Khushwant Singh Khushwant Singh

Truth, Love and a Little Malice, by way of explanation that this work is his swan song. He reckons he has another few years of creative activity left before he's old and grey and full of sleep. His life, however, has been anything but average.

Having abandoned law and diplomacy, he eventually found fulfilment in journalism, a profession that allowed him to meet many of the individuals who helped shape the major historical events of the past few decades.

It also enabled him to forge an enfant terrible persona for himself, outraging conventional sensibilities with his determination to drag sex out of the Indian closet. Of sex there is surprisingly little in his autobiography, and what little there is, is not Singh's.

Confirmation, perhaps, of the late (journalist) Dhiren Bhagat's famous taunt that despite the constant harping on sex, Singh probably does not sleep with anything more interesting than a hot-water bottle.



Singh's close association with the Gandhis began when, as editor of The Illustrated Weekly, he defended Sanjay's role in the Maruti car project, an association reinforced by being one of the few family friends to standby them during the Emergency and their subsequent fall from grace; his intimacy with Maneka Gandhi's family arose from the help he gave them in setting up Surya magazine.

In an exclusive extract from a book to be published by Ravi Dayal next January, India Today reprints his account of how the relationship between Mrs Gandhi and Maneka disintegrated and its final denouement when Maneka was thrown out of 1, Safdarjung Road.



After Sanjay's death in 1980, Maneka began complaining that Mrs Gandhi was treating her like dirt.



It should be borne in mind that Indira Gandhi had made no great success of her own marriage. Her husband Feroze Gandhi was the son of a Parsi liquor vendor of Allahabad.

After bearing him two sons, Rajiv and Sanjay, she deserted him to live with her father and act as his housekeeper and hostess. According to M.O. Mathai, Pandit Nehru's personal secretary for many years, neither father nor daughter were sexually inhibited. In his book, Mathai refers to Panditji's liaisons with Padmaja Naidu and Edwina Mountbatten.

Mathai was also the first to allege that Panditji had a short-lived affair with the tantric sadhvi Shraddha Mata, who bore him an illegitimate child whom she abandoned in a Catholic hospital in the south.

In a chapter entitled She, which was withheld by his publishers (Vikas) but later made available to many people including myself, he described Indira as an amorous woman. Mathai claims to have been her lover for 12 years before he lost out to Dhirendra Brahmachari.

All this is significant, as later Mrs Gandhi maintained that Maneka did not fit into her family because she was not of the same class as the Nehru-Gandhis and did not behave in a manner becoming an Indian woman after she had lost her husband.



Maneka first met Sanjay Gandhi on 14 December, 1973, at a cocktail party given by her uncle Major-General Kapur (the husband of Maneka's father's sister and a renowned beauty of her times) to celebrate his son Veenu Kapur's forthcoming marriage.

Sanjay, being a school friend of Veenu, was present. It also happened to be Sanjay's birthday. He was in high spirits (not alcoholic, as he never touched liquor). He was known to have an eye for pretty girls but carefully avoided getting entangled with those he suspected "fell" for him with designs of becoming members of India's first family.

Maneka was then seventeen years old: a lanky, flat-chested, freckled lass, attractive enough to have won a college beauty contest and modelled for a firm of towel manufacturers. She was, and is, highly photogenic.

Indira Gandhi with Sanjay Gandhi Indira Gandhi with Sanjay Gandhi

Thereafter, Sanjay and Maneka saw each other every day. Sanjay was not a restaurant or picture-going young man and was shy of being seen in public where he would be recognized; he preferred to see Maneka either in her home or bring her to his own.

Early in 1974, he invited Maneka to a meal. Maneka was understandably nervous of meeting the prime minister and, when she did, she did not know what to say. It was Mrs Gandhi who broke the ice. "Since Sanjay has not introduced us, you better tell me what your name is and what you do," she said.



Mrs Gandhi had no reason to try and size up Maneka. Sanjay had brought home different girls at different times. She had never on her own introduced her son to anyone she thought would make a suitable daughter-in-law. As with her elder son, she was willing to leave the choice of the proper wife to her son.



Maneka's mother, Amteshwar Anand, claims that, far from scheming to trap Sanjay for her daughter, she did her best to discourage her from entering into what she felt would be a misalliance. And she sent Maneka away to Bhopal to spend some days with her grandmother, Lady Datar Singh. In July 1974, Maneka returned from Bhopal.

On the 29th of the same month, a formal engagement ceremony took place in the prime minister's house at 1, Safdarjung Road, followed by a lunch where members of both families were present. Mrs Gandhi gave her daughter-in-law-to-be a gold and turquoise set and a Tanchoi sari. A month later, on Maneka's birthday (26 August, 1974) she gave her an Italian silk sari.



Soon after, Sanjay had to undergo a hernia operation. After attending college in the morning, Maneka spent her afternoons and evenings with her fiance in the private ward of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

A few weeks after his discharge from hospital and convalescence, Sanjay and Maneka were married at a civil ceremony (on 23 September, 1974) at the house of Mohammed Yunus.

