Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s blistering attack on Indira Gandhi in the Lok Sabha was unusual. While he has been extremely critical of the Emergency imposed by her, seldom did he or his ideological patron, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, make personal attacks on Indira Gandhi or question her track record in terms of national security. She has enjoyed respect and admiration in the Sangh Parivar for her 1971 feat—splitting Pakistan by liberating Bangladesh. So much so that Atal Bihari Vajpayee equating her with goddess Durga continues to circulate in public discourse even though he had denied it categorically.
While Modi has been critical of all Congress PMs except Lal Bahadur Shastri and Narasimha Rao, his criticism of Indira Gandhi has been limited largely to the excesses committed during the Emergency and the frequent misuse of Article 356. That was until Thursday when he launched no-holds-barred attack on her during the debate on the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha. There were broadly three counts on which he held her responsible.
First, he criticised her for signing a treaty with then-Sri Lankan President Srimavo Bandarnaike in 1974, relinquishing India’s rights over the uninhabited Katchatheevu island spanning 285 acres. Launching a counter-attack on Rahul Gandhi for accusing the Modi-led government of “murdering” Bharat Mata (Mother India) in Manipur, the Prime Minister said, “Who gave the island beyond Tamil Nadu and before Sri Lanka to another country? Was it not Bharat Mata? Was it not part of Ma Bharti? Who was there then? It happened under the leadership of Indira Gandhi?”
Second, Modi brought up the Indian Air Force’s attack on “helpless citizens” in Mizoram on 5 March 1966, which occurred during Indira Gandhi’s tenure. “Congress should respond if it was the Air Force of another country. Were the people of Mizoram not citizens of my country? Was their security not the responsibility of the Indian government?” said Modi.
Third, he referred to Operation BlueStar in 1984, which was carried out to flush out armed militants from the Golden Temple. “Akal Takht was attacked, which is still in our memory. They had got habituated to it before, in Mizoram,” said Modi.
Also read: Modi faces no political costs for suffering he causes. He’s just like Iran’s Ali Khamenei
Breaking the BJP-RSS norm
There were two other issues over which the Prime Minister appeared to have taken a dig at Indira Gandhi, but they are subject to interpretation. When he attacked the Congress for “slicing Ma Bharti in three pieces” on 14 August (1947), many people might have interpreted it as a reference to Bangladesh’s liberation of 1971. But, for sure, Modi won’t criticise Indira for splitting Pakistan. The third piece, therefore, remains a puzzle. He also accused the Congress of “stealing” the Gandhi name. He appeared to be referring to Indira Gandhi’s husband, Feroze Gandhi, who had changed his surname from Ghandy to Gandhi, which passed on to his family.
Modi’s attack on Indira Gandhi on the first three counts was, however, unusual and surprising. Take for instance his jibe at her over Katchatheevu island. Both the AIADMK and the DMK had gone to court against the 1974 treaty. On 27 August 2014, when Modi was already the Prime Minister, then Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi told the Supreme Court: “How can it be taken back today? If you want Katchatheevu back, you will have to go to war to get it back.”
If that was the stand of the Modi government in 2014, why would the Prime Minister rake it up publicly now and risk upsetting the neighbouring country?
As for the Mizoram issue, Modi’s stand seemed uncharacteristic of him as a leader whose USP is national security. What were the circumstances in which Indira Gandhi ordered the IAF to strafe? As reported by my colleague Ananya Bhardwaj, the Mizo National Front (MNF) had declared independence from India on 1 March 1966, attacking the Aizawl treasury and security posts. Five personnel of Assam Rifles were also killed. The MNF’s plan was to capture Army and paramilitary bases and raise the flag of an independent Mizoram for at least 48 hours because Pakistan had promised the insurgent group to raise their cause in the United Nations and get Mizoram diplomatic recognition. To prevent the MNF from overrunning Assam Rifles outpost in Aizawl, Indira Gandhi ordered the air strike, forcing the MNF to retreat into the jungles of Myanmar and East Pakistan. At least 13 civilians were also killed.
