November 19, the centenary year of the birth of former prime minister Indira Gandhi, was an occasion for some members of the privilegentsia and luvvies who flourished under the fumbling rule of the Nehru-Indira dynasty, which misruled post-independence India for over half a century, to indulge in dewy-eyed nostalgia. Even to this day, they yearn for the “strong government” and “quick-decision making” of the Indira years.
But even if declaration of India’s first and only internal Emergency by Mrs. G in 1975 can be countered-balanced by India’s decisive victory in the Bangladesh war of 1971, the greatest damage that Mrs. Gandhi inflicted upon the nation is that she destroyed the country’s institutions which the founding fathers who wrote the Constitution of India took great care to protect. In 1969, she nationalised the major banks and destroyed their autonomy. Subsequently, she introduced the concept of “committed” bureaucracy and judiciary, severely damaging these independent institutions. Moreover by nationalising the coal, power, airlines, and for a while the foodgrains trade, amending the Constitution to officially declare India a socialist country, and imposing rigorous licence-permit-quota raj, she irrevocably damaged the high-potential Indian economy. And during her much-too-long rule over the gullible people of India, agriculture and education were completely ignored.
In the early greening years, your editor was a supporter of Mrs. Gandhi. But after dispassionately weighing the evidence — credits and debits — the scales soon fell from my eyes. The Nehru-Indira privilegentsia and luvvies need to also learn to weigh the evidence.