Pranab Mukerjee's Book ''The Dramatic Decade: The Indira Gandhi Years''

 

In his latest book, The Dramatic Decade: The Indira Gandhi Years (Rupa; Rs 595) - the first of a trilogy covering the period between 1969 and 1980 and released on the President’s 79th birth anniversary on Wednesday - Mukherjee tells as much about the transformation of Mrs Gandhi from a “Goongi Gudiya”, as she was derisively called in the 1960s, to the country’s supreme leader, as it was about the author’s initiation into politics

Pranab Mukerjee remained an unwavering loyalist even when most of her supporters were deserting what they thought was a sinking ship. He chose to stand by her when she was arrested seven months after her ‘iron grip’ over the country was smashed through a ballot. He remained one of the few who believed in her comeback when many had already written her off.

But none of this has stopped President Pranab Mukherjee from telling the truth: that the 21-month Emergency, imposed by the then prime minister Indira Gandhi on June 25, 1975, was a “misadventure” and an “avoidable event” for which both the party and Mrs Gandhi had to pay a heavy price.