Come to think of it, if Modi was the PM in 1966 and there was the possibility of an insurgent group overrunning the outpost of a central paramilitary force and declaring independence, what would he have done to prevent it? One can vouch for it that he would have done virtually anything to prevent that. Did Indira Gandhi explore other options? That’s for experts to debate.
PM Modi’s virtual disapproval of Operation BlueStar—through his reference to the attack on Akal Takht— and placing it in the context of the Mizoram air strike was surprising. The BJP has always done a tightrope walk on this matter, choosing to focus its attack on the Congress for anti-Sikh riots in 1984. Arun Jaitley had called Operation BlueStar a “historical blunder” and “strategic miscalculation”, but his criticism centred on the Indira Gandhi government’s failure to prevent the “extremist hardliners” like Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale for bringing arms and ammunitions within the Golden Temple complex and Gandhi’s failure to exhaust alternative options to evacuate them before resorting to military intervention.
In 2012, when the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee proposed constructing a memorial within the Golden Temple complex to honour those killed in Operation BlueStar, both the Congress and the BJP voiced objections. BJP leader JP Nadda, who would later become the party’s national president, deemed the memorial unnecessary, saying it would disrupt communal harmony in the state.
That same year, then Congress leader Captain Amarinder Singh, who has since joined the BJP, had pointed out that LK Advani had supported Operation BlueStar in his autobiography My Country, My Life.
Narendra Modi often attacked the Congress for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots but his latest speech in parliament was the first instance of him publicly disapproving Operation BlueStar.
Also read: The Modi playbook: Delay in PM condemning attacks on Kashmiris is part of a pattern
Politics behind Modi’s attack on Indira
On the face of it, it might look like a case of PM Modi giving it back to Rahul Gandhi who sought to sling mud at his image of a strong and decisive leader by questioning his alleged inaction in Manipur. But let’s look at Modi’s remarks closely. It’s not about what Indira Gandhi did in 1966, 1974, or 1984. It’s about Modi making his party battle-ready for 2024. He hasn’t declared any intent to retrieve Katchatheevu Island from Sri Lanka. He has only sought to deepen ties with the AIADMK, which remains the BJP’s only hope in a state that sends 39 members to the Lok Sabha. It will also help the BJP bolster its credentials in a Dravidian state when its state unit chief Annamalai is on En Mann En Makkal yatra.
Modi might have kept silent about Indira’s 1966 decision to use air power within the country for nine years, but he has now chosen to use it to show mirror to those questioning his national security record. He has also sent a message to the MNF, BJP’s ally, that voted in favour of the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha. The MNF had renounced secessionism to join the political mainstream after signing the Mizoram Accord in 1986.
As for Modi’s comment on the “attack” on Akal Takht—the first PM to describe it this way—he has already achieved the desired result to a certain extent. On Sunday, Sukhbir Badal, president of the BJP’s estranged ally, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), welcomed Modi’s “honest statement about the army assault” on Sri Harmandir Sahib in 1984 and asked him to follow it up with “an unconditional apology” from the government of India. With the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress drawing up plans to sew an alliance in Punjab and Delhi, which together have 20 Lok Sabha seats with the BJP currently holding nine of them— the ruling party at the Centre desperately needs its old ally, the SAD, to come back.
Modi’s Akal Takht remark is the opening the SAD might need to justify its return to the NDA. Pushed to the political fringe in Punjab due to the backlash over the three central farm laws, subsequently withdrawn, the SAD has been struggling for survival. Badal has, however, raised the bar for the BJP with the demand for the Centre’s apology for Operation BlueStar. Will PM Modi take the bait? Demanding an apology from the Congress for anti-Sikh riots in 1984 is one thing but offering it for the military operation to flush out armed militants from the Golden Temple would require Modi to reset his brand image as a strong and decisive leader who wouldn’t brook even a hint of secessionism or separatism.
Views are personal.
(Edited by Prashant)