September 16, 2018

Singh expresses these views in his new book, ‘Treasured Epistles’, a collection of letters.

Indira Gandhi made 2 “serious mistakes — declaring the Emergency in 1975 & allowing Operation Blue Star to happen”, but regardless of these she was a great prime minister & a considerate humanist, feels veteran Congressman K Natwar Singh.

Singh worked in her office from 1966 to 1971 as a civil services officer before joining the Congress in the 80s & becoming a Cabinet minister in the during Rajiv Gandhi's tenure.

“Ever so often, Indira Gandhi is depicted as solemn, severe, prickly & ruthless. Seldom is it mentioned that this beautiful, caring, charming, graceful & sparkling human being was a considerate humanist & a voracious reader, that she was endowed with charm, elegance, style, good taste & above all, gravitas,” he says about the former PM.

However, Singh says Gandhi “made 2 serious mistakes - declaring the Emergency in 1975 & allowing Operation Blue Star to happen”, but hastens to add, “And yet, regardless of these, she was a great & powerful prime minister.”

Singh expresses these views in his new book, ‘Treasured Epistles’, a collection of letters. Those who regularly wrote to him included friends, contemporaries & colleagues, from the days of his foreign service to ambassadorship, to recent days as the minister of foreign affairs.

Some of whose letters feature in the book include Indira Gandhi, E M Forster, C Rajagopalachari, Lord Mountbatten, Jawaharlal Nehru’s 2 sisters Vijaylakshmi Pandit & Krishna Hutheesing, R K Narayan, Nirad C Chaudhuri, Mulk Raj Anand & Han Suyin. He says each of these luminaries influenced him in a different way & consequently his “Weltanschauung” or world view was vastly extended & enriched.

The topics of Indira Gandhi’s letters to Singh ranged from congratulating him for becoming a father to politics, books, birthday wishes & get-well-soon messages.

After sweeping the Lok Sabha elections in 1980, Gandhi wrote to Singh, who was then the high Commissioner of India to Islamabad, “The real difficulties now begin. The people’s expectations are high but the situation - both political or economic, is an extremely complex one.”

“I cannot help being an optimist & I've no doubt that if only our legislators & the people as a whole have the patience & forbearance to climb the steep & stony path for the next few months, we can get over the hump & arrive at a place from which progress is possible once again.”

Among the several other nuggets in the book, published by Rupa, is Rajagopalachari once telling Singh that he had “sold” the idea of Partition to Lord Mountbatten as “Partition was the only answer”.

When Singh persisted by saying that Mahatma Gandhi was against the Partition, Rajagopalachari said, “Gandhi was a very great man but he saw what was going on. He was a very disillusioned man. When he realised that we were all for Partition, he said, ‘If you all agree, I'll go along with you,’ & left Delhi the next day.”

Source Express

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