Family disputes resurface as Sonia Gandhi holds Sanjay responsible for Emergency: KC Tyagi

New Delhi: Reacting to Congress leader Sonia Gandhi's memoir 'Belonging: A Journey of Love', released on Tuesday, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD)leader K C Tyagi said family disputes have once again come to the fore with her holding Sanjay Gandhi responsible for the Emergency instead of former prime minister Indira Gandhi.

Tyagi said there was a discussion at the time of the Emergency that Sanjay Gandhi, Om Mehta, Siddhartha Shankar Ray and Bansi Lal were opposed to any kind of compromise and wanted confrontation.

"I have also read and heard about some of these episodes. Even at the time of the Emergency, there was discussion that Sanjay Gandhi, Om Mehta, Siddhartha Shankar Ray and Bansi Lal were the four people who were not in favour of any kind of compromise.


"They wanted confrontation, and it was because of them, their insistence and their advice that the Emergency was imposed," Tyagi told PTI Videos.

Sanjay Gandhi was the younger son of Indira Gandhi, Om Mehta was the then minister of state for home affairs, Siddhartha Shankar Ray was the then chief minister of West Bengal and Bansi Lal was the then chief minister of Haryana.

"Family disputes have once again come to the fore when Sonia Gandhi holds Sanjay Gandhi responsible for the Emergency instead of Indira Gandhi," he said.

In her memoir, Sonia Gandhi weighed in on the Emergency imposed in the country in 1975 and called it a mistake.

The Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) president said she believes her mother-in-law Indira Gandhi also came to feel the same.

On Sonia Gandhi's observations about Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the memoir, Tyagi said the yardstick to judge a person's merits and shortcomings in a democracy is the election.

"Mrs (Indira) Gandhi was unpopular on several occasions, yet she won elections, even after imposing the Emergency. Prime Minister Narendra Modi enjoys widespread public support," he said.

Reacting to Rahul Gandhi's remarks on Modi's "dimagi Naxal" comment, Tyagi said soldiers, the Army and paramilitary forces should not be dragged into political disputes.

The remarks came amid a political row over Modi's "dimagi Naxal" comment during Diwali celebrations with CRPF personnel at a camp in Karanpur in Chhattisgarh's Bastar district. Targeting the prime minister, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi had said the CRPF personnel present at the event did not believe his remarks and challenged him to a debate on "who is anti-national and who is controlled by foreign forces".

On Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's claim that 1.27 crore Hindu voters had been deleted from electoral rolls, Tyagi said allegations and counter-allegations were continuing in the state ahead of the elections.

"The chief minister's statement is quite significant, and he should pursue the matter and take further action," he said.