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The country's only woman prime minister, who died on October 31, 1984, equally regretted her another controversial decision -- imposition of Emergency -- that had shaken the country, say her close aides.
"Gandhi regretted both the decisions on Operation Blue Star and Emergency. The shape that the two incidents took later was not exactly the same for what Gandhi had taken these decisions," said R K Dhawan, her personal secretary and close aide.
Dhawan said that the first six months of Emergency went "very good" but after then things went out of control and then she "off course regretted" the step.
"In 1973-74, the Opposition parties had created so much of ruckus...they had created all sorts of problems for Gandhi. Then it was thought of that some corrective measure had to be taken," he said.
According to Dhawan, the decision to impose Emergency was taken way back in January 1975 much before it was actually imposed on June 25, 1975 but it was delayed as it was not decided by then what should be the exact mode of action. The decision was later taken after consultation with legal experts, he said.
Gandhi fell victim to her own Sikh bodyguards -- Satwant Singh, Beant Singh and Kehar Singh -- who pumped 31 bullets into the 66-year-old charismatic leader.
While Beant was killed by security men, Kehar and Satwant were later hanged. M L Fotedar, another close aide of Gandhi, termed Emergency as a measure taken in compulsion saying, "her opponents created such a situation in the country that she had to impose Emergency".
Regarding Operation Blue Star, Dhawan said she was told that no damage would be done to the structure of Golden Temple and there will be no loss of human lives before she had given the nod for the operation.
"She (Gandhi) was told that it (Operation Blue Star) will be a simple operation. No damage will be done to the structure and there would be no loss of human lives. She was also told that terrorists would be flushed out of the temple in no time," he said.
Dhawan admitted that the decision to conduct Operation Blue Star was undoubtedly unfortunate, which was regretted by Gandhi also.
"Though Gandhi was not informed that tanks would be used during the operation, it is true that once the army operation started, it was difficult to stop it," Dhawan said.
According to Fotedar, "Operation Blue Star was her compulsion. There was no alternative left to stop terrorist and other disruptive activities".
On the criticism faced by Gandhi after the operation and the anger of the Sikh community, he said, "Gandhi did not want to hurt any community or religion. This was the only option left to her to protect the country from outside forces".
Senior journalist Kuldeep Nayyar feels the entire exercise was a big mistake. "The answer to terrorist activities cannot be given like this," he said.
Gandhi's close aides also remember her for her simplicity and her commitment to the cause of the poor, which led to the Congress slogan of "Garibi Hatao" during the 1971 Lok Sabha elections.
"Simplicity was the name of Indiraji...the way she dressed, her food habits everything was so simple," recalls Fotedar.
"No political leader worked the way Indiraji did for the masses," he said.
Dhawan appreciated Gandhi for her habit of taking firm decisions saying, "she took her decisions herself and used to stick to it. Though she faced innumerable problems in her personal life, she always thought of the masses."
Nayyar, however, has a different view. "Politics came into everything after Gandhi's reign. While taking the wrong decision of Emergency, she also put a ban on the press and insulted Parliament," he claimed.
Dhawan, contended that there is no leader worth her stature in the country today. Fotedar also echoes similar views and refers to her rise in the party from a member of Congress Working Committee in 1955 to party president in 1959 as an example of her popularity.
"She used to take quick decisions after deliberations with her others," he said.
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Gandhi family has no religion so how they know for respect for religions.it is bad luck to india these families are ruling in india means gandhi families.mahatma gandhi is GADHAR of indian community.i mean that nehru, gandhi,are these men are cruel persons in indaia. they are ruled in india about half centuary but no progress in my country.In my view all old political leaders of all parties, who are aove 60years old should have tour in a sea .when they ar reached in centre of sea they atr shooted by one misile .the after that india is a progressing country in world .All laeaders ar no. one currupt in world. but i can say that manmohan singh is good leader.in end ican say that sonia gandhi ,rahul gandhi should be hanged in open chownk.because they are belonging to gandhi family .
