News Analysis India

Tag: Indira Gandhi

  • Minister Suresh Gopi Clarifies ‘Mother Of India’ Remark on Former PM Indira Gandhi |

    Thiruvananthapuram: Union Minister Suresh Gopi on Sunday clarified his comments on former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, where he referred to her as “Mother of India”, and said it was a “contextual reference.” The BJP MP said that it was a contextual reference, while he was elaborating on the role of late Congress leader and former Kerala Chief Minister K Karunakaran, who Gopi had earlier described as a “courageous administrator.”

    Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Gopi said, “It was a contextual reference. I was talking about the true worth of leader Karunakaran. Like how to the Congress and non-Congress people of Kerala, even though there might be founders and co-founders, the administrational quality and efforts that result totally to the benefit of people, Karunakaran should be the father of Congress in Kerala. In the context of that, I had referred to Indira Gandhi as the mother of Congress in India.”

    Earlier, Gopi, who was inducted as the Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas and the Ministry of Tourism, referred to veteran leaders of the Communist Party of India-Marxists, EK Nayanar and K Karunakaran, as his “political gurus.Simply because my father’s family was a Congress family, my mother’s family worked up to the formation of Janasangh in Kerala…I was in the SFI. But the reason behind my shift was not political. It was emotional. I will live my life emotionally as well, being acceptable to all classes of life, all segments of life, all levels of life,” the BJP MP said on Sunday.

    “My parentage, my traditions, the essence of Sanatana Dharma–I have to perform all those valuable traits. Simply because Indira Gandhi is Congress, and for that draconian act of hers, I cannot sway away from attributing. I call her the real architect of India post-independence until her death,” he added.

    Notably, Suresh Gopi defeated K Karunakaran’s son, K Muraleedharan, in the Thrissur constituency in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections. The actor-turned-politician has become the first Lok Sabha BJP MP from Kerala after winning the Thrissur constituency. He defeated the ruling Left Democratic Front candidate, V.S. Sunilkumar, by a margin of 74,686 votes.

    Gopi was sworn in as Minister of State in the Modi 3.0 cabinet. He assumed charge as Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas as well as the Ministry of Tourism on Tuesday morning, earlier this week. 

  • Suresh Gopi on Indira Gandhi: Suresh Gopi clarifies ‘mother of India’ reference about Indira Gandhi

    A day after his reference to former prime minister Indira Gandhi as “mother of India” received widespread attention, Union Minister Suresh Gopi on Sunday clarified that he called the late leader the mother of the Congress party in the country and his remarks were misinterpreted by the media.

    The actor-turned-politician said he was a person talking from the heart and he firmly believed that there was nothing wrong in what he said about Indira Gandhi.

    While addressing the media here, the BJP leader asked the reporters whether they don’t understand the “contextual meaning of language.” “What did I say? As far as the Congress is concerned…whether anyone likes it or not… K Karunakaran is the father of the Congress party in Kerala. In India, its mother is Indira Gandhi. I said this from my heart,” Suresh Gopi said.

    The minister of state for petroleum and tourism, however, continued to lavish praises on Indira Gandhi on Sunday as well.

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    “Indira Gandhi is the real architect of India post independence and until her demise. I have to make these attributions anyway. I cannot forget a person who had worked sincerely for the country only because she belonged to the political rival party,” he added. While visiting the memorial of late Congress Chief Minister K Karunakaran in Thrissur on Saturday, Gopi had described Indira Gandhi as the “mother of India” and Karunakaran as a “courageous administrator”. The BJP leader had also said that he considered Karunakaran and Marxist veteran E K Nayanar his “political gurus”.

    Gopi said as he viewed Indira Gandhi as “bharathathinte mathavu” (mother of India), Karunakaran was the “father of the Congress party in the state” for him.

    He explained that describing Karunakaran as the “father” of the Congress in Kerala was not a disrespect to the founders or co-founders of the grand old party in the state.

