November 19, 1917

Few Prime Ministers have been as influential as Indira Gandhi. She took apart the Congress Party, which had ruled India since Independence, and rebuilt it in her own image. She imposed the Emergency in 1975, the only time in Indian history when civil liberties have been suspended. She dismembered India’s traditional enemy Pakistan and created Bangladesh. She bounced back after setbacks that would have destroyed any other politician’s career: expulsion from the Congress (her own party) in 1969 and a crippling electoral defeat in 1977 when she lost her own seat.

All of the above are matters of historical fact. But there are, more subjective, observations to be made. On the plus side, Mrs Gandhi kept India together during a difficult period, forged her own foreign policy, ensured the continuance of Indian secularism and handled famines and droughts that could have ravaged the country. But there as many negatives. She destroyed the grassroots organisation of the Congress and turned it into a personality cult. She leeched all the power from the states, sending toadies and yes-men to be chief ministers. She subverted the institutions of democracy, asking for a “committed” judiciary and bureaucracy. She created a situation where RK Dhawan, her private secretary, counted for more than any cabinet minister. She set India on the path to dynasty by first launching her thug-like younger son Sanjay and then, when he died in a plane crash, replacing him with her other son Rajiv. I was never a fan. But it would be foolish to deny her huge influence. Much of what is right with India — and wrong with Indian politics — today stems directly from Indira Gandhi’s legacy.