REMEMBERING INDIRA GANDHI

By M Rama Rao
New Delhi Nov 16, 2006 (Syndicate Features): What is the legacy of Indira Gandhi? Some consider nuclear security and green revolution as her lasting contribution to India.

It was under Indira Gandhi that India became the youngest nuclear power by carrying out an underground nuclear test for peaceful purposes.

Today, if India has become a food exporter and has diversified its commercial crop production, well, the credit should go to Indira Gandhi, who with the help of a dedicated team of administrators and scientists managed to end India’s chronic food shortages.

Along with the Green Revolution ushered in was the White Revolution to expand milk production and thereby help combat malnutrition, especially amongst nursing mothers and young children.

Some consider the leadership Indira Gandhi provided at the time of Bangladesh war as something that will be written in golden letters in the annals of Indian history. “Her war leadership reassured the people, increasing their faith in India’s future, security and everyday lives. It kept the country united by showing that the nation was prepared to fight against any and all enemies”.

There is a school, which considers her faith in democracy (despite the emergency aberration), her concern for the poorer and weaker sections of the society and her ability to apply healing balm at times of threat to national unity as bench marks for India.

She was the fist to fly to Assam in its hour of need in 1962 and the only leader from Delhi to rush to Chennai during the widespread anti-Hindi disturbances in 1965. And in 1978 to Belchi, Bihar, on an elephant to meet the Dalit victims of a massacre carried out by the Ranveer Sena of the upper castes.

Indira Gandhi will be remembered for these and many more commendable efforts in the development and progress of India. Her economic policies, while socialistic, brought major industrialisation.

Bank nationaliation took the banks closer to the people. The Regional Rural Banks addressed the all important question of lending for small and marginal farmers and farm labourers at their door step.

I had the privilege of carrying out a survey in the area served by Nagarjuna Grameena Bank, one of the first RRBs floated by the State Bank of India (SBI). My 1976 survey showed that villagers viewed these new banks as a new hope in their quest for relief from the clutches of local money lenders.

It was no surprise that the poor villagers considered Indira Gandhi as their ‘Amma’ (mother). When she visited Andhra Pradesh, just before the landmark Chickamaglore Lok Sabha by-election, and told them that she was waging a battle with no resources, people showered her with money.

At Kurnool, for instance, hundred of thousand people not only waited well past midnight but also offered whatever little money mostly fifty paise and twenty five paise coins and one rupee notes. The collection totalled over Rs. One lakh. What a show of love and affection!

Indira Gandhi did not agree with political thinkers who called democracy in India as a western liberal illusion. In her view, the essence of the democratic system is the continuous participation of people in political, social and economic processes and it should be facilitated by representative governments and institutions. “This has been our endeavour”, she said once.

Speaking in the Lok Sabha (July 22, 1975), Indira Gandhi said, “Here in India, democracy is evolving in a set of unique circumstances. Millions of extremely poor people are hankering after better life, for greater equality of opportunity, for social justice and they are electing governments and participating in the process of government in order to realize these aspirations.

“Therefore, it is a question of striking a balance between the political rights of the individual and social and economic rights of the collective mass of people. Any narrow definition of democracy which tries to ignore realities can only mean the growth of political ideas which are anti-democratic”.

“The challenge to Indian democracy must be seen in the light of the general problems that this particular system of government faces in the world and the very unique problems that it faces within India. The Panchayat system came about in order to give people at a particular level a chance of participation. It did not always work as it should. That doesn’t mean the thing is wrong. It does mean that we have to correct its functioning, remove its faults and weaknesses and make whatever changes are necessary”.

The Constitutional amendments brought out by her successors almost two decades later have breathed new life into the panchayati raj bodies. Now these have become vibrant institutions of local self-governance. Today’s challenges need initiative, imagination, and courage. Risk must be taken, notwithstanding the scope for mistakes, as long as the over riding principle is good faith.

Indira Gandhi subscribed to this approach in ample measure. “Have a bias towards action – let us see something happen now. You can break that big plan into small steps and take the first step right away”, she used to say.

Contrary to popular impression, she used to listen to all shades of opinion within the government, particularly from young officers.

Says B S Raghavan, a 1952 batch IAS officer (of the West Bengal cadre), “In all meetings, whether of the Cabinet or various committees, and other bodies like the National Integration Council, after the venerable - of political or administrative vintage – had spoken, Indira Gandhi would suddenly turn towards the young officers sitting forlorn at a distance and ask them: ‘What do you think?’. This, she did, not patronizingly, but with a genuine solicitude for their participation and often accepted their advice as against that of the older group”.

In an interview to the weekly, “Socialist India’, Indira Gandhi said, “Our administrative structure is rather cumbersome and slow, so that even bright young people are sometimes infected by the apathy of their seniors. Some of our younger officers impress us by their earnestness and many sided capability”.

At the same time, she was conscious of the ‘great deal’ that needs to be done to improve the delivery system. “The entire administration is still not achievement oriented but is conditioned to play safe”. A concern that is as relevant now as it was first voiced nearly three decades back.

It is often said that Indira Gandhi had a special relationship with the media. I knew this from personal experience of covering her visits to the Northeast and the South.

There may not be many takers for all her views on the Indian media but I am sure there will be very few who will dare to cross swords with her on one particular issue - the flip side of Indian journalism.

Speaking at a function in New Delhi held to felicitate M Chalapathi Rao (MC) on his completion of 30 years as the editor of National Herald (NH), Indira Gandhi said, “Today cynicism is the besetting sin of world journalism. Another fault of today’s press is the desire constantly of making more money.

“I am shocked at the filth and falsehood that some time appears in newspapers, the pain inflicted and the harm done by them all in pursuit of a higher circulation and advertisement revenue. Isn’t it time that the more earnest men and women in the profession do something about checking vulgarity in the press and related media”.

Remember Indira Gandhi gave this call at a time P3P was unheard off and when multiple television and radio channels were nowhere on the horizon!

Since I began this article with the question, “What is legacy of Indira Gandhi”, what better way is there than to fall back upon the headline to the India story in The Economist on November 3, 1984: “Mrs. Gandhi is Dead, Long Live Gandhi”. (Syndicate Features)