“When a big tree falls, the ground shakes” - Rajiv Gandhi after the death of Indira Gandhi and subsequent Sikh riots.

“Here, you know, she used to have breakfast. And there she used to have her evening tea with Rajiv perhaps,” my friend said. “Yeah, I guess so,” I replied in awe as I unwillingly moved forward because people in the queue kept urging me on.

It was my first-ever close encounter with the country’s most celebrated female leader, whose name is considered synonymous with India – Indira Gandhi!

I was at 1 Akbar Road, the official residence of Indira Gandhi at the time of her assassination, which is now turned into a memorial.

I was fascinated, and believe me I could not even sleep that day as I was thrilled to have walked through the corridors of the house where the daughter of India’s first prime minister had lived. Generations of Gandhis have served India devotedly. And, it was like virtual walk alongside the most powerful family of India.

But, these thoughts are not mine alone. There are thousands throughout India, who adore the family and Indira till date – decades after her assassination.

I still remember the discussion which took place in my uncle’s village on the day of elections. The discussion made me realize that people are still in awe of the Iron Lady despite her being the one who gave us our only “Emergency”!

At times, people do loath her, but that cannot outdo the several good things she did for the country. In fact, after Nehru, she was the most recognized leader internationally. In a way, the present Congress party is built on her ideology (after all her slogan “Garibi Hatao” is still used by Congressmen to garner votes).

Her decree on sterilization raised a storm, albeit it was done on her son Sanjay’s insistence. The rigged elections of 1975, her subsequent arrest and removal of from Parliament are some of the obvious blots on her image.

But what outshines the above-mentioned incidents is her love for the country. She participated in the independence struggle, perhaps by default because of her father. But later she purposefully involved herself in nation building, and guided India during the 1971 war with Pakistan, which resulted in the creation of Bangladesh. And who can forget the manner in which she stood up to the belligerence of America.

Her “Smiling Buddha” armed India with the much needed nuclear deterrence against adverse neighbours.

She was the prime minister of India from 1966-1977 and again during 1980-84. And it was during this time that there was a thrust on agricultural growth, which heralded the Green Revolution.

The policies of the first and only female prime minister of India also had a flip side to them and which may have adversely affected the economy of the country. Her left wing economic policies, her controversial nationalization programme, the introduction of lengthy red tape and hounding of industrial houses were heavily criticized.

However some of these initiatives are now being seen in a new and more positive light in times of global recession. India’s carefully guarded financial institutions and banks were able to dodge the crisis which sunk some of most prominent US giants. The ruling Congress Party was quick to take credit for this.

Perhaps her worst folly was her tinkering with the Indian Constitution, the edifice of our pluralist democracy. Had it not been for the fight of some doyens of India, perhaps some our vital freedoms would have been lost forever.

Indira’s misjudged moves in Punjab to break the Akali dominance so that Congress could gain a foothold backfired and led to one of the saddest decades of the state, when violence and bloodshed reigned supreme.

It was rather tragic that she succumbed to the bullets of those very individuals, who had taken up the gun and failed to see the larger picture.

Despite all her faults, there can be no doubting that she was a true nationalist, and one who cared zealously for her motherland. Her actions will always be debatable, but not what she dreamt for India.