Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Sunday remembered former prime minister Indira Gandhi as someone who could not tolerate any form of bullying or coercion, and who fought for secularism, against the forces that sought to divide people on lines of religion or caste.
Paying tributes to Indira on the occasion of her birth centenary, Sonia, in what was also an apparent reference to the criticism that majoritarian ideas were being sought to be imposed on the country under the Narendra Modi regime, said, “She could not tolerate any form of bullying, coercion and unfairness – that was fundamental to her character.” That is what inspired her in all her battles, she said.
“She fought for secularism, against all those forces seeking to divide the Indian people on lines of religion and caste. She gloried in the rich diversity of India, its profound democratic and secular values,” Sonia said at the inauguration of an exhibition of photographs and artefacts titled 'Indira – A Life of Courage' at the Indira Gandhi Memorial Museum, being organised to commemorate the birth centenary of the former prime minister.
“For her as prime minister there was but one religion, a sacred creed passionately held – that all Indians were equal children of the motherland,” she said.
Striking a personal tone, Sonia said she came to know Indira, who was also her mother-in-law, “...intimately as the head of our small family over the 16 years that we lived together in one household, just a few metres from here. I saw her at close quarters, in every mood and circumstance.” Safdarjung Road, which is now a museum dedicated to Indira, was her official residence for many years, till her assassination in the lawns of the sprawling bungalow on October 31, 1984.
Sonia said that she had heard Indira being referred to as the Iron Lady, but insisted that generosity and humanity were just as prominent traits in her. “She fought, yes – but not for personal ascendancy. She fought for her principles, against vested interests and agendas.”
