Indira Gandhi

The 21st anniversary of the assassination of Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi falls tomorrow. I will be selective given the difficulty in evaluating a contradictory legacy such as hers in a mere 300 words. Her shortcomings have been rectified while her far-sighted vision will continue to inspire decision-makers.

Mrs. Gandhi introduced a highly personalized approach to politics that undermined India's institutions. She valued loyalty above competency and brooked no dissent. The emphasis was on personal charisma, not institutional continuity. Institutions provide resilience to a polity while individuals, their charisma notwithstanding, are transitional. Indira undermined the formidable elected grass-roots base of the Congress Party. There were no party elections from 1971 to 1991. She undermined the federal character of the Indian polity by imposing President's rule in opposition-ruled states and sidelining regional contenders within the party. State-level units of the Congress Party no longer elected the Chief Ministers, she designated them.

Then there was the Emergency. Mrs. Gandhi introduced amendments to the constitution that weakened the judiciary. The 38th Amendment, the 39th Amendment and the proposed 40th Amendment stipulated that the courts could no longer rule on the Emergency, adjudicate on election disputes related to the President, Prime Minister and Speaker, and prosecute the executive for criminal offenses. Indira briefly imposed press censorship and imprisoned opponents. Her emasculation of India's institutional capital left a void. However, successive Governments have rectified these shortcomings and India's institutions remain resilient - be it the courts, the elections commission, the legislature, the state assembly and the media. Her handling of the Punjab insurrection is now thankfully history.

It is her foreign policy, her defence policy, the emphasis on science and the Green Revolution that continue to inspire, like no other post-independence Indian leader. The Green Revolution had resolved the age-old Indian problem of famine once and for all. Indira had a genuine commitment to the marginalized and dispossessed, be it women, Dalits and Muslims. I will only focus on realpolitik.

The Bangladesh independence movement in 1971 led to 10 million East Bengali refugees and the death of 2 million Bengalis in what could only be described as Pakistani war crimes. Never to miss an opportunity, she swiftly signed the Treaty of Friendship and Mutual Cooperation with the Soviet Union and lobbied international attention to events in East Bengal. India trained the East Bengali resistance. The alleged Pakistani air raids on Indian soil provided the pretext for Indian forces to enter East Pakistan. The Indian military, that had been stymied by inept political leadership in 1948 in Kashmir, in 1962 in Arunachal Pradesh and in 1965, now performed brilliantly. It "liberated" East Bengal in less than three weeks and captured 93,000 Pakistani soldiers. The army captured Kargil and Siachen in the disputed territory of Kashmir and was ready to proceed further but the entry of the US 7th fleet in the Bay of Bengal was a warning to stop.

That experience convinced Indira Gandhi of the need for a nuclear option. India detonated a nuclear device and launched its first space satellite, Aryabhatta, in 1974. Indira leveraged the Nepalese majority in Sikkim to merge with India that year to pre-empt Chinese influence. India invested in missile and space technology. It emphasized deep sea mining, participated in deliberations related to the Law of the Sea, and launched its first foray into the Antarctic establishing a base there in 1982. India built a Blue Water Navy. Indira used the Tamil insurrection in Sri Lanka to undo that country's emerging strategic equation with the United States. Her policy emphasized the importance of the Andaman and Laccadive islands. In Henry Kissinger's "White House Years" published by Little, Brown and Company in 1979 , Mrs. Gandhi is described as "a cold-blooded practioner of power politics" and "a strong personality relentlessly pursuing India's national interest with single-mindedness and finesse".

Indira Gandhi found it hard to work within institutional constraints. This explained her shortcomings in domestic policy. Institutions were not key when it came to foreign policy and she did well there. India reached out to multiple frontiers under her. While successive Governments have now gone much further, it was Indira who got the ball rolling. India thought big and reached for the stars. This was her foremost legacy, one that made her independent India's most high profile leader.