Transcript

Topic

Iron Lady of India: Indira Gandhi

Interviewer:

Shirley Kabir, Dorothy Adu-Amankwah

Interviewee:

Dilbagh Sidhu

Interview Format:

Personal

Interview Date:

7 April, 2015

Interview Location:

Saratoga Medical Clinic

7839 Rolling Road
Springfield, VA

INTERVIEWER:

Was Indira Gandhi Prime Minister of India during your lifetime?

INTERVIEWEE: Yes,

I have been her personal doctor for a number of years. Not directly - but
indirectly - her real doctor was a professor of medicine since I was interned I happened to know
her. I interned with her doctor so whenever she came for a checkup yes I was there.
INTERVIEWER:

Do you think Indira Gandhi made the right decision by intervening into the
Pakistani Civil War? Why?
INTERVIEWEE:

Oh there was no question. She was absolutely right in it. I had the privilege to be
a part of the army. Went into Bangladesh and I saw things first hand myself.
INTERVIEWER:

Do you think her efforts to help the Bengali cause were successful? Did she
prevent the war from becoming any worse than it was before she intervened?
INTERVIEWEE: There was

a lot of indiscipline and uproar in Bangladesh at the time of the

intervention. At that time, Bangladesh was the East division of the original Pakistan. So the two
countries were separated almost 3,000 miles apart and the people in Bangladesh were getting
restless with the way the West part of the country ruled them. So there was a lot of unrest in
Bangladesh against the rules of the East Pakistan government and in order to calm down the
people of Bangladesh her intervention was appropriate in a timely fashion. When there was so
much unrest going on in Bangladesh a lot of people from Bangladesh had fled into India and the
economy of Bangladesh at the same time suffered very badly. There was a lot of unemployment,
the economy of the country was very poor and there was a lot of corruption and indiscipline in
the way that the government was run. So all these factors led to the unrest of Bangladesh and the
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uprising and the real Pakistan government wanted to crush the West Pakistan government and
people. So I think it was a very timely and appropriate intervention to liberate the people of
Bangladesh from the rest of Pakistan.
INTERVIEWER:

Indira Gandhis legacy was left in a bitter state after the attack of the Golden
Temple of Amritsar. Do you believe that her legacy should be based on this event? Or should it
be established on the accomplishments that shes achieved in her lifetime?
INTERVIEWEE:

I personally think that it was a very appropriate decision she took. A very hard
decision to take. And what she did was I think was a very very good thing to do. Because these
Sikhs who had occupied the Golden Temple of Amritsar in India were becoming a very forceful
factor in bringing about indiscipline in that state and they were asking for the independence of
that state. So her intervention was timely and very appropriate as far as I am concerned. And
after she took over the golden temple, the discipline was brought back into that state. I really
appreciate what she did. Otherwise, they would have torn that particular state into a separate
state.
INTERVIEWER:

An iron lady can be defined as a female head of a government or a strong

willed woman. Would you apply this term to Indira? Why or why not?
INTERVIEWEE:

Oh definitely I would apply both. The female head of government and also as
a strong willed woman. [This was true because] she was the head of the government, you
cannot deny that. And secondly, she was iron-willed because she was extremely disciplined and
she believed in achieving targets through discipline. And to put all people with indiscipline
attitude into the discipline attitude.
INTERVIEWER:

Was Indiras name a household name growing up? (i.e. was she mention
regularly during your childhood or adulthood?)
INTERVIEWEE: There was

no question, everybody knew her she was the first woman prime
minister. She was very strong; she came out very strong to the people. The people were not
working that well were getting caught in the daily disciplines in life and straightened them up.
She was quite popular.
INTERVIEWER:

When Indira Gandhi declared a state of emergency and became authoritarian did
your view of her change? How did you feel about her before and after she changed her policies?
INTERVIEWEE:

Oh I absolutely supported her for declaring the state of emergency and my

respect for her increased tremendously for her. The country was becoming chaotic and a lot of
rules and laws were broken. The corruption was at its height. The people werent doing their jobs
properly. The government work was not being done properly. There was a lot of delay in the
paperwork. So when she intervened a lot of things straightened overnight. And you could get
things done very quickly and easily. So that is the reason I have great respect for her.
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INTERVIEWER:

In your opinion, whats the most memorable contribution of Indira Gandhi?

Why?
INTERVIEWEE:

I think her most memorable contribution was bringing discipline in the country.
Another notable achievement that people dont appreciate was her development of the nuclear
power. Which, when used for peaceful purposes would generate so much electricity for that
country. And that was one of the biggest achievements you could have ever got.
INTERVIEWER:

What qualities do you find most fascinating about Indira Gandhi?

INTERVIEWEE:

She was well educated; she knew what she was doing. She was hot-headed. She
would listen to her advisors. She would have conferences with her advisors and with other
people. She would take decisions and once she takes those decisions she would make sure it was
implemented. So people may call her whatever they want to call her but in reality, she never took
a decision without going to and for the decision. So i think she did a good job.
INTERVIEWER:

If Indira Gandhi was not assassinated in 1984, would India have excelled

further?
INTERVIEWEE:

I wish she would have lived long. And I am sure she would have put her country
into a real good recovery path and into a path to progress. I think she was a very good person; I
had the privilege of taking care of her and working with her. And may I add a few things that as a
person, she was very cunning, very clever, very witty, and always can cheer you up in the most
stressful situations.
INTERVIEWER:

Do you think everything that she did was always in the best interest of the
people? Did she always have the people in her mind that is why she made the decisions that she
did?
INTERVIEWEE:

In politics. You cannot please everybody. There are always people who are
absolutely for something and there are people who are absolutely against something. And then
there are people that are in between. So you cannot please everybody. So if she made a decision
pleasing some group, as politicians always do. Youre going to make the other people unhappy
and make the one who benefited from the situation happy. In that way, she made sure she tried to
make to give something to everybody to make them happy. So I know she didnt make
everybody happy in all the decisions but at least certain groups benefited from it and in the long
run I think everybody benefited from it.
INTERVIEWER:

So you think she ruled better than her father, Jawaharlal Nehru?

INTERVIEWEE:

Oh there was no question about it. Yes, there is no question that she was much
more intelligent. She was more disciplined. She had more knowledge. And she acquired all this
though her father, obviously, her father was very well educated. And a very good orator. She was
not as impressive as her father, her father was a very good orator he could convince anybody. But
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she was okay. She had gained a lot of experience through the work of her father. So whatever his
shortcomings were there and she changed that over. And improved on them. And may I also add,
she and her father never got together. They always had problems.