'Keeping Sanjay in check...': Sonia Gandhi calls Emergency a mistake, reflects on Modi's rise and Congress' failures

Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) Chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Saturday (Nov 8) spoke on a range of issues including Emergency, ahead of the launch of her personal memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love. She also said how she grew to love former Prime Minister and her husband Rajeev Gandhi's family and his country, and how later the same love brought her into public life.

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Sonia Gandhi on Emergency: 'It was a mistake'

Sonia Gandhi has described the Emergency imposed by her mother-in-law and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi as a mistake. In an interview with The Guardian, she said she believed Indira Gandhi was a democrat at heart and was never comfortable with the course of the Emergency. Sonia recalled that the decision had divided the family, with Rajiv Gandhi opposing it and urging his mother to wait until the next election, while his younger brother Sanjay Gandhi pushed for it. She also said she believed the Emergency had weighed heavily on Indira Gandhi, adding that keeping Sanjay in check could have prevented much of the damage that followed. "Today, she says it was a mistake for Indira to call the Emergency, and that she believes her mother-in-law came to feel the same." Sonia added, "I always feel that Mrs Gandhi was a democrat at heart. I know that many would laugh at this, but I believe she was never comfortable in the course of the Emergency. I think it was sitting heavy on her."

Also Read: After Penguin row, Sonia Gandhi memoir finds new publisher in HarperCollins

Sonia Gandhi on Rajiv and Sanjay Gandhi: Family differences over Emergency

Recalling the differences between her husband Rajiv Gandhi and brother-in-law Sanjay Gandhi over the Emergency, Sonia said Rajiv was against the move and had advised his mother to wait for the next election. Sanjay, however, reportedly argued that the opposition would destroy Indira Gandhi and insisted that it needed to be stopped. Sonia said Sanjay's forceful influence over his mother became a source of controversy both publicly and within the family. Recalling the family disagreement, Sonia said, "Rajiv was against the move, telling his mother to wait for the next election, but her hotheaded younger son Sanjay pushed for it, arguing at one family dinner that the opposition would destroy his mother and telling her, 'They must be stopped.'" She added that Rajiv attempted to confront his mother, but she refused to listen. In her memoir, Sonia wrote, "Keeping Sanjay in check could have prevented much of the damage that followed."

Sonia Gandhi on Modi: Congress was 'too complacent'

Reflecting on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rise and the BJP's Hindutva politics, Sonia Gandhi acknowledged that the Congress's own failures had contributed to the party's growth. Recalling the demolition of the Babri Masjid in December 1992, she said she cried while watching the incident on television and realised that India faced a long battle to preserve its secular foundations. Admitting the Congress's shortcomings, she said, "I think we have been too complacent in many ways. There was a laissez-faire kind of an attitude." In her interview with The Hindu, she also said, "I don't think we have much to learn from the RSS," while pointing to leaders such as former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge as examples of how people could succeed in politics within the Congress.