Hero Worship: Indira Gandhi
When a leader becomes larger than a nation, the nation begins to shrink to fit the leader’s shadow. Indira Gandhi was a great leader. But she allowed that greatness to overshadow the country itself. She became greater than the nation. Her sycophants and their foot soldiers sang alleluia to her: “India is Indira, Indira is India.” Democracies are built on institutions, but they unravel when leaders begin to imagine themselves as embodiments of the nation, answerable to none. Indira Gandhi began as a popular and decisive leader. Her role in the 1971 war and the creation of Bangladesh earned her immense public admiration. For many, she was not just a Prime Minister; she was a symbol of strength, resolve, and national pride. Soon she emerged as a national hero and acquired many worshippers. Hero worship begins quietly. It does not announce itself as a danger. It appears instead as plain admiration which soon morphs into canine loyalty and finally becomes blind devotion. Before lo...
