There was disagreement over the Emergency within the family itself - Sonia Gandhi interview

A biographical book on senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi is due for release on November 10. She has recorded in it everything from her early life through her life of love with Rajiv Gandhi to the key events of her life.

In this context, in an interview to an English-language publication about the book, she shared several things about the Emergency imposed by former prime minister Indira Gandhi. On the night of June 25, 1975, Indira Gandhi's government declared a state of emergency in India. Democratic rights were suspended as a result; opposition leaders were arrested; harsh censorship was imposed on the media.

The decision to impose the Emergency created disagreement within Indira Gandhi's own family, Sonia Gandhi said. Her husband Rajiv Gandhi advised Indira Gandhi to wait until the next election, she noted, but younger son Sanjay Gandhi pressed for the Emergency to be imposed.

Had Sanjay Gandhi's actions been controlled, many of the harms that followed the Emergency could have been avoided, she said. At the same time, Sonia Gandhi noted in her interview that Indira Gandhi also faced pressure from senior Congress leaders at the time, and that very few people, like Rajiv Gandhi, voiced a different view.