Other accusations include putting Punjab on the boil to get even with the Akalis for their opposition during the Emergency. Her peak can be marked almost a-decade -and-half before her career and life ended.Let us examine the charge that she foisted dynasticism on the Congress.. But she proved detractors wrong and showed no "feminine grace" that they expected but presided over the edifice with an iron fist. But her second term, though marked by certain innovations on the economic front, was a disappointment on other domestic issues, most importantly on the handling of the Punjab crisis. Even as it was posing a major threat, the students’ agitation spread to other parts of India and in panic she imposed the Emergency. He took over the Congress presidency in not very savoury circumstances as Purushottam Das Tandon stepped down when the government and ruling party leadership led by Tandon held conflicting positions.Indira’s golden years were 1970-71 when she could do no wrong.Every leader has to mark the spot that is later termed her or his peak by historians of the future. Those who level the accusation forget two significant leadership changes in 1929 and 1959. Given the circumstances under which Indira became president of the Congress and the past elevation of Nehru, she cannot be accused of introducing dynasticism in her party. In 1971, the future beckoned Indira yet she faltered, allowed hubris to sow seeds of her eventual fall.Indira is targeted mainly for being an authoritarian and autocratic leader who destroyed the democratic character of the Congress party, ensuring that the era of politically significant satraps counterbalancing the central leadership was put to an end.

The party had been split, banks had Wholesale waterproof tents for sale been nationalised and though the legislation abolishing the privy purses of former princes had been decaled untenable in the Supreme Court, she converted this into one of the major electoral issues in the first snap poll in the country. She furthered dynasticism in the party and even after Sanjay Gandhi’s death in a plane crash, inducted a clearly reluctant Rajiv Gandhi into the party. The truth is somewhere in between, and despite her fallibilities, Indira made some lasting contributions to nation-building. Events in what was then East Pakistan moved at lightning speed and provided Indira with an opportunity to carve a niche as a national icon by handing a humiliating defeat to Pakistan, breaking up that country and engineering the birth of Bangladesh. However, it will be wrong, especially on an occasion like this, to depict Indira either as a paragon of virtue or the reason for all contemporary troubles. Given the current nature of our political discourse, India’s only woman Prime Minister is more vilified than eulogised. This obviously was not to her liking, and Indira wasted no time to bite the bullet and split the party when she got a chance in the form of the untimely death of President Zakir Hussain, that forced a presidential election wh-ich was not scheduled. Indira is accused of either being party president herself or installing rubber stamps. By late 1973, nothing was rolling her way and the agitation in Gujarat snowballed into a major crisis. What she can be charged with is introducing a greater extent of centralism, and this too was precipitated by attempts by party veterans who thought while she could remain the charismatic front of the party, with the real control remaining in their hands. Tandon realised he was in a minority and resigned, making way for Nehru. She did not continue as president beyond a year of her own volition not because of any qualms that Nehru was gripped with or due to opposition to her leadership. Call her a strong-willed leader or authoritarian, the tragedy was not just the manner of her death but the fact that she fell short of her own potential. In that there could be a lesson worth remembering for contemporary leaders. Indira inherited a fragmented Congress where one faction was constantly in attempts to topple the rival’s applecart.

Though he did not propose her name, if Nehru did not wish the principle of dynasty to be applied, he could have ensured that she turned down the offer.In another two days, the nation will commemorate Indira Gandhi’s birth centenary. Finding the situation untenable, Nehru resigned from the CWC and took the matter to the AICC delegates. For four years Nehru held both positions and the onset of the organisational leadership’s subservi-ence to those in government can be traced to this period. Her victory in 1970 put the Congress back into its dominating position and established that the breakaway group did not have much support among the people. This misadventure was the reason for two great tragedies — one perpetrated by her and the other on her. Three years after Independence, Nehru assumed charge of the party presidency while simultaneously being Prime Minister.Thereafter, in 1959, Nehru allowed Indira to become Congress president. It is a misconception that Atal Behari Vajpayee likened her to Goddess Durga — that was the handiwork of a junior Jan Sangh leader — but the moot point is that for at least one year after the 1971 war, Indira could do no wrong. In the first instance, the baton of Congress president passed from father to son for the first time in the party’s history when Motilal Nehru stepped down for Jawaharlal. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his supporters repeatedly stated over the past year that he opted for demonetisation because she did not. Her lingering image is conflictingly portrayed, depending on one’s political orientation or affiliation. Indira in fact was not keen but picked up the challenge after a campaign began within the party that she was not cut out for the job. Her defeat and eventual comeback are like a fairytale. Indira is also indicted for her paranoia and raising the bogey of the "foreign hand" every now and then.

BJP’s national vice-president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, who was appointed by party president Amit Shah to supervise the municipal elections, held a closed-door meeting on Thursday with party veterans such as V. Mr Arya, Mr Bhaj, and Mr Chandla have represented the BJP in the Assembly in the past. Chandla, Harcharan Singh Balli, Mewa Ram Arya, Ram Bhaj, and Praveen Khandelwal."In the meeting we discussed our party’s strategy for the next three days which also includes reaching out to all the sections of the society.K."It came to the notice of the central leadership that there is a Modi wave across the country, including the national capital. But in the last leg of the campaigning, a decision has been made to call these experienced leaders to help the party in the triangular contest," he added.According to party sources, senior most councillor Subhash Arya and former Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely, who joined the BJP days ago in the presence of Mr Shah and other senior leaders, were also present in the meeting.New Delhi: After getting adverse report from the grassroots level workers, the BJP has roped in its old guards, who were sidelined by the state leadership for the coming civic polls. But there are factors which is stopping it in the city," said a party leader.Prof Malhotra is one of the founding member s of the party. Malhotra, P.. Mr Khandelwal is a prominent trade leader and contested the 2008 Delhi Assembly election from Chandni Chowk. "The party has made several mistakes on the strategy part and there are several reasons behind this.

The sole objective of the meeting was to ensure BJP’s victory in all the three municipal corporations," said a BJP veteran, who attended the meeting. Mr Arya is one the senior most leaders of the party and a councillor since 1997. Sources said that the party is making every possible effort to keep its traditional vote bank intact. A Delhi BJP leader said that these leaders were called in after it came to notice from different sources that the party’s campaign and strategy was not working in their favour as expected.K. The party has also decided to encash Mr Lovely’s popularity in East Delhi and among the Sikh community.Party insider claimed that these senior portable garden gazebos leaders were called up to discuss the poll strategy and Mr Sahasrabuddhe asked them to work to ensure the victory of the BJP in the civic polls.