Was Sanjay proving too wild even for Indira Gandhi, asks former PM's principal secretary in book
(You can now subscribe to our
(You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel
As principal secretary to Indira Gandhi in the run up to the Emergency and during her authoritarian regime of 21 months, P N Dhar had a rare insight into the goings-on of the period, and one central character who gets the most unflattering portrayal in his otherwise sober account of the era is the former prime minister 's younger son Sanjay Gandhi In his book 'Indira Gandhi, the Emergency, and Indian Democracy ', Dhar says the PMH (Prime Minister's Home) became a hive of "extra-constitutional" activities as leaders junior in the Congress hierarchy but having the ears of an increasingly distrustful prime minister and another set of functionaries loyal to her son undermined the PMS (Prime Minister's Secretariat).Critical of the power centralised in the PMS, Morarji Desai reduced its strength and rechristened it as Prime Minister's Office, a moniker which has continued, after replacing Indira Gandhi.Sanjay Gandhi and his loyalists like Haryana leader Bansi Lal gained ascendency in the Congress during the era. Even the prime minister was left alarmed by their move to have state assemblies pass resolutions in support of forming a constituent assembly for sweeping changes in the Constitution.Aware of her obsessive love for Sanjay Gandhi, Dhar said in the book published in 2000 that he would normally have attributed all this to temporary annoyance."But it was more than a passing mood this time. I knew how carefully she had kept Sanjay out of all discussions on constitutional reforms. I also knew how much she had resented the passage of the constituent assembly resolutions by the three assemblies without her knowledge, but with Sanjay's approval. Was Sanjay proving too wild even for her?" he wondered.He said the main purpose of the constituent assembly appeared to be continuing the Emergency regime and postponing elections. Bansi Lal told Dhar that it would be to make "behan ji" (Indira Gandhi) president for life.When the Congress suffered a stunning loss in the March 1977 elections after the Emergency was lifted, Delhi turned into a "vast whispering gallery" echoing with stories of Indira Gandhi's alleged crimes and the plans of the Janata Party, which had won a majority, to destroy her and Sanjay Gandhi.She was more worried about Sanjay Gandhi and found herself isolated in her own family."Rajiv had no sympathy for his brother. He came to see me, very concerned about his mother and full of anger against his brother. He said he had been a helpless observer of his brother's doings," Dhar writes.He said the Congress' defeat in the Gujarat assembly elections, which were held after the assembly was dissolved following student protests over a host of issues including corruption, and the Allahabad High Court 's decision to disqualify Indira Gandhi from the Lok Sabha on the same day in June 1975 paved the way for the declaration of Emergency as the Jayaprakash Narayan-led opposition "cast off all restraint" to oust her.He said, "Indira Gandhi withdrew into her lonely self. At the moment of her supreme political crisis, she distrusted everybody except her younger son Sanjay."Sanjay Gandhi disliked his mother's colleagues and aides who had opposed his Maruti car project, or had otherwise not taken him seriously, Dhar said."He knew he would get into serious trouble if his mother were not around to protect him. For all her childhood insecurities, Indira Gandhi had compensated, one should say over-compensated, her sons, particularly Sanjay, with love and care. She was blind to his shortcomings. Her concern for Sanjay's future well-being was not an inconsiderable factor in her fateful decision," Dhar said.Indira Gandhi, he added, accepted the self-serving opinion of her party colleagues that the JP-led opposition's attacks on them were really attacks on her.The Communist Party of India, her ally during the Emergency, had dubbed JP's agitation as a fascist movement supported by the US, a theory she embraced as she decided to suspend democracy, jail opposition leaders and censor the press to continue her rule.In the book written with a distance afforded to bureaucrats, no leading figure associated with the Emergency who comes in contact with Dhar comes out an unblemished hero, not even the venerable JP, whose call for 'Sampoorna Kranti' (total revolution) and mass agitation for removing duly elected Congress governments in states and the Centre are questioned for their defiance of the rule of law and constitutional democracy.However, the leadership of JP, as