May 04, 2026 02:54 am (IST)
Follow us:
facebook-white sharing button
twitter-white sharing button
instagram-white sharing button
youtube-white sharing button
Jolt to TMC! Supreme Court rejects plea challenging central staff deployment at Bengal counting centres | Bangladesh MP warns of refugee crisis if BJP wins West Bengal polls | Diplomatic row: Bangladesh summons Indian envoy over Himanta Biswa Sarma remarks | Supreme Court grants Pawan Khera anticipatory bail in case over allegations against Himanta Biswa Sarma's wife | ‘Not necessary to humiliate me with arrest’: Pawan Khera to SC over remarks on Himanta Biswa Sarma’s wife | ‘Let’s not choose for people capable of choosing’: Supreme Court to Centre on teen pregnancy termination | I-PAC co-founder Vinesh Chandel gets bail after Bengal polls conclude | Exit Polls Give Bengal to BJP—But One Survey Begs to Differ | Big defence push: Rajnath Singh to hold high-stakes talks with Italy’s Defence Minister | “Voting without fear”: PM Modi hails record turnout in West Bengal polls

Indira Gandhi wasn't aware of emergency provision: Pranab

| | Dec 14, 2014, at 03:18 am
New Delhi, Dec 11 (IBNS): President Pranab Mukherjee in his new book, released online on Thursday on his 79th birthday, wrote former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was not aware of the emergency provision in the Constitution and acted on advice from Congress leader Siddharth Shankar Ray when she imposed the Emergency of 1975-77.
"Indira asked SS Ray to go with her to the President, the president asked Shri Ray as to the exact words of the constitution and then told the PM to make her recommendation," Mukherjee wrote in his book 'Dramatic Decade, The Indira Gandhi Years'.
 
Mukherjee claims Siddharth Shankar Ray was a leader who took a "sharp about turn" before the Shah Commission set up to look into the Emergency's excesses  and pinned the blame on Indira Gandhi.
 
"Ray ran into Indira draped in a crimson sari that day in the commission hall. He remarked: 'You look pretty today.' Indira snapped back, 'despite your efforts,'" he wrote.
 
He stated that the Emergency an "avoidable event".
 
"Discipline in public life, a growing economy, controlled inflation, reversed trade deficit, enhanced spending on development and a crackdown on tax evasion and smuggling," he wrote.
 
His book, which is considered as an insider's account on some of the most game-changing events in Indian politics.
 
It will be sold online for 21 days before it hits the bookstores.
#President Pranab Mukherjee

Support Our Journalism

We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism

IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.

Support objective journalism for a small contribution.
Related Images
In Images: Armoured vehicle stands guard outside strongroom in Kolkata ahead of counting day
In Images: Armoured vehicle stands guard outside strongroom in Kolkata ahead of counting day May 03, 2026, at 07:36 pm
Security beefed up outside Kolkata's Netaji Indoor Stadium ahead of vote counting
Security beefed up outside Kolkata's Netaji Indoor Stadium ahead of vote counting May 03, 2026, at 11:30 am
Mamata’s midnight meltdown: CM stays 4 hours at strongroom over ‘EVM tampering’ fears
Mamata’s midnight meltdown: CM stays 4 hours at strongroom over ‘EVM tampering’ fears May 01, 2026, at 03:56 am
Related Videos
Mamata Banerjee casts her vote in Kolkata May 03, 2026, at 03:37 pm
Bengal Polls: Prosenjit Chatterjee on voting with son in Kolkata May 03, 2026, at 03:34 pm
Faith in Democracy: MoC Nuns and ISKCON Monks Cast Votes in Bengal Elections May 03, 2026, at 03:31 pm