Remembering Indira Gandhi on the day she had fallen to her assassins’ bullets exactly 25 years ago, her admirers said that her dynamism
and courage made it difficult to believe that actually so much time had gone by since the morning of October 31, 1984.
“A quarter of a century... it seems the other day,” said Sonia Gandhi, the daughter-in-law who had taken Indira’s bullet-riddled body to AIIMS from her 1 Safdarjung Road residence in an Ambassador.
“Indira Gandhi was one personality who never buckled under pressure in a difficult situation,” Congress chief Sonia Gandhi said on Saturday, speaking at the function for giving away the Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration.
This rugged determination characterised each of her major decisions — the Green Revolution, Bangladesh War, Sonia said. “She lived for the ideals of national integration and she died for these ideals.”
Speaking from the same podium, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, “Even 25 years after her martyrdom, her legacy remains as strong and durable as ever and her vision still guides and inspires us and it will continue to do so for ages to come.”
Veteran journalist Balraj Puri, receipient of the award for his contribution to the peace process in Jammu and Kashmir, recalled a meeting with her in the heady days after the Bangladesh War. “This is the time for an initiative to resolve the Kashmir problem,” Puri remembered telling the then PM, setting the stage for a series of meetings with Sheikh Abdullah. The day began with the leadership paying homage to Indira at Shakti Sthal, her memorial. The PM, many of his cabinet colleagues, Sonia and her son Rahul — they all turned up commemorating the charismatic leader.
source : Times of India
and courage made it difficult to believe that actually so much time had gone by since the morning of October 31, 1984.
“A quarter of a century... it seems the other day,” said Sonia Gandhi, the daughter-in-law who had taken Indira’s bullet-riddled body to AIIMS from her 1 Safdarjung Road residence in an Ambassador.
“Indira Gandhi was one personality who never buckled under pressure in a difficult situation,” Congress chief Sonia Gandhi said on Saturday, speaking at the function for giving away the Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration.
This rugged determination characterised each of her major decisions — the Green Revolution, Bangladesh War, Sonia said. “She lived for the ideals of national integration and she died for these ideals.”
Speaking from the same podium, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, “Even 25 years after her martyrdom, her legacy remains as strong and durable as ever and her vision still guides and inspires us and it will continue to do so for ages to come.”
Veteran journalist Balraj Puri, receipient of the award for his contribution to the peace process in Jammu and Kashmir, recalled a meeting with her in the heady days after the Bangladesh War. “This is the time for an initiative to resolve the Kashmir problem,” Puri remembered telling the then PM, setting the stage for a series of meetings with Sheikh Abdullah. The day began with the leadership paying homage to Indira at Shakti Sthal, her memorial. The PM, many of his cabinet colleagues, Sonia and her son Rahul — they all turned up commemorating the charismatic leader.
source : Times of India