Jayaprakash Narayan was often called, was instrumental in galvanising popular sentiments against Indira Gandhi as his role in the Quit India Movement had cast him in a heroic mould and his rejection of Jawaharlal Nehru's offer of a Cabinet post gave him high moral stature in a country where renunciation of power is held in high esteem, Dhar noted.Soon after extending the tenure of the fifth Lok Sabha for another year till February 1978 on November 1976, Indira Gandhi was shown by Dhar a report of "extreme coercion" inflicted on a group of school teachers for not fulfilling their sterilisation quota, one of the five-point programmes of Sanjay Gandhi beyond the 20-point programme of her government."She fell silent after reading it. This was the first time she did not dismiss such allegations as false as had become her habit. After a long pause, she asked me in a tired voice how long I thought the Emergency should continue," he said."Odd as it might seem, some Congressmen who believed that their party would lose in the elections also supported the idea of holding them."They were so disgusted with Sanjay and his associates that they did not hesitate to tell his mother the opposite of what they believed would be the outcome of the elections," he added.Dhar wrote that he invited the then chief election commissioner on January 1, 1977, for tea at home and took him into confidence for holding elections.The delighted CEC sent him a bottle of whiskey in the evening. On January 18, 1977, Gandhi announced that the Lok Sabha had been dissolved and fresh elections would be held two months later, leaving the opposition, people and the press stunned.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indian Express
33 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Sanjeev Arora to be inducted into Punjab Cabinet Thursday
Newly elected Ludhiana West MLA Sanjeev Arora will take oath as minister in Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's cabinet on Thursday, it is learnt. Governor Gulab Chand Kataria will administer the oath of office and secrecy to Arora at 1 pm in a brief ceremony at the Raj Bhawan. AAP leader and industrialist, Arora, resigned from the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. He submitted his resignation to Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, who accepted it. Arora, a first-time MP, was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Punjab on April 10, 2022, and his tenure was to end on April 9, 2028. With his induction into the Cabinet, Mann will have 17 ministers, including himself. As per rules, Mann can have 18 ministers, including himself, but he is likely to keep a berth vacant. In the run-up to the by-election, AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal had announced that Arora would be made a minister after his victory. Sources said the party wanted to fill all Cabinet berths, but with the by-election necessitated in Taran Tarn after the death of AAP MLA Kashmir Singh Sohal last week, the party decided to fill only one seat and leave another vacant. 'A Cabinet berth has been kept vacant so that the party can promise the electorates of Tarn Taran that if they elect the AAP candidate, their representative will be inducted into the Cabinet,' a party leader said. Arora was sworn in as the Ludhiana West MLA on last Friday, but his induction is taking place a week later as the Governor was away in Udaipur for a couple of days. Kataria returned to Chandigarh on Wednesday. Arora secured a decisive victory in the recently concluded by-election, defeating Congress's heavyweight Bharat Bhushan Ashu by 10,637 votes, helping the AAP to tighten its grip over the urban Ludhiana West Assembly constituency, where a bypoll was necessitated after the death of AAP MLA Gurpreet Singh Gogi. Arora secured 35,179 votes, increasing AAP's vote share to 39.02%, an upswing of more than 4% over the party's 2022 performance. Before entering politics, Arora was a well-known businessman and philanthropist. He heads Ritesh Industries Ltd, a textile export firm, and Hampton Sky Realty Ltd. He also founded Femella Fashions, a women's apparel brand, and Teneron Ltd, a manufacturing unit supplying non-ferrous alloys to firms like Suzuki. In 2005, he established the Krishna Pran Breast Cancer Charitable Trust in memory of his parents, both of whom succumbed to cancer. The trust has since supported hundreds of patients. Arora also contributed extensively to Covid-19 relief efforts and medical institutions like Dayanand Medical College. Sources said owing to his interest in the field of healthcare, he may be handed the Department of Health, a portfolio held by Dr Balbir Singh.
