Assignment 3: Term Paper Writing Course: South Asian social thought and media Submitted to: Prof.

Anand Kumar

Indira Gandhi: A real maker of modern India

An argument with Ramachandra Guha

Term paper submitted in partial fulfilment of the award of the degree of the Master in Arts

Submitted by: Prafulla Rana, IV semester Centre for the Study of Social Systems, School of Social Sciences, JNU, New Delhi-110067

Abstract: While tracing the makers of the modern India, before the independence, we find a number of great people from Phule to Ambedkar, from Tagore to Iqbal, and from Tilak to Patel. But when we search such type of people who have given their best effort to transform India into a great country in the world, no doubt, three names come to the fore. The first one is the architect Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the second one is the great iron lady, the builder Indira Gandhi and the third one is the designer Dr. Manmohan Singh. Undoubtedly these are the people who have made the Modern India. Whenever we think about a maker of modern India, the famous names of Ambedkar, Tagore, Gandhi and Nehru etc. come to the mind. It is because they have both directly and indirectly had initiated a social change through affirmative action and sometimes through a revolution. While placing Indira as a social thinker there might come some hesitation or contradiction or even opposition from a group of intellectuals who are not in a mood to look her as a social thinker because of her attempt to control the democratic system for a while. But the actual fact is that Indira Gandhi had much more contribution to the development of India in every field such as socially, economically, politically and internationally. So, in this paper, effort has been taken to reinstate Mrs. Indira Gandhi as a maker of modern India along with criticizing Ramachandra Guha for overlooking such a person who really contributed to the transformation of India from a colonial underdog to a hegemonic power in south Asia.

A brief biography of Mrs. Indira Gandhi Childhood and education: Indira Gandhi was born in an aristocratic family of Nehru on 19 November, 1917, in Allahabad. Her father, Jawaharlal Nehru was a lawyer and also leader of the Indian Nationalist Movement. Indira's mother, Kamala, was a religious lady. It was reported that there was a huge difference between the lifestyle of Jawaharlal Nehru and his wife Kamala. The Nehrus, for traditions, followed a more-western and sophisticated lifestyle. This is one of the reasons her mother had nearly-isolated herself from the values of the Nehrus. Indiras Grandfather, Motilal Nehru was a renowned barrister of that period. He was also a prominent member of the Indian National Congress Party. Due to this, lot of noted leaders and party activists would visit the Nehru House. Mahatma Gandhi was one of them. Therefore, since childhood, Indira Gandhi had developed an interest in the affairs of countrys politics. Indira Gandhi attended prominent schools including Shantiniketan, Badminton School and Oxford, but she showed no great aptitude for academics, and was detained from obtaining a degree. In 1936, her mother, Kamala Nehru, finally succumbed to tuberculosis after a long struggle. She was eighteen at the time. Jawaharlal Nehru was languishing in the Indian jails that time. Marriage Life and Politics: After returning from Oxford University, Indira started participating enthusiastically in the national movement. In 1941, Indira married Feroze

Gandhi, a journalist and key member of the Youth Congress. Though Nehru had raised a strong objection to the marriage of his daughter with a Parsi, but could not prevent Indira. In 1944, Indira gave birth to Rajiv Gandhi followed two years later by Sanjay Gandhi. Feroze later became editor of a newspaper of the Indian National Congress Party in Allahabad. Indira and Feroze were happily settled there in Allahabad but things worsened after Indira decided to shift to Delhi, with her father. She moved to Delhi, with two sons, while Feroze Gandhi stayed back During the 1951-52 Parliamentary Elections, Feroze Gandhi was asked to contest election from Rae Bareli. He eventually won the elections and moved to Delhi, but opted to live in a separate house. Feroze, with time gained popularity and soon became a prominent face against corruption. His popularity increased, especially after he exposed a major financial scandal in the Nehru led cabinet. It was reported that the then Finance Minister T.T. Krishnamachari, a close aide of Nehru, was involved in the scandal that would benefit the major insurance companies. . On 8 September 1960, Feroze died after a major cardiac arrest. Then she was requested to join in politics by Morarji Desai. Indira as Congress President: Indira Gandhi was a devoted partisan of the Congress Party and became one of the political advisors of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. In 1959, she was elected as the President of the Indian National Congress Party. After Jawaharlal Nehru passed away on 27 May 1964, Indira Gandhi contested elections and eventually elected. She was appointed as the Information and Broadcasting Minister during Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. At that time, people in southern parts of India were protesting over Hindi being considered as the national language. With each day, the situation was worsening in the region. In order to pacify the anger of community leaders, Indira Gandhi visited Madras (now Chennai). Indira Gandhi had a very good manipulating the media and she used them as an instrument of image-making. During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, Indira Gandhi was on a holiday trip to Srinagar. Despite repeated warnings by the security forces that Pakistani insurgents had entered very close to the hotel, she was staying, Gandhi refused to move. The incident fetched her huge national and international media attention. As Prime Minister: Following the death of Lal Bahadur Shastri on 11 January 1966, in Tashkent, the party countered a serious trouble, as, some of the senior leaders of the Congress party desired to contest. Unable to reach at a consensus, the high-command led by K Kamaraj picked Indira as their contender. Senior Congress leader Morarji Desai opposed Indiras nomination for the coveted throne and decided to contest against her. During voting, Desai gained only 169 votes as compared to Indiras 355 votes. The virtual reason behind Indiras selection for the post was the belief that Indira is not so competent in taking decisions and thus she would, indirectly be controlled by the top leadership. But Indira Gandhi, in contrast to the high-command, showed extraordinary political skills and elbowed the Congress stalwarts out of power. The election of Indira Gandhi increased the differences of opinion between the top Congress leaders. The split looked evident as the members hardly looked united on any issue. To dispel the growing chances of split-up, Indira Gandhi inducted Morarji Desai in the cabinet. He was appointed as Deputy Prime