Dear GURPREEET, If you are not mature then you should not come into light with such a funny statements. First of all make proper homework and then enter into the field. Have you any back hand political force that can charge the vacancy of those which you are going to shoot??? Manmohan Singh even does not able to drink a cup of water then on which basis you are going to say him as good.. If one is not able to take bold dicisions then he/she should not come on to such a highest position. At least Indira has a bold attitude through which she became the powerful and she would not be required to ask any body. ..And of you have something to show then please come into the ground to replace them as only writing does not happen to any body but it will the others does.
if you being a prime minister you can take bold decision it is very obviouse but can anyone give me a very valid reason why golden temple was attacked if because of bhinderwala ...... pls go back to the statements of rajiv gandhi in 1982 wherein he said bhinderwala is a true saint ...... which means as per his own son he was a true saint who made him terrorist my friend it was politics and all are corrupt over here kindly chk your data first if you want any clarifications i have an in depth story of india since 1947 i know what politics mean you are just a small child for all these big things ..... time will come you will also realize thanks
mere coincidence that she was killed by her own bodyguards or an insidejob? Now the chamchas are saying it was what she regretted. Who will heal the wounds of sikh? It wasnt just the temple, have all of us forgotten the attrocities done to sikhs after her assasination. and again our great pm, her son saying when asked about the attrocities that "Earth shakes when big tree falls" and fellow country men clapping. phir bhi mera desh mahan. Come out of this congress double game go for better party and you know who it is. call them communal or whatever atleast they are not hypocrate.
Though this news comes too late but I am sure its made-up story by those who woo Congress and are treacherous elements working against BJP/NDA like political parties.Lately we have seen even most serious(?) media bulletins/news-papers etc are also fully engaged to lift and support the cause of Congress and the clan that took over to lead the country,namely NehruGandhi(duplicate Gandhis).This and most of the news are cheap publicity stunts which do have impact on the minds of ignorants and illitrates which are majority in India even today.Indra Gandhi never regretted for anything whatsoever.She was stone hearted and had not known human piety or value sentiments.Thereis enough material in nets which can be read without bias.Operation blue star was purposeful intrigue,well calculated consequences,through which she could create more differences among communities which paved her way to dominant and rule easiy.The legacy of divisive politics is prevalent in Congress.
Whether Indira Gandhi has regretted or not, she has taken both decision(Imposing Emergency and Blue star Operation) in the larger interest of the country as a whole. In 1975 the Opposition parties created lot of political havoc that was totally against the country's interest. At that time he thought that unless there is a descipline among the political parties and the people as a whole, she can't implement her popular programmes iffectively.No country leader can tolerate an armed struggle against government from Golden Temple and being a responsible person the country, she has given the green signal to flush out the armed militants from the Golden Temple.Her courageous leadership and prompt appropriate decision making has always been an inspiration for the futher generation. India needs such kind of leaders to lead the country on the right path. Her memories will always be remained in the heart and minds of millions people.
Most of Congress leaders have done only one thing for us: Degrade further. It is the very foundation on which the party was formed to be blamed. Glorify the lachar and chamchas. This has bred corruption, adjustments, slums, propagation of half cooked ideas, slackness in all we do, sidelining of town-planning. Just name anything bad, it is there. IG could have done better than every one else. She was almost as powerful as Deng Xiao Peng. But alas, her father was too much of her guide than general common sense. And down the drain went all the victory of 1971 war along with so many other things. And again, we had to start from square A. This has always been with all other Congi leaders. As some one said before to some others' objections, LBS was the most lackluster PM we ever had. All of Congress is determined to bring us a bad name, without apparently meaning to, it is their genes. And our fate. Because we vote them to power again and again like fools,
Mr. Pradhan is consistent with his beliefs. When he hates Congress, he hates them all. The other Congress haters really pick Nehru/Gandhi family and pit them against Shastry and Patel. Truthfully, neither is any better than other Congress leaders. Despite much talk about Shastry's military skills, in 1965, we barely managed to maintain status quo with Pakistan. Contrary to popular belief, without Nehru and Sheik Abdulla, Kashmir would be long gone! Sukumar is correct that we squandered the opportunity to reform the country as Deng Xiao Peng did. But Sukumar should also know the tide was against Indira Gandhi in 1975. People remember little about the success of Green Revolution. The new Wheat engineered by a US scientist single handedly saved millions from starvation. But Indira became very weak after 1977 defeat. I saw her very close in 1978. She reminded me of what I read about Nehru after 1962 war!
Indira Gandhi was a great Indian nationalist. She was also a great politician. She broke Pakistan while the two backers of Pakistan, the U.S.A. and China watched helplessly as their beloved Pakistan fragmented! She also made India into a nuclear weapons state. This was further pushed (quite rightfully) by Atalji The emergency was necessary as some Indian politicians (under the influence of their foreign backers) were trying to disrupt the system. A true democrat she was and when she lost the election after the emergency, she stepped down.
