Fearing public thrashing, Indira Gandhi had planned to flee: Annamalai
Fearing public thrashing, Indira Gandhi had planned to flee: Annamalai
CHENNAI: BJP state president K Annamalai on Tuesday said former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had decided to fly out of the country after the end of Emergency in 1977.
The Emergency was announced on June 25, 1975. Observing the day as 'Black Day', the state BJP organised a series of events across the state.
In a meeting, held at the BJP headquarters in Chennai, Annamalai said, "After the end of Emergency, Indira Gandhi thought that the entire Gandhi family would be thrashed by people of the country and so asked her son and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi to get a special flight ready for them in Mumbai to fly out of the country. But, former PM Morarji Desai, after coming to power in 1978, assured her that people of the country would forgive her and there would be no threat to her life."
Annamalai said there was repression all around during the Emergency as 1.14 lakh people were arrested in 21 months, from 1975 to 1977.
TNCC president K Selvaperunthagai, responding to Annamalai on his comments on Emergency and Indira Gandhi, said, "There were several benefits due to the Emergency such as abolition of the zamindari system, and bonded labour system. They will not talk about these benefits."
He said, "Banks opened their doors to the common man after that. There may have been some drawbacks, but Indira Gandhi, unlike the incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was brave enough to openly seek public pardon, for any hardship caused to them. That is why she was called Iron Lady."
Selvaperunthagai said now, there has been an undeclared Emergency in the country for 10 years. "There were a series of arrests. Businessmen and journalists were searched and threatened by investigating agencies," he said.
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