Indira Gandhi - A political biography from 1966-1984

Twenty years after her death, study on Indira Gandhi still exercises an interest. A chronicle of the years
between 1966 and 1984 during which, except for two or three years, Indira Gandhi was India's Prime
Minister. The book is a historical study of the tumultuous events in which Indira Gandhi played a dominant
role. The author has tried to piece together these momentous events into an integral narrative so that it reads
like a story.
Father Benny Aguiar delves into his memory to write about the period when Indira Gandhi dominated the
Indian politics. Indira became the Prime Minister of India in 1966 and remained so, barring the period
1977-79, till her assassination in 1984. She had a colossal presence and the history of India of this period got
closely interwoven with her story.
It is in this sense that the book is important. It is not a historical record of events, which many other books
have already done. Father Aguiar recounts from his experiences of the period to produce an emotional
history that helps understand the situation as it existed then. It is a close brush with reality and tries to make
an assessment about the various feelings that shaped Indira's decision-making.
He does not justify the Emergency but tries to understand why Indira Gandhi, who was a democrat, imposed
a system that she was going to denounce when she came to power again in 1980. She spoke about the
country needing a healing touch. Not in a thousand years, she said, would the need arise for another
Emergency.
Indira Gandhi was an enigma for most of her colleagues. She was politically smarter and could see through
the events. This is why she upstaged most of them during her struggle for political survival. In doing so, she
kept losing friends one after the other. Gradually her son Sanjay Gandhi was the only one she could rely on.
The mother and son duo used to coordinate their activities for running the affairs of the country. But fate
snatched away Sanjay from her and left her crest-fallen. She gathered the loose strings and began the task
of governance.
Indira Gandhi took tough and controversial decisions during her premiership. It is natural for people to dissect
them post facto. A real understanding, however, will emerge only if the situation of that time is simulated.
Father Aguiar tries to do that.
This is probably for the fist time that a book tries to highlight the role played by various Christian