    Gopi won the Thrissur Lok Sabha seat recently, opening the BJP’s electoral account in Kerala. Thrissur had witnessed a three-way contest for the Lok Sabha polls, with major candidates from the Congress, BJP, and CPI locked in a neck-and-neck battle.

  • Lok Sabha Elections 2024: PM Modi takes swipe at Rahul Gandhi over Constitution remark: ‘Shehzade ke Dadi ke Pita ji…’ – The Economic Times Video

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a dig at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his latest ‘BJP trying to abolish Constitution’ remark. “The Prince’s grandmother’s father insulted the Constitution… Then his grandmother got the opportunity to do unconstitutional acts…and they talk about the Constitution in front of us,” said PM Modi.

  • Indira Gandhi govt gave Katchatheevu Island to Sri Lanka: PM Modi

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday blamed the Congress for the partition of India, and also said it was the Indira Gandhi government that gave the Katchatheevu Island to Sri Lanka in 1974.

    The island, located between Rameswaram (India) and Sri Lanka, was traditionally used by both Sri Lankan and Indian fishermen.

    In 1974, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi accepted Katchatheevu as Sri Lankan territory under the “Indo-Sri Lankan Maritime Agreement”.

    “These people divided mother India into three parts for politics,” the prime minister said in Lok Sabha, launching a blistering attack on the Congress during his reply to a debate on a no-confidence motion.

    The prime minister said the DMK government in Tamil Nadu keeps writing to him urging him to bring Katchatheevu back to India.

    “Katchatheevu is an island between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka. Somebody gave it to another country. It happened under the leadership of Indira Gandhi,” he said.

    “Wasn’t that part of Maa Bharati there?” Modi asked in an apparent response to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s remark during the debate on Wednesday.

    NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday blamed the Congress for the partition of India, and also said it was the Indira Gandhi government that gave the Katchatheevu Island to Sri Lanka in 1974.

    The island, located between Rameswaram (India) and Sri Lanka, was traditionally used by both Sri Lankan and Indian fishermen.

    In 1974, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi accepted Katchatheevu as Sri Lankan territory under the “Indo-Sri Lankan Maritime Agreement”.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    “These people divided mother India into three parts for politics,” the prime minister said in Lok Sabha, launching a blistering attack on the Congress during his reply to a debate on a no-confidence motion.

    The prime minister said the DMK government in Tamil Nadu keeps writing to him urging him to bring Katchatheevu back to India.

    “Katchatheevu is an island between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka. Somebody gave it to another country. It happened under the leadership of Indira Gandhi,” he said.

    “Wasn’t that part of Maa Bharati there?” Modi asked in an apparent response to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s remark during the debate on Wednesday.

  • Nearly fifty years later, Rahul follows in grandma Indira’s footsteps with disqualification

    Express News Service

    The disqualification of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi from the Lok Sabha is not the first involving a member of his family. Nearly five decades ago, his grandmother and then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi also lost her MP status, following a ruling of the Allahabad High Court, which found her guilty of electoral malpractices in the 1971 general elections.

    The momentous High Court verdict came on June 12, 1975, following a petition filed by Raj Narain, whom she had defeated in Rae Bareli, accusing her of using corrupt practices to win the election. In a first for a sitting Indian PM, Indira Gandhi was herself cross-examined in the High Court.

    ALSO READ | Disqualified because PM Modi is scared over my next speech on Adani: Rahul Gandhi

    Justice Jagmohanlal Sinha ruled that the PM was guilty of misusing government machinery for her election campaign. The HC not only set aside her election to the Lok Sabha but also disqualified her from contesting elections for the next six years.

    When Indira Gandhi challenged the decision in the Supreme Court, Justice VR Krishna Iyer upheld the judgement on June 24. What happened next is well known. The Opposition led by Jayaprakash Narayan called for protests and held a massive rally in Delhi. This unnerved the PM who coaxed President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed to declare a state of emergency on June 25.

