Sonia Gandhi writes in her memoir :
"Things were proceeding smoothly when out of the blue one morning, at the start of the seventh month of my pregnancy, I began to feel uneasy, with mild abdominal pains.
The doctor was sent for and I was told to rest.
The pains increased and on the evening of the following day I had to be rushed to the hospital. On January 18, 1969, I gave birth to our first child. It was a normal delivery and I heard the baby’s first cry as he was placed in the incubator.
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| Rahul Gandhi with Indira and others |
"Later Rajiv took me to see him, a tiny, perfectly formed boy, with thick, black hair and long, slim fingers. We gazed at him together, Rajiv’s arm around my shoulder.
We fell in love with him immediately, but Rajiv had been told already that there were doubts about his survival. With Amie Aunty beside him, he broke it gently to me when at 6:30 in the morning the end came.
"No—it was not possible! Why, why, I kept asking . . . Both of us were shocked and heartbroken, we held each other tight. I cried my heart out, and Rajiv, in spite of his “stiff upper lip” upbringing, also wept copiously.
"My mother-in-law, on learning the news, flew back directly, interrupting her tour, reaching us at eleven thirty that night. She embraced us, her eyes red and swollen, and sat with us for a long time .... She, too, had so looked forward to the happy event.
How I longed to have my mother near me as well. Sanjay rushed to the hospital to be by his brother’s side.
"To those who didn’t know him, his manner could convey an impression of abruptness, even arrogance, but it hid a warm and empathetic side of his nature.
"His way of showing concern was different. He’d drop in and try to cheer us up with funny stories or riddles.
He had for some time wanted to show me what the lentil bush and bean looked like from which our daily yellow dal was made ....
"He (baby) couldn’t be cremated because, according to Hindu tradition, a newborn was simply released into the river.
He couldn’t be buried in any of the cemeteries, neither the Christian one—that in any case would have created a furore—nor the Parsi cemetery nearby.
"Rajiv’s father had been a Parsi but hadn’t adhered to their religious customs. What were we to do? I listened, exhausted with grief, unable to speak or react.
"Rajiv was rebuked by Indira for complaining against Sanjay"
Sonia also writes : "Rajiv had felt that his mother was pressured by Sanjay’s strident approach to political issues, and we could see that it came from her feeling politically cornered and alone.
"He used to report to her complaints or feedback from passengers that he’d hear during his journeys as a pilot, but she’d listen quietly, without offering comment. If there were documents to support the complaint, she’d direct them to her office—but there was never any response. ....
ignored when we communicated it.
"On one occasion my mother-in-law rebuked Rajiv for being naive in believing the reports he was bringing to her.
He insisted that some may have been exaggerated, but many were true; it was out of concern for her and his brother that he was passing on the reactions that came to his attention. She dismissed him with a look, and he gestured to me to leave her study with him.
"We returned together to our living room. I saw then that he was hurt, that his eyes were moist.
"We sat down together, and I put my head on his shoulder and held his hand. A few minutes later she was there, standing before us. She looked at Rajiv and kissed him on his forehead.
"Sanjay’s name had become synonymous with the Emergency.
He was just thirty years old, a man in a hurry. He was impatient with the slow workings of the bureaucracy and made his views known, even if they could have been construed as being critical of the prime minister.
Sometime towards the end of July 1976, he gave an interview where, amongst other comments, he castigated the USSR and the Communist Party of India and even criticised some of his mother’s policies.
"Sanjay hadn’t given an interview before, and the reason and timing were puzzling. My mother-in-law wrote an urgent note to her principal secretary, P. N. Dhar, tasking him to undertake some swift course correction. She was beside herself with worry and embarrassment.
"The Soviet Union had stood by India through the Bangladesh crisis, and the two countries had signed a Friendship Treaty. This had crossed all limits, she told Rajiv and me angrily; for the first time she gave vent to her frustration.
“He doesn’t listen to me,” she said. “I don’t know what to do.” She spoke firmly to Sanjay, but the damage had been done.
Rajiv had not hesitated to caution his brother.... "
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