Minister and then Finance Minister of the country. In 1969, Gandhi issued order to nationalize all the banks of the country. In 1971, to solve the Bangladeshi refugee problem, she declared war, on Pakistan, on the side of the East Pakistanis, who were fighting for their independence. The US President Richard Nixon, supporting West Pakistan sent its Seventh Fleet to the Bay of Bengal as a warning to India keep away from East Pakistan. This move had further alienated India from the First World and brought close to the USSR further. To strengthen the national security, in 1974, India successfully conducted an underground nuclear test, at Pokhran in Rajasthan. Declaration of Emergency: During 1975, the Opposition parties joined by local groups and NGOs staged regular demonstrations in almost all the states of the country protesting against the rising inflation and unchecked corruption in the government. The intensity of protest was increasing day by day. The government failed to pacify them and contain the movement. At the same time, Allahabad High Court, hearing a petition against Indira Gandhi ruled that she had used illegal practices during the election. The Court also ordered her to vacate the seat, immediately. The ruling helped in adding fuel to the ongoing political fire. The agitation and anger of the people amplified. Realizing the consequences, Indira Gandhi, on 26 June, 1975, declared a state of emergency, due to the turbulent political situation in the country. Now, the political baton came into the hands of Indira Gandhi, which she used very tactfully. All her political rivals were imprisoned, constitutional rights of the citizens were abrogated, and the press placed under strict censorship. It was reported that the leaders of the Opposition parties were beaten and assaulted in the jail. Taking advantage of the situation, her younger son, Sanjay Gandhi, began to run the country as a dictator. He ordered the removal of slum dwellings, and in an attempt to curb India's growing population, initiated a highly resented program of forced sterilization. In 1977, Indira Gandhi called for elections. It was reported that the call for an election was taken after she apprehended a threat of military coup. Post Emergency Period: In the next elections, Indira Gandhi was completely defeated by the Janata Dal, led by Morarji Desai and Jai Prakash Narayan. Congress managed to win only 153 Lok Sabha seats, as compared to 350 seats it grabbed in the previous Lok Sabha. During the electoral campaign, Janata Dal leaders urged the people to choose between democracy and dictatorship. Though the Janata Dal emerged victorious by a huge margin it could not keep the coalition intact for longer. The allies were concentrated more on the selfdevelopment. They would fight almost on all the issue and every ally threatened to quit it their interest is not served. The internal strife became evident within months of taking charge. To divert the attention of the people from their failure the Janata Dal ordered to arrest Indira Gandhi. However, the strategy crashed disastrously and gained Indira Gandhi, a great sympathy. Indira Gandhi started giving out speeches and highlighted the wrong policies of the Janata government. In the next elections held in January 1980, Congress returned to power with a landslide majority. Political experts viewed the victory of the Congress as a result of inefficient and ineffective Janata Dal.

