A memoir sketches a rare portrait of Indira
In his new book, Chinmaya Gharekhan reveals Indira Gandhi was superstitious, loved to amend the drafts of letters, and could spend hours discussing the menu
It’s a shame we don’t have a tradition of keeping diaries. The British do. From Samuel Pepys to Richard Crossman and Woodrow Wyatt, they make for enthralling reading. More importantly, they reveal things about the men and women who ruled the country that otherwise we would never have found out. It’s their honesty that is their true value.
Of Woodrow Wyatt’s three volumes, Andrew Neil, then Sunday Times editor, said they contained “the unalloyed truth about how this country’s governing and social elite still operates”. Charles Moore, Margaret Thatcher’s famous biographer, added, “They often reveal her private reactions to public events when she considered herself among friends.” In other words, invaluable insights.
At last, we have something similar. Chinmaya Gharekhan’s Centres of Power: My Years in the Prime Minister’s Office and Security Council is based on his diaries of that time. They paint a picture of Indira Gandhi that’s charming and appealing but also a portrait that shows she was often insecure, arrogant and obsessed with her family. In other words, the actual, if at times flawed, human being behind the prime minister.
First, the little things. She would file her nails at meetings but “even when she did that, she was all ears”. She was very superstitious. “Even the time for leaving the house for office would be decided by astrologers”. She had harmless obsessions. “Indira Gandhi loved to write letters. Rather, she loved to amend drafts of letters, speeches and messages”. And she could spend hours deciding on a menu. For the Commonwealth Heads of Government summit, she spent 40 minutes with Shankar Bajpai discussing the menu. In fact, “she wanted to see the menu for the Queen’s breakfast, lunch and dinner every day.”
I was entranced by Gharekhan’s account of Indira Gandhi’s attitude to the British. “There was no question – the PM loved the British, particularly the royalty.” In 1983, when the Queen dined at the Indian high commissioner’s residence in London, Indira Gandhi broke journey in London on her way back from New York to make sure the high commissioner and his wife knew how to handle this special occasion. “The high commissioner was given instructions on how to behave in the Queen’s presence (never turn your back to Her Majesty).” Indira Gandhi inspected the gardens, re-arranged the furniture, sent an interior decorator from India to choose new curtains, and flew out special guests to add sparkle. Madhavrao Scindia, a royal himself, was one of them.
When Prince Charles got married in 1981, Gharekhan says “she was extremely keen to attend and so disappointed she could not.” Although Gharekhan gets the President’s name wrong, the problem was “he decided to go even though he had told her that he would not”. The author adds, “I had never seen the extent of her bitterness as on that occasion”.
The book reveals Indira Gandhi desperately wanted the Nobel Peace Prize. A committee was set up to campaign. Gharekhan chaired it. Actually, this is not the only instance of folie de grandeur. “She (liked) other leaders, even Presidents, paying court to her.” RK Dhawan, her special assistant, would insist presidents call on her, even though protocol required it be the other way round.
There was also an ugly side to Indira Gandhi and Gharekhan doesn’t hide it. During a trip to Oslo in 1983, when Sonia Gandhi was seated below the Indian ambassador, “the PM blew her top”. The fact this was in accord with Norwegian protocol didn’t matter. Sonia’s importance was a greater concern.
In fact, it seems berating ambassadors wasn’t unusual. The book reveals several incidents. Not surprisingly, Gharekhan concludes, “In general I found that she treated ambassadors with indifference and even contempt.”
Gharekhan’s anecdotes are riveting and revealing but they are published nearly 40 years after Indira Gandhi’s death. How much more engaging would be diaries kept by politicians who served under Manmohan Singh and Narendra Modi? They’d make the authors a pretty packet too!
Karan Thapar is the author of The Devil’s Advocate The views expressed are personal.