In Sikh history Golden temple has been desecrated many times.and every time it has been avenged,her assassination is no big deal,it is a simple extension of this history,much more powerful characters than her in the timeline of history had met the same fate
The events in Bangladesh prompted Mrs.Gandhi to lift emergency. The murder of Mujibar Rahmann scared her and she ended the emergency and asked for election.
The operation Blue star hurt the feelings of all the sikhs world over and not only sikhs but a large no. of punjabis and sindhis too were hurt badly as they rever Granth Sahib and attend gurdwaras.Indira should have explored other ways to drive away the terrorists if any, in Harminder sahib.And to fire bullets inside religious place is totally unacceptable.She did right in regretting the incident,which in fact should not have happened at all.But I personally welcome the imposition of Emergency.The political parties at that time had created lot of chaos and administration was only in namesake all over India.But once the emergency was imposed, the common man took a sigh of relief.He saw no more bandhs,agitations,queues fo essential commodities vanished,no thefts took place,law and order was so perfect which any ordinary citizen could imagine in his/her wild dreams,girls walked freely without fear of teasing and everyone followed the rule book.No corruption.Only politicians were victims.
another marketing gimmick by these two great gandhi chamchas. they now want to pop up rahul for PM, alarm bells for manmohan.
A GOOD ATTEMPT AT HIDING THE REALITY! DO YOU REALLY THINK THAT THE SIKHS WILL BELIEVE THIS MUMBO-JUMBO? PLEASE DO NOT TRY TO FALSIFY THE HISTORY. I BEG YOU MR. WRITER.
A good article after 25 yrs of Mrs Gandhi's death. One of the key issues which intregius modern students of Indian history is what is the reason she lifted Emergency. The issue to explore is was there a spiritual relationship coefficient to the whole thing..issues associated to internal questioning wrt withdrawl of plural democractic process which her father had sincerely structurised. All of us know that Mrs Gandhi ensured that all political leaders jailed under MISA were released unconditionally and abruptly before 1977 elections. There was some comment by Usha Bhagat or Pupul Jaykar which referred to a meeting which Mrs Gandhi had with J Krishnamurthy in Nov 1976 and again in Feb 1977 before JK left for US. Not much is known what transpired..may be RK Dhawan or Usha Bhagat or Pupul Jaykar can comment..JK was in US when he heard that Mrs Gandhi had indicated elections be held. This event is akin to Ashok renouncing voilence after Kalinga victory. Important to understand the great PM.
Finally i much sensible, unbiased comment. She was an example an inspiration yet a human who can make mistakes. Intentions were right may be execution went wrong somewhere. For fools & uneducated fellowmen she can be as good as hell, so would not like to waste time commenting after ignorant fools who brings religion when it comes national crisis. Let the illiterate & ignorant shout as loud as possible, the only truth that is gonna prevail is nothing but her guts, her sacrifices, her agility & uprightness for her country. She will always remian the inspiration for all who dares to think right irrespective of conventions, relations, caste creed religion. Unfortunately exceptional souls like her are very very rare in this world so i guess its wise not to comment anything so adversely negative about a person of such an aura stature & precision. But for fools & the ignorant democracy provides every right to talk crap. Thats why there is one INDIRA GANDHI & somuch of ignorance & illiteracy all around.
Indira Gandhi did not hate the Sikhs or bear any ill will against them, but no leader can tolerate an armed rebellion within the country. To show that she bore no ill-will against the Sikhs, she refused to change her Sikh bodyguards and trusted them fully. Unfortunately, there are so many amongst us who will put their religion above duty. Her killers should rot in hell. They were neither bodyguards nor true Sikhs. A real Sardar will not pump 31 bullets in to an unarmed 66 year old woman, old enough to be his mother.
Though the leaders of opposition like Chodhry Charan Singh ,Raj Narain etc were no saints Indira gandhi was no better.It was she who nursed persons like Bhindranwale who assumed frankenstein proportions.With her policies of licence
In 1977 Army Chief Sam Manekshaw threatened a coup to depose Indira Gandhi, if democracy was not restored immideately. Where is the question of regret from Mrs. Gandhi. What about her slogan “Garabi Hatao”, do we have the western European standard of living?
Just because Indira took spot decisions doesn't mean she is a good leader. A good leader is one who thinks a lot before taking a decision. Shooting from the hip is not a charecterstic of a good leader. One who lives with a sword dies with a sword. So what if the opposition created a lot of issues for her. She reaped what she sowed. Good riddance not to bad rubbish but to hopeless rubbish.
