself in the dustbin of history.

Rajiv Gandhi visited Harare in May 1986. My birthday was on May 16. It was celebrated on a flight along with Mrs and Mr Mugabe — as guests of Rajiv Gandhi. Mr and Mrs Mugabe said: “Both of us wish you a Happy Birthday.” Their signatures appeared inside the card, which, somehow has survived. It was quiet an occasion — two heads of government wishing yours truly “all the best” on my 56th birthday.

President Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe for 37 years with an iron fist. He is now 93. His second wife, Grace is 51, a good-looking lady. Apparently Mr Mugabe wished her to succeed him. This wholly undemocratic and arbitrary pronouncement has led to his house arrest by the army. Technically, he is still President but without power. Every one wishes that he goes into graceful retirement. So far the army is treating him with kid gloves. His contemporary Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia lives in Zambian capital Lusaka. He too is 93. The other contemporary Julius Nyerere of Tanzania died more than a decade ago.

President Mugabe’s obduracy proves the adage that the lives of most political leaders end in failure.

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In late December 1988, I was in Islamabad with Rajiv Gandhi and PV Narasimha Rao for the SAARC Summit. At the end of the first day’s deliberations, I ran into a Pakistani journalist, who with a straight face said to me, “Sir, in Pakistan you are considered a hawk.” My reply: “We run a foreign policy not a bird sanctuary.”