    ALSO READ | Who are the people within Congress wanting to get rid of Rahul, wonders Anurag Thakur

    Indira Gandhi finally called for general elections in 1977 after extending the state of emergency twice. She stood from Rae Bareli again but this time lost by over 50,000 votes to the same Raj Narain who subsequently became Minister for Health and Family Welfare in the Morarji Desai government.

    Coming back to the present, two days after his conviction in a defamation case, Rahul Gandhi is yet to file an appeal in a higher court. It remains to be seen whether, unlike his grandmother, he will get his disqualification quashed when the appeal is made.

    ALSO WATCH |

    The disqualification of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi from the Lok Sabha is not the first involving a member of his family. Nearly five decades ago, his grandmother and then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi also lost her MP status, following a ruling of the Allahabad High Court, which found her guilty of electoral malpractices in the 1971 general elections.

    The momentous High Court verdict came on June 12, 1975, following a petition filed by Raj Narain, whom she had defeated in Rae Bareli, accusing her of using corrupt practices to win the election. In a first for a sitting Indian PM, Indira Gandhi was herself cross-examined in the High Court.

    ALSO READ | Disqualified because PM Modi is scared over my next speech on Adani: Rahul Gandhigoogletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    Justice Jagmohanlal Sinha ruled that the PM was guilty of misusing government machinery for her election campaign. The HC not only set aside her election to the Lok Sabha but also disqualified her from contesting elections for the next six years.

    When Indira Gandhi challenged the decision in the Supreme Court, Justice VR Krishna Iyer upheld the judgement on June 24. What happened next is well known. The Opposition led by Jayaprakash Narayan called for protests and held a massive rally in Delhi. This unnerved the PM who coaxed President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed to declare a state of emergency on June 25.

    ALSO READ | Who are the people within Congress wanting to get rid of Rahul, wonders Anurag Thakur

    Indira Gandhi finally called for general elections in 1977 after extending the state of emergency twice. She stood from Rae Bareli again but this time lost by over 50,000 votes to the same Raj Narain who subsequently became Minister for Health and Family Welfare in the Morarji Desai government.

    Coming back to the present, two days after his conviction in a defamation case, Rahul Gandhi is yet to file an appeal in a higher court. It remains to be seen whether, unlike his grandmother, he will get his disqualification quashed when the appeal is made.

    ALSO WATCH |

  • Govt misogynist, indulging in petty politics in not remembering Indira Gandhi on Vijay Diwas: Congress

    Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi recalled Indira Gandhi's role in Bangladesh's liberation and said it was under her leadership that India won the war to save the idea of democracy.

  • Congress taught wrong history to glorify Gandhi, Nehru and Indira: Shivraj

    Chouhan thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for declaring 'Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas' to mark the birth anniversary of Birsa Munda, a tribal icon.

  • Grandma told me not to cry if something happened to her: Rahul recalls Indira Gandhi’s assassination

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Recounting Indira Gandhi’s assassination and funeral, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has said just hours before her death she told him not to cry if something happened to her.

    In a video released on YouTube on former prime minister Indira Gandhi’s 37th death anniversary, Gandhi described the day of her grandmother’s funeral as the “second most difficult day of my life”.

    Indira Gandhi, the then prime minister, was assassinated in 1984 by two of her security guards linked to Khalistani extremists.

    “(In) the morning before she died she told me that don’t cry if something happens to me. I did not understand what she meant and two-three hours later she was dead,” Rahul Gandhi said, recounting the setback he and his family suffered that day.

    “She (Indira Gandhi) sort of sensed that she would be killed and I think everyone in the house also knew it. She once said to us on the dining table that the biggest curse would be to die of a disease,” the former Congress chief said in the video titled ‘With love, in memory of my beloved Grandmother, Indira ji’, which has been released on his YouTube account.

    From her perspective it was probably the best way to die for her country, defending the idea that she loved, Gandhi said.

    He said he essentially had two mothers — “a super mother who was my grandmother, who basically would defend me when my father got angry, and my mother”.

    For me it was like losing my mother, Gandhi added.

    Images from Indira Gandhi’s funeral and last rites were also part of the video which showed a young Rahul mourning his grandmother’s demise.

