As in life, so in death, Indira Gandhi continues to draw crowds.
In a city teeming with memorials, it is the Indira Gandhi memorial at 1, Akbar Road, that draws the maximum number of visitors, more than even Raj Ghat, the memorial to Mahatma Gandhi.
The visitors come from far and wide. Foreigners come to get a glimpse of what life was in the most powerful household in the country. But the maximum number of visitors are the poor and women from South India who visit to pay homage to “Indira amma” (mother).
Vaijayanthi, 64, is part of a busload of visitors on a visit to Delhi. She was 39 when the former prime minister was gunned down on October 31, 1984. She still remembers a meeting she had attended that was addressed by Indira Gandhi in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, many summers ago. “I am her on a pilgrimage. There is no way I could have gone back without paying homage to Indira amma. She did a lot for this country, especially women”.
She is not alone. There are many like her who make the journey, slowly, almost reverentially, moving from room to room at what used to Indira Gandhi’s residence, and which is now a memorial. It’s not uncommon to see women break down at the site where she was felled.
It’s not just the old. Indira Gandhi strikes a chord even amongst the generation that was born after her assassination. Many of them are drawn by the image handed out to them by their parents of a strong, decisive, popular and at times controversial leader, who not only changed the course of events but even the geography of the subcontinent.
“I remember my parents telling us how she put Pakistan in its place in 1971 and the manner in which she stood up to America. I find it hard to believe that this powerful woman lived such a simple life. I wish she was around to lead us today,” says Alka Singh, a BCom final year student from Varanasi.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who was initiated into India’s chaotic ways by her mother-in-law, has taken after her in several ways. For instance, she uses the wristwatch her mother-in-law used and the black leather bag that she carries for official meetings is the one used by Indira Gandhi. The Congress president is personally supervising the facelift currently under way at 1, Akbar Road.
Conscious of the hold that Indira Gandhi still has on the public imagination, the Congress party is doing everything it can to add to the mystique. It has lined up a series of events and functions to commemorate her 25th death anniversary on October 31. while the all-religion prayer meeting at Raj Ghat and the Indira Gandhi National Integration Award ceremony will held in Delhi as is customary, this Congress party state units have also been told to organise blood donation camps and seminars on national integration.
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