Operation Blue Star and Her Assassination: Two events of the Indian political history that tarnished the image of Indira Gandhi were declaration of emergency in 1975 and launching of Operation Blue Star in Punjab. In September 1981, a Sikh militant group led by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale demanded a separate state of Khalistan. They started motivating people in Punjab and organized several outfits to carry out their plans. In June, they entered into the premises of the Golden Temple, Amritsar to take shelter. Indira Gandhi asked Lieutenant General S.K. Sinha, then Vice Chief of Indian Army to prepare a position paper for assault on the Golden Temple. Sinha advised her against any such move suggested to adopt an alternative solution. But Indira Gandhi stuck to her idea and on the night of June 5 the Indian Army stormed the Golden Temple led by Major General Kuldip Singh Brar. The security forces had managed to kill Bhindranwale along with other separatists but a large number of followers and innocent civilians were also killed in the exchange of fire inside the holy shrine. The act was viewed as an unparalleled tragedy in the Indian political history. The impact of the onslaught increased the communal tensions in the country as many Sikhs resigned from the armed and civil administrative office and also returned their government awards. On 31 October 1984, Indira Gandhis bodyguards Satwant Singh and Beant Singh, as avenge of the Golden Temple assault, assassinated the Prime Minister at her Safdarjung Road residence.

Contribution of Indira Gandhi to the making of a modern India: Political: After the mysterious demise of Lalbahadur Sashtri at Tashkent, Mrs Indira Gandhi had to step into the prime minister post both as a daughter of Nehru and as an able leader of INC. When she became prime minister, things were not easy. It was the time when India had fought two wars in a small span of three years. Internal situation was also violent when a major section of the congress party under the leadership of Desai turned rebellious. In such a situation, she sailed India through a trouble time to a safe and secure position. Just after her ascendancy, she lifted the emergency proclaimed during the Chinese aggression. In order to maintain normalcy she conceded to the demands of reorganising states and granting statehood to the north-eastern states as she had earlier done to the demand of statehood of Andhra Pradesh in 1956. Apart from it, she introduced population control measures to check the population explosion under the process of tubectomy and vasectomy. After a just concluded war against Pakistan, she tried to resolve the issue by maintaining normalcy in Kashmir through freeing Farooq Abdullah to carry out the peace process and local governance in the valley. Economic: Apart of making India into a strong and stable country, she had given focus more on the economic reconstruction and development among the poorer masses. During her initial period of ascendancy of power, there was severe drought in the country and it was met by the huge import of cereals and food items from various parts of the world and especially from the U.S.A under the Public Law 480. It was she who had given a call for the

eradication of poverty from the country. That famous slogan Garibi Hattao is still the punch line of various succeeding governments. She attempted to eradicate it through the introduction of various plans, programmes and schemes out of which the famous 20 point agenda was very important followed by the other schemes. Providing safe drinking water, employment, shelter, food and essential commodities at a much subsidised rate was first upon her agenda. Besides, in order to let the common people access the banking system, she nationalised the existing banks and gave simultaneous priority to the agriculture and industry by the introduction of green revolution and the new industrial policy respectively. International: Mrs. Indira Gandhi is more famous and memorable for her active role in making India a strong and stable country and placing it at a high level in the international community. During her period India emerged as a growing power in the south Asian region. It was the continuity of the earlier attempt of her father and ex Prime Minister Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru. She was bold and charismatic enough to win over her political counterparts of other countries in both politics as well as diplomacy. Her biggest achievement was the creation of Bangladesh as a separate country out of Pakistan. She successfully exploited the situation going on in the East Pakistan and supported the muktibahini freedom fighters of Bangladesh to separate it as a new nation. She also successfully convinced the international community about the gravity of the situation which was marked by severe violation of human rights by the Pakistan army and the subsequent influx of the Bangladeshi people into the Indian territory. In 1972 she didnt hesitate to go for a war with Pakistan which had even the full support of the U.S.A in that period. Another achievement was the development of strong tie with the soviet nation to counter the threat of China and Pakistan in a slight deviation to the non-alignment movement of India initiated by Jawaharlal Nehru just to make sure the balance of power and also to make India safe and secure. In subsequent times she tried to solve a lot of disputes with many countries including the boundary issues with Bangladesh and Pakistan. Even at that time India had a victory over Pakistan, she invited Pakistan to have a peaceful agreement with it to solve the Kashmir issue and make the south Asia a peaceful region. It was during her period, she initiated to conduct a nuclear test at Pokhran which gave India a special place in the international community and made it an emerging power in the south Asian region. Ideas and ideologies of Indira Gandhi: She was not only a political person but was a thinker as well. She was imbued with the ideas of nationalism, socialism, secularism, democratic and development. Her ideas are briefly described in the following few paragraphs. Nationalism: As a prime minister, Indira Gandhi tried to make India as a strong nation. She wanted the unification of India both politically, socially and culturally at the same time conceding to the demands of creation of various states by the different ethnic people. It is because she knew that this integration cannot be through force rather through cooperation.

