Emergency a mistake, Indira came to feel the same: Sonia Gandhi

NEW DELHI: Weighing in on the Emergency, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi has called the decision to impose it a mistake and said that she believes that her mother-in-law and then prime minister Indira Gandhi also came to feel the same.

The Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson in her upcoming book "Belonging: A Journey of Love" also writes that keeping Sanjay Gandhi "in check" could have prevented much of the damage that followed the imposition of the Emergency, according to The Guardian.

In an interview with the British daily ahead of the launch of her memoir, Sonia Gandhi said, "I always feel that Mrs (Indira) Gandhi was a democrat at heart."

"I know that many would laugh at this, but I believe she was never comfortable in the course of the emergency. I think it was sitting heavy on her," she added.

Sonia Gandhi, who also holds the distinction of being the longest serving president of the Congress, was quoted by the British daily as saying that it was a mistake for Indira Gandhi to call the Emergency, and that she believes her mother-in-law came to feel the same.

According to Gandhi, the family was split on the decision of Emergency.

Sonia Gandhi's husband Rajiv was against the move, telling his mother to wait for the next election, but her younger son Sanjay pushed for it, arguing at one family dinner that the opposition would destroy his mother and telling her, "They must be stopped", the Guardian reported.

Sonia Gandhi was quoted as saying that it inflamed tensions within the family, too, as Rajiv attempted to confront his mother, but she refused to listen.

"Keeping Sanjay in check could have prevented much of the damage that followed," Gandhi writes in her book, according to The Guardian.

In another interview published in The Hindu on Saturday ahead of the launch of her book, Gandhi has also spoken about the turbulent times of the Emergency.

She 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.

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. 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."

"I think eventually my mother-in-law began to understand the situation through her own wisdom and took actions to remedy it," she said.

"It was only after the Emergency that I came to know the true gravity of what had been happening. Yes, democratic rights had been curtailed and there was a suspension of habeas corpus, but it was done constitutionally," the former Congress chief said.

"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.

Hindsight allows us to put things better in perspective, she said.

Sonia Gandhi pointed out that Indira herself came to recognise what was happening and called for the March 1977 election.

"And you know very well that she herself later publicly expressed regret and apologised for excesses during the Emergency," she said.

Emergency was imposed by Indira Gandhi just before midnight of June 25, 1975. President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed issued the proclamation at Gandhi's behest that was later ratified by the Union Cabinet.

On January 18, 1977, Indira Gandhi called for fresh elections and released all political prisoners.

On March 16, 1977, Indira Gandhi and son Sanjay were defeated in Lok Sabha elections and on March 21 that year, the Emergency officially came to an end.

The BJP has been criticising the Congress over the Emergency, calling it a "murder of democracy".

The Modi government has been observing 'Samvidhan Hatya Diwas' to mark the "dark phase" in Indian democracy.