Weighing in on the Emergency, Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi has said democratic rights had been curtailed but it was done constitutionally, and when she sees from Indira Gandhi’s point of view, the then prime minister was struggling to cope with the rapidly deteriorating prevailing circumstances including widespread organised unrest.
There was a lot of pressure from some of her senior colleagues, and I think there were very few people around her like Rajiv who had a different point of view. “It was only after the Emergency that I came to know the true gravity of what had been happening.
Asked about Sanjay Gandhi’s name becoming synonymous with the Emergency, and whether the excesses of that time could have been avoided had Indira Gandhi listened to her elder son Rajiv and to others, Sonia Gandhi said, “It was not only Sanjay, though in the public mind he is often seen as synonymous with the Emergency. “I think eventually my mother-in-law began to understand the situation through her own wisdom and took actions to remedy it,” she said. Yes, democratic rights had been curtailed and there was a suspension of habeas corpus, but it was done constitutionally,” the former Congress chief said.
In an interview published in The Hindu on Saturday ahead of the launch of her book, ‘Belonging: A Journey of Love’, Gandhi also said that hindsight allows people to put things better in perspective and pointed out that Indira Gandhi herself later publicly expressed regret and apologised for excesses during the Emergency.
President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed issued the proclamation at Gandhi’s behest that was later ratified by the Union Cabinet.
“Yet, when I take myself back to that period and try and see it from Mrs Gandhi’s point of view, I see her struggling to cope with the rapidly deteriorating prevailing circumstances: violent protests, government offices and public transport set on fire, widespread organised unrest and even a call for the bureaucracy and armed forces to disobey orders,” Gandhi said. “And you know very well that she herself later publicly expressed regret and apologised for excesses during the Emergency,” the former Congress chief said. Earlier reporting noted: Sonia Gandhi refused to pin the blame entirely on Sanjay Gandhi for the so-called excesses during the Emergency, telling The Hindu’s N Ram that there was a “lot of pressure” from some of the senior colleagues of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Yes, democratic rights had been curtailed and there was a suspension of habeas corpus, but it was done constitutionally,” she said. Gandhi’s point of view, I see her struggling to cope with the rapidly deteriorating prevailing circumstances: violent protests, government offices and public transport set on fire, widespread organised unrest and even a call for the bureaucracy and armed forces to disobey orders,” she said.
Earlier reporting noted: “It was only after the Emergency that I came to know the true gravity of what had been happening. Earlier reporting noted: “When I take myself back to that period and try and see it from Mrs.