Thats why she supported to the demands of the creation of separate state demands by the Telugu and Gujurati people during her presidentship of INC and even to the demand of states of the north east people during her prime ministership. At the same time, she was also firm enough to deal with any anti-national or secessionist activities in a strong hand. This was exactly happened during the ULFA suppression in Assam as well as the suppression of the Khalisthan militants in Punjab and also for the suppression of the Kashmir separatists. She never hesitated to use the army force to deal with the Sikh militants hidden at the Golden temple in Amritsar. Socialism: Socialism was also another idea of Mrs. Indira Gandhi who wanted to organise the state on the principle of socialism. Though she followed the footstep of her father who popularised the notion of democratic socialism, but she deviated a little bit because of need of the hour and to make India a strong and a stable nation on the basis of socialistic principle. Her first attempt towards this was the nationalisation of 14 banks in the year of 1969. Then later she consolidated it through the incorporation of the word socialism in the India constitution in the forty second constitutional amendment in 1976. The next attempt was followed by the reservation of important sectors of industrial units having security, national importance, for the government control. For example the railway, post, heavy industry etc. she always used to give importance to the state than the society. According to her view, a state had to play the role of a welfare state which will do everything for its citizens in return of loyalty and nationalism from them during the time of need. Secularism: She was one of the staunch upholders of secularism in the Indian politics. Indian Hindu majority was not in position to have a Muslim leader as a prime minister or a president. She determined to change the scenario and set a new tradition of tolerance based on the principle of secularism. In the presidential election of 1967, she openly supported the candidature of Dr. Zakeer Hussain who was from the Muslim minority. Most of the leaders opposed to this idea and even most of the leaders from the Congress party itself were not happy with decision. But still she took a political risk and at last, got him elected to the presidential post and established a new tradition of secularism. Later to consolidate it she brought about changes in the Indian constitution by inserting the word Secularism in its preamble. It was the materialisation of her idea of secularism which India truly stands for today. Apart from this, she was the champion of the idea of democracy and development.

Argumentation with Ramachandra Guha: We, undoubtedly and without any hesitation, can place Gandhi, Ambedkar and Nehru in the same category of social thinkers but in the case of Indira Gandhi why such callousness? All of the mentioned people are political personalities. Whatever may be their activity in the social field, had some political objective whether it be the demand and support of a separate electorate for the dalits, or be it the fast of Mahatma Gandhi to alleviate the communal tension or even be it the Nehruvian approach of education and industrialisation. The common of all of them is that they have contributed a lot for the development of India as a whole. If this be a parameter of becoming a maker of modern India then it is beyond doubt that Indira Gandhi would remain top of the list. However, some people say that Indira Gandhi was a power hungry lady and an autocratic who attempted to destroy the Indian democracy. But the fact is that emergency was imposed to strengthen the democracy itself and to teach a lesson to those people who wanted to take advantage of the loopholes of the democratic set-up. Sometimes it is necessary that a leader must be hard in the time of chaos and violence and she did exactly what it was needed to be done at that particular period of time. But unfortunately Mr. Ramachandra Guha who has authored a book entitled The Makers of Modern India has not included Indira Gandhi in his book as a maker of modern India. It is not clear what exactly the reason behind it is but it is obvious that without Indira Gandhi, India wouldnt have here where it stands in the world today. It is not necessary that a maker must have initiated a movement against caste, class or gender discrimination or even against the tyranny of land lords and zamindaars or even have preached some spiritual principles, rather a person who has given a good governance to its countrymen, who has made them secure from both internal and external dangers, who has made efforts to strengthen their economic backbone can also be regarded a maker of the nation. Now taking a look at the works done by Indira Gandhi, her contribution towards development of the downtrodden people, rejuvenation of agriculture, industry, science and technology simultaneously, taking a close tab at the security and stability of the country, it is clear that she is the one who made India into a strong, stable and a developing country during the crucial period of seventies when the country was going through severe external and internal threat. Tough there was a problem of emergency during her political period, it was marvellous that the way she sailed the ship of Indian nation from a hazardous situation to a prospering period. It is beyond any doubt that she is the real maker of modern India.

References: 1. Ahlluwalia, B K. Indira Gandhi: The saviour of democracy, Newman Group of Publishers, 1975 2. Basu, Nirmakumar. Indira of India: a glimpse of life and work, Sanskrit Pustak Bhandaar, 1972 3. Carras, C. Marry. Indira Gandhi in the cruciable leadership: A political biography, Jaico Publishing House, New Delhi, 1979-80 4. Datt, Vishnu. Indira Gandhi: Promises to keep, National, 1980 5. Jayakar,P. Indira Gandhi: A biography, Viking, 1992 6. Massani, Zaheer. Indira Gandhi: A biography, Hamish Hamilton, London, 1975 7. Panigrahi, D N. Indira Gandhi: An apostle of national integration, Vikash Publishing House Pvt. Ltd, 1985