    Earlier on Sunday, Rahul Gandhi paid floral tributes to Indira Gandhi at her memorial “Shakti Sthal” here.

    “My grandmother served the country fearlessly till the last moment — her life is a source of inspiration for us,” Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi.

    “A great example of women power, humble tributes to Mrs. Indira Gandhi on her martyrdom day,” he said.

  • Sunil Jakhar jibes at Punjab government for no print ad on Indira death anniversary

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: Senior Congress leader Sunil Jakhar on Sunday took a dig at Charanjit Singh Channi-led government in Punjab for allegedly failing to issue newspaper advertisements to remember Indira Gandhi on her death anniversary.

    In a tweet, Jakhar tagged a Punjab government advertisement issued last year under the Amarinder Singh-led Congress government to commemorate the former Prime Minister.

    “I can understand BJP trying to erase ‘Iron Lady of India’ from history but don’t we still have a Congress Government in Punjab,” Jakhar tweeted.

    In another tweet, Jakhar made a veiled allusion to the appointment of Jagdish Tytler as a permanent invitee to the Delhi Congress’ new executive committee and wondered if government’s not issuing an ad to remember Indira had anything to do with it.

    “Or is it a case of ‘once burned twice shy’ – in light of certain appointment two days ago?” Jakhar posted.

    Tytler was one of the main accused in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi.

    “PS. I know Capt Saab (Amarinder) won’t mind my using this PB Govt’s ad from last year, as none appeared today,” he added in another tweet.

    Indira Gandhi was assassinated on this day in 1984 by two of her own security guards.

    Opposition parties including BJP and SAD in Punjab have targeted the Channi led government over Tytler’s appointment.

    BJP leader Tarun Chugh on Saturday asked Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and Congress’ state unit chief Navjot Singh Sidhu to clarify if they endorsed Tytler’s appointment as a permanent invitee to the committee.

    “Tytler has been named as one of the key Congress leaders in Delhi, but he, Kamal Nath and Sajjan Kumar continue to be the blue-eyed boys of the party in spite of the fact that their role in riots against Sikhs has been always highlighted by many witnesses,” Chugh said.

    SAD leader Daljit Singh Cheema asked Channi to tell Punjabis why he gave his “consent” for the appointment of Tytler to a “prestigious” Congress panel.

    Three days back also, Jakhar had made a cryptic comment when Channi was on a visit to Delhi and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal visited Punjab on the same day.

    “Punjab CM in Delhi, Delhi CM in Punjab, yet again! Must say, at least one of them has got his timing right,” Jakhar had tweeted.

    Kejriwal had responded with a smile icon Before Congress propped up Channi for the top post, Jakhar was among the front-runners after unceremonious exit of veteran leader Amarinder Singh as the state chief minister.

  • Rajnath Singh praises Indira Gandhi for role as PM leading India in 1971 War

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh praised the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on Thursday for her role in the 1971 war with Pakistan. Addressing the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) symposium on the role of women in the armed forces, Rajnath Singh said Indira Gandhi not only was at the helm of affairs of he country, but led it in times of war.

    He also referred to Rani Laxmi Bai and former President Pratibha Patil adding about India’s positive experience about the role of women’s power in national development. “A few years back, Pratibha Patil was the President and the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces,” he said.

    While it was okay to talk about the role of women in the armed forces, their vast contribution in all areas of security and nation-building should be recognised, Rajnath said. “There are a number of examples of women taking up arms to protect their country as well as the rights of the people throughout history. Rani Laxmi Bai is amongst the most revered and respected amongst them,” he said.

    Talking about India’s initiatives towards women’s participation in the armed forces, the defence minister said, “Women have been serving with pride in the Indian Military Nursing Service for over 100 years. The Army had commenced commissioning women officers in 1992. It has now moved to inducting women officers in most of the branches of the Army,” he said.

    “Women are now being accepted for permanent commission and shall be commanding Army units and battalions in the near future,” he added.