Time of India
40 minutes ago
- Time of India
No hesitation in wiping out terrorists, wherever they are: Rajnath Sigh
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday asserted that the Narendra Modi government will not hesitate to eliminate terrorists, wherever they are, and that no distinction will be made between masterminds and the regimes which sponsor them. The former BJP president's stern message to Pakistan , without mentioning the neighbouring country by name, came in his address to the party's state executive meeting in Bihar, where assembly elections are due this year. Singh said that under Modi, the country's policy on security has turned a new leaf with steps like surgical strikes and Balakot airstrikes . Referring to the military operation that followed the Pahalgam terror attack, he said, "Operation Sindoor marked the first time when we struck at terror hideouts 100 km beyond our borders. Of course, we hit only those who had hit us, a reason why no civilians nor any military installations were targeted". "Under Modi, our policy has been not to hesitate in eliminating terrorists wherever they are. And we shall do so without making a distinction between masterminds of terror attacks and regimes which sponsor them," said the defence minister. Live Events He added that the country's defence exports have seen a sharp rise, thanks to Modi's thrust on "swadeshikaran" (production at home) and " Aatma Nirbhar Bharat ". "The Modi government works with a long-term road-map, in marked contrast with Congress-led governments of the past, which lacked direction and were driven by vote bank concerns," said the Union minister. Singh also made an oblique reference to the controversy over RSS second in command Dattatreya Hosabale's remark that the words "secular" and "socialist" be dropped from the preamble of the Constitution, as those were inserted during the infamous Emergency. "I would like to ask fake secularists, after the word secular was added to the country's Constitution, why was it not added to the separate Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir? Should the state, where minority Hindus were being oppressed, not have been secular? Jammu and Kashmir became secular only after Article 370 was abrogated," he said. The BJP leader claimed that the party is the only political organisation in the entire world to have raised a voice against atrocities against minorities in neighbouring countries and taken a concrete step, in the form of CAA , upon coming to power. He said, "India has always believed in treating all faiths with respect. Parsis were accepted with open arms. We have one of the world's oldest churches in Kerala. Ours is the only land where all 72 sects of Islam are recognised." In contrast, even Ahmadiya Muslims are facing persecution in Pakistan, and one should not speak about minorities, Singh said. "The situation is horrifying in Bangladesh as well. The treatment meted out to Hindus there is a blot on humanity," said the defence minister.
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Who is Arun Subramanian, the judge overseeing Sean Diddy Combs' trial?
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel Sean "Diddy" Combs was recently acquitted of serious charges including sex trafficking and racketeering but was convicted of a prostitution-related offense. While spared a potential life sentence, Combs still faces up to 10 years in prison. Following the mixed verdict, U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian , who is presiding over the case, is now considering whether to grant Combs who is Judge Arun Subramanian—the man at the center of one of the year's most high-profile trials?Arun Subramanian made history in 2022 when he became the first South Asian judge to be appointed to the Southern District of New York. Nominated by President Joe Biden, Subramanian's background is as impressive as it is in 1979 in Pittsburgh to Indian immigrant parents, Subramanian was raised with strong family values—something he emphasized during his Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. He is known not only for his legal brilliance but also for his humility and sense of his appointment to the bench, Subramanian built a distinguished legal career. He clerked for some of the most respected judges in the country, including:Judge Dennis Jacobs, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second CircuitJudge Gerard E. Lynch, Southern District of New YorkThe late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader GinsburgThese experiences helped shape his legal philosophy and meticulous attention to holds a bachelor's degree in Computer Science and English from Case Western Reserve University, and earned his Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School, where he was named both a James Kent and Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. He also served as Executive Articles Editor for the Columbia Law a civil attorney, Subramanian played a key role in high-impact litigation. According to his former firm, he helped recover over $1 billion for victims of fraud and corporate abuse. His work wasn't limited to financial victories; he also took on meaningful pro bono his serious responsibilities, Judge Subramanian is known for his approachable demeanor. According to TMZ, he brought a calm and relaxed presence during jury selection in the Diddy trial, helping put potential jurors at ease. He's been spotted walking with earphones in, suggesting a man who balances focus with calm.
