Indira Gandhi death anniversary: Why is the ‘Iron lady of India’ still relevant

It may seem surprising that Indira Gandhi has an enduring presence in the minds of most Indians even after three decades of her martyrdom For some she remains a messiah who connected directly with the poor and the underprivileged with her social welfare programmes and catchy populist slogans like garibi hataoNot even her worst critics question her love for the people of her country or that she fought till the end for Indiarsquos lsquonationalrsquo interestRemembering Indira Gandhi and speaking about how relevant she is intodayrsquos age Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said ldquoIndira Gandhi is one woman who would be relevant in all aspects of politics and nationalism mdash right from her commitment to making India selfreliant to a point where she drove Pakistan into two different countries in terms of her political fight back One can learn many lessons from herrdquoChaturvedi continued ldquoShe understood the nature of India as a country which had differences from the various regions and took all of that together I think her narrative was something India will continue to imbibe for years to come She will be relevant for every age for every perspective every woman who aspires to be in politicsrdquoAlso read Indira Gandhi death anniversary 10 interesting facts about lsquoIron lady of IndiarsquoThe Rajya Sabha MP shared the various aspects that made the late Prime Minister an inspiring leader ldquoShe was an inspiring figure Indira Gandhi was one woman hero then who spoke about being strongwilled and wanting to do good for and serve the nation Of course there were some narratives which were disturbing and caused problems But at the same time she came across as strongwilled and independent This influences me eventoday her commitment to the nation and to serve the nation through politicsrdquoChaturvedi further said that every leader who has led the country continues to be relevant in times to comePreeti Sharma Menon Aam Aadmi Party AAP Mumbai President echoed similar sentiments ldquoShe was the beacon of gender neutrality if I could say so not just equality At a time when India was still a conservative nation she took on the role of leading the largest party and the country as a prime minister when even Western countries had not given women those kinds of political platformsrdquo Menon saidldquoIndira Gandhi will always remain relevant not just for India and Asia but for the worldrdquo she addedIndira Gandhi always worked towards strengthening institutions Menon opinedldquoShe was an autocrat and we are in an autocratic condition right now But the difference was Indira Gandhi always worked towards strengthening public institutions I denounce her emergency and autocratic rule It was a threat to democracy but she never tried to undermine the countryToday we are in a dangerous situation we are on a precipice Not only do we have an autocratic government in power but we have a government that is selling the country our ports our railways and our airports all have either been sold or are in the process of being sold Our natural resources oil and gas companies and mines are either sold or in the process of being sold and our financial institutions are being sold India is at a stage where we must remember how even if political power is absolute like Indira Gandhi had it people always worked for the idea of India The current dispensation doesnt work for the idea of India the Indian parliamentary system offers a lot of political power to the Prime Minister All the prime ministers we had served the country Howevertodaywe have a prime minister thats serving powerful businessmenrdquo Menon sharedldquoHowever we have to understand that even despotic dictators like her had some share of patriotism or the thought of Indias development in her agenda We dont see thattodayrdquo she addedFormer Member of Parliament and Congress leader Milind Deora said that Indira Gandhirsquos decisiveness and conviction will always be remembered by everyone ldquoIndira Gandhi is widely regarded for her handling of hostile neighbours during the peak of the Cold War Her decisiveness and conviction during challenging times will always be remembered by political leaders cutting across the spectrumrdquo he said