Indira Gandhi (A Biography)

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A serious biography is a dialogue between the author and the unfolding personality of the individual portrayed. The task becomes more complex when the life of the author is linked in several ways with the subject; for then the author has to measure her perceptions against a people’s view of the individual and her actions.

This is not a political biography, but Indira Gandhi’s life was part of the unfolding history of India, intricately woven with India’s past and future. It becomes inevitable, therefore, that politics forms a backdrop to her public and often private actions. The book seeks clues on her life through access to the many personalities that lay hidden within her. And, if possible, to uncover and reveal Indira Gandhi’s thoughts and feelings, her that’s and prejudices, her insights and her ignorance, and her loves and the emotional entanglements that generated action. It is this alone that gives density to the material, enables Indira Gandhi to come alive. Unfortunately, we deify and worship our heroes and so destroy them.