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Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said said even though he was a critic of the 1975 Emergency, former PM Indira Gandhi’s assassination in 1984 felt like a “personal blow”
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor shared a picture of himself interviewing then PM Indira Gandhi for a Swiss youth magazine. (Image: @ShashiTharoor/X)
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor remembered late prime minister Indira Gandhi on her 108th birth anniversary, honouring her with a “personal” tribute that also had a stark reminder for all.
Tharoor said Indira Gandhi left a major imprint, “for good and ill”, on modern India’s history as part of her “towering legacy”. He said even though he was a critic of the 1975 Emergency, her assassination felt like a “personal blow”.
“Even though I was a critic of the Emergency, as reflected in my books, her assassination felt like a personal blow. Today, one remembers a figure who left a major imprint, for good and ill, on modern India’s history,” Tharoor said in a post on X.
Honouring the towering legacy of our late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, whose 108th birthday anniversary is today. Much has been (&will be) written about her decisive leadership in redrawing the map of the subcontinent in 1971 and (less admiringly) of the Emergency four years… pic.twitter.com/qIlaOZmPwE— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) November 19, 2025
“Honouring the towering legacy of our late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, whose 108th birthday anniversary is today. Much has been (&will be) written about her decisive leadership in redrawing the map of the subcontinent in 1971 and (less admiringly) of the Emergency four years later, so today I will confine myself to the personal,” he said.
Tharoor said his late grandmother Mundarath Jayasankini Amma was born on the same day as Indira Gandhi, which “created a strange kind of affinity in our household”. He recalled his meeting with her as an 18-year-old student union president of St Stephen’s College in 1974 and how he interviewed her for a Swiss youth magazine.
He said he got the opportunity to interview Gandhi again when she lost the 1977 elections – “at great length in two hour-long sessions on her foreign policy for his doctoral dissertation, which was later published as his book Reasons of State“.
Born on November 19, 1917, Indira Gandhi served as the prime minister from 1966 to 1977 and then again from 1980 until her assassination on October 31, 1984.
(With PTI inputs)
The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad. From live updates to exclusive reports to in-depth explainers, the Desk d…Read More
The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad. From live updates to exclusive reports to in-depth explainers, the Desk d… Read More
November 19, 2025, 23:57 IST
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