Mrs Gandhi could not get any advice as she had herself surrounded by spineless worms like Mr. Dhawan. She herself was not very intelligent person. She killed the morality of the nation by indulging in corruption of all sorts at the highest level. She had no good reason to impose emergency and had absolutely no justification for invading a place considered most sacred for millions of her country men and women. It was an an inexcusable act which thankfully did not go unpunished.
Indira was punished for her sin. Now we should remove her names from schools, housing colonies, roads, slums and airports . She should be removed from history(Offcourse if Christains or Muslims take over India they will do it just like what they did Malaysia, Maldives and Philippines)
Utter nonsense. Both these persons are insane and must be put in a mental asylum. The Congress has never been a party that practices democracy in the letter and spirit the word stands for. As one dictator is known to issue instructions to the Election Commissiner "I hereby order you to conduct free and fair elections in a democratic manner,but make sure my butler becomes the Prime Minister" These fellows did not have the guts to talk sense to Indira Gandhi when both these decisions took place. Stick to your guys man and stop squeeling now, posterity will not forgive you.
TOO LITTLE, TOO TOO LATE TO REGRET EMERGENCY AND OPERATION BLUESTAR. LOT OF DAMAGE WAS DONE, MOST OF IT IRREVERSIBLE.
What an article!! Did Mrs.Gandhi champion the cause of the poor?? Did she regret Blue star??? How does it matter now?? That she has left behind her 'Congress' weed to grow in this country is bad enough. It's high time we Indians learnt to hold our leaders responsible for the decisions they make. I have met so many Sikhs outside India and can tell you if given a chance, another fight for Khalisthan isn't far away. Mrs. Gandhi was told this and told that, wasn't it her duty to cross check all that was told to her when taking a decision of such far reaching ramifications?? And of course the icing on the cake was the murder of 3000 Sikhs after her death. Don't we know who was responsible for that??
Bland lies. She herself never said that she regretted anything. After the death, these chamchas start making money by inventing stories. These chamchas know that no body can refute them.
YD, I agree with what you have said of chamchas. And the first part of the matter under discussion that is the the false encomium superficially showered on the late PM is understandable.
It was her greatness to regret the decision in the larger interest of democracy. However, nation would have become a developed country up till now if some regret would have expressed by those who were responsible to crate a situation that led to Emergency and Operation Blue Star.
Mr. Harsh,You mean to say Justice Sinha should express regret for prnouncing a judgment against Mrs. Gandhi, which ultimately led to declaration of emergency. What a wonderful person you are Mr. Harsh. And moreover, as some readers pointed out during her entire life, she never expressed regrets on any incidents. These so-called 'regrets' are indeed the invention of these chamchas. You are insultinhg those counless people who laid their life for democracy which can be termed as our '2nd independence struggle'.
Thanks for the comments however, the truth is that the Emergency and Operation Blue Star was happed to tackle the prevailing situation of civil war and civil war can only bring the destruction and never prosperity.
The reason for emergency was self defence and nothing else. When corruption rose, Opposition parties made an issue, no doubt on that. But the reason for emergency was Justice Sinha's ruling on Mrs. Gandhi's election and debarring her for six years from contesting any election. The PM chair was so dear to her that she was not ready to part with it, under any circumstances. The only way to survive was to put all opposition leaders behind the bar which she did after declaring emergency. There was no need for her to regret on operation blue star, which was a right decision considering the circumstances prevailed upon the nation at that time. No doubt, Although sikhs religion was establish to protect Hindus, the very Hindus started making fun of sikhs (which is continuing even today) and you cannot blame sikhs if they felt alienated. But turning gurudwaras into foretress for amassing weapons can never be justified and Mr. Gandhi was right in ordering for Operation Blue Star
every news channel is inundated by these kangress stooge journalists,exonerating every kangressi leader of his/her sins...shame on these media prostitutes.
Mrs Indira Gandhi almost took India to dictatorship. For heavens sake we still had some freedom fighters alive(J P, Morarjee and few others), who were not afraid of British Empire lest Indira Gandhi. Indira Gandhi has left a black spot on Indian democracy.She was instrumental in institutionalization of corruption in politics. Mr Dhavan, what are you looking for by giving this statement?
Which democracy?they has been no democracy in india ever since Nehru Gandhi rule.Our constitution has been killed
Ours is a young nation we can not expect Democratic institutions like UK or US.Though we have serious problems with our system. But Things does,nt change overnight. Democracy is a process being evolved through a big experiment which is going in this dynamic country.