Was Sanjay proving too wild even for Indira Gandhi: Former PM's principal secy in book

As principal secretary to Indira Gandhi in the run up to the Emergency and during her authoritarian regime of 21 months, P N Dhar had a rare insight into the goings-on of the period, and one central character who gets the most unflattering portrayal in his otherwise sober account of the era is the former prime minister's younger son Sanjay Gandhi.

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In his book 'Indira Gandhi, the Emergency, and Indian Democracy', Dhar says the PMH (Prime Minister's Home) became a hive of “extra-constitutional” activities as leaders junior in the Congress hierarchy but having the ears of an increasingly distrustful prime minister and another set of functionaries loyal to her son undermined the PMS (Prime Minister's Secretariat).

Critical of the power centralised in the PMS, Morarji Desai reduced its strength and rechristened it as Prime Minister's Office, a moniker which has continued, after replacing Indira Gandhi.

Sanjay Gandhi and his loyalists like Haryana leader Bansi Lal gained ascendency in the Congress during the era. Even the prime minister was left alarmed by their move to have state assemblies pass resolutions in support of forming a constituent assembly for sweeping changes in the Constitution.

Aware of her obsessive love for Sanjay Gandhi, Dhar said in the book published in 2000 that he would normally have attributed all this to temporary annoyance.

"But it was more than a passing mood this time. I knew how carefully she had kept Sanjay out of all discussions on constitutional reforms. I also knew how much she had resented the passage of the constituent assembly resolutions by the three assemblies without her knowledge, but with Sanjay's approval. Was Sanjay proving too wild even for her?" he wondered.

He said the main purpose of the constituent assembly appeared to be continuing the Emergency regime and postponing elections. Bansi Lal told Dhar that it would be to make "behan ji" (Indira Gandhi) president for life.