Originally posted by: atominis
Yes Indira was popular and very astute. At one point before she fiddled with Bhindranwale thing, she used to get votes of Sikhs too.
She used to directly meet masses, jump amidst crowds. Allowed people to touch her. People used to go to see her. She became queen after 1971 war.
My dad tells me she was extremely popular and had charismatic appeal among masses and brought politics to streets. Had total control of media, public messaging, destroyed opposition and brought slogans like garibi hatao, held rallies in rural areas and spoke in Hindi among masses. Despite knowing English and French. Cannot believe Rahul and Priyanka are her grandkids. Old timers see them as no patch on their granny or even dad.
Yes heard she used to dress like the locals when she visited them
But critics also say cz of her iron grip on the party and not allowing any regional leaders to grow (she would keep changing CMs,) CP was weakened in some states and the regional parties began to grow
Also Indira, her sons and DILs were not college graduates
Yes Indira could speak a little French, and tried to impress others but otherwise they were not interested in education but since came from a high caste, very rich family, were well traveled (most Indians rarely travelled overseas then) spoke English and fair skinned, so gave the appearance of well educated
Edited by BettyA1 - 1 years ago
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