New Delhi : The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee received the first copy of book “India’s Indira: A Centennial Tribute” on May 13, 2017 at Teen Murti Bhawan in New Delhi.

Speaking on the occasion, the President said Indira ji’s entire life was infused with a tremendous passion for India and its people, and a deep-rooted commitment to our core values. She was filled with an intense desire to see India rise above poverty and deprivation as well as occupy a rightful place on the high table of the international comity. Her life was a saga of courage and conviction. Fearlessness in action and boldness in decision making was the unique hallmark of her character.

The President said Indira ji waged throughout her life a relentless war against communal and sectarian violence. She strove to successfully transcend divisive identities of caste, community, religion and creed and in the process established a direct connect with people throughout the length and breadth of India. It was this unhindered rapport that made her acceptable from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and Mizoram to Dwarka. She had only one identity - that of an Indian.

The President said Smt. Indira Gandhi’s response to the worst moments in her political life was to push herself into more action. She remained undaunted in the face of attacks and criticism. She never lost courage. If the Congress Party came back into power within a short period of three years, it was because of Smt. Gandhi’s hard work and determined action. Her short period in political wilderness revealed her true strength.

The President said Indira ji was India’s second longest serving Prime Minister having served continuously for 11 years and two months from 1966 to 1977 and then again for four years and eight months from 1980 to 1984. It was in Indira ji’s time that India became the third largest reservoir of skilled scientific and technical manpower, the fifth military power, the sixth member of the nuclear club, the seventh in the race for space and the tenth industrial power.

President Shri Pranab Mukherjee, recalling the life and times of Indira Gandhi, whose birth centenary is currently being celebrated, said “I was a junior minister in 1977 when the Congress was defeated. She called me and told me: ‘Don’t get unnerved by defeat. Now is the time to act’.”

Hon’ble President Shri Mukherjee pointed out how swiftly she had reorganized and galvanized the Congress while she was left in political wilderness.

And while Congress President Smt. Sonia Gandhi who returned home after hospitalisation for food poisoning on Friday stayed away son and party Congress Vice-President Shri Rahul Gandhi, who was on the dais, said that the doctors had advised her rest. Congress President Smt. Sonia Gandhi’s speech, read out by Shri Rahul Gandhi, was a personal tribute in which she said she would leave it to historians and political analysts to assess Indira Gandhi’s “courage and tenacity”; for Smt. Sonia Gandhi, she was a beloved mother-in-law with whom she spent 16 years, learning a great deal.

Former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, who had also worked closely with Indira Gandhi, dwelt at some length on her development priorities, her commitment to the underprivileged and how she took on the challenge of two years of failed monsoon to make India self-reliant in food.

Vice-President Hamid Ansari, who had also known Indira Gandhi personally in his years as a diplomat, provided a more nuanced picture. He pointed out that just as she was a “much loved and revered” figure, “at times she was also disliked”, and that while she succeeded in great measure, she faltered sometimes. But “controversy did not deter her,” he stressed. He described the volume released as “an offering to understand the life of Indira Gandhi, particularly for the younger generation.”

Among the dignitaries present on the occasion were Mohd. Hamid Ansari, Vice President of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh, former Prime Minister of India, Shri Rahul Gandhi, Vice President, AICC, Shri Anand Sharma, MP who edited the book former Union Ministers and Members of Parliament and AICC Office bearers though there were a large number of diplomats, retired civil servants and others who had known Indira Gandhi as well.