VII

The Decline of the Congress and Indira’s Rise

I have the privilege of belonging to the Congress even when I was not a member… So it is certainly not my intention ever to do anything that would weaken this great organization. But with all my love and my pride in the Congress organization, I must say that there is something which is bigger than the Congress and that is our country and that is our people… And the day we forget that … that day will see the weakening of the party.

—Indira Gandhi, at the AICC meet in Bangalore on 12 July 1969

We have seen in the previous chapter that Indira Gandhi’s election as the prime minister was made possible by two factors. One was the initiative taken by the then Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Dwarka ...

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