Mrs Gandhi was generous in the wedding presents she gave to her new daughter-in-law: twenty-one expensive saris, two sets of gold jewellery, a lehnga, and perhaps the most precious of all, a khadi sari made of yarn spun by her father, Jawaharlal Nehru, when he was in jail.

Mrs Gandhi welcomed Maneka as a traditional mother-in-law would welcome her bahu: she did up the bedroom, arranged artefacts on the dressing table and chose the bangles Maneka would wear on the night following her wedding.

Maneka Gandhi with Varun Gandhi in '93 Maneka Gandhi with Varun Gandhi in '93

A week after Sanjay's death in June 1980, Mrs Gandhi suggested to Maneka on her own that she work as her secretary. A few days later, Dhirendra Brahmachari came to her room to inform her that Mrs Gandhi was too embarrassed to tell her so but Sonia had put her foot down on the proposal, and had threatened to return to Italy with her family unless Mrs Gandhi withdrew the offer to Maneka.

If Maneka is to be believed, Sonia had her own grievance against her mother-in-law. She had pressurised Sonia to do some exercise because she looked enormous during her first pregnancy and the exercise had cost her the loss of a five-month-old male foetus.

I have reason to disbelieve this story as many a time when Sanjay was alive, Maneka had told me how Mrs Gandhi favoured Sonia at her expense and had given many things belonging to Panditji, including a watch and pen to her foreign daughter-in-law rather than to the Indian.

I have little doubt that Sonia was the more favoured daughter-in-law, just as Sanjay was the more favoured son. Now that Sanjay was gone, Mrs Gandhi had no choice except to lean on her only remaining child. She had no great affection for Maneka and resented Amteshwar's bossiness. It did not take much for this feeling to turn into unconcealed hostility.



Mrs Gandhi became more and more irritated by Maneka's presence and found fault with everything she did. She told me that Maneka had been rude to people who came to condole with them.

At a formal banquet given in honour of Mrs Margaret Thatcher, while Rajiv and Sonia were seated on the main table with the chief guest, Maneka was relegated to the table meant for the staff along with R.K. Dhawan, Mrs Gandhi's personal secretary.

Indira Gandhi with Maneka Gandhi and Varun Gandhi Indira Gandhi with Maneka Gandhi and Varun Gandhi

She was told that she was a distraction and had no table manners. One day Mrs Gandhi sent for me and asked me to speak to Maneka to behave better. When I spoke to Maneka she complained of being treated like dirt and referred to Mrs Gandhi as "one old bag".The relationship between the two women deteriorated very fast. Maneka would make her friends believe that she did nothing to provoke Mrs Gandhi and all the fault lay with Mrs Gandhi - and that every time she met Mrs Gandhi she was told, "Everyone hates you - you murdered your father (Tejinder Singh Anand killed himself in 1978), your mother is a bitch."Mrs Gandhi also accused Maneka of having accepted a bribe of one and a half lakh for getting someone called Khosla a contract for shipping slabs of marble from Rajasthan.

A short while later, when Mrs Gandhi went on a visit to Jaisalmer she excluded Maneka from her party, ostensibly because Rajasthan's minister of tourism, Narendra Singh Bhatti, had taken Maneka to court for a seven-line article against him in Surya.

The lines were certainly defamatory of Bhatti but it was hard to believe that Bhatti would have dared to proceed against Maneka without first getting a clearance from Mrs Gandhi and Rajiv. The case was dropped after Maneka and her mother offered an apology to Bhatti.

Neither of the two women had the slightest sense of guilt for falsely maligning Bhatti, but were aggrieved that Mrs Gandhi had not squashed him.

Indira Gandhi with Sanjay Gandhi's body Indira Gandhi with Sanjay Gandhi's body

It was clear to everyone that Maneka's days in No. 1, Safdarjung Road were numbered. The only speculation was how and when she would leave. Mrs Gandhi, who had never known matters to be decided by anyone except herself, was in for a nasty surprise.

Once having decided to part company with her mother-in-law, Maneka decided that this time she would determine the terms and time of her departure. She told me several weeks ahead of the exact day on which she would be "thrown out".



Maneka chose the time very carefully. Mrs Gandhi was in London for the India Festival and had taken Soma with her. Rajiv was too involved in building himself up and avoided being at home to spare himself from meeting Maneka at meals. Maneka and her mother made full use of the opportunity to remove whatever documents they needed from the house.

Her van, driven by her brother and sister, was as usual allowed to enter and leave the prime minister's house unchecked. Maneka and Akbar Ahmed (Dumpy) decided to launch the Sanjay Vichar Manch. Mrs Gandhi did not know how to express her disapproval of an organisation professing to propagate her son's ideals.

The family at lunch The family at lunch

The text of Maneka's speech at the inaugural function (which Maneka claims had been approved by Mrs Gandhi) was telegraphed to London by Rajiv. Mrs Gandhi decided she had got the opportunity she had waited for all these months to get rid of her turbulent daughter-in-law.Mrs Gandhi returned from London on the morning of 28 March, 1982, determined to call the shots. When Maneka came to greet her, she dismissed her curtly: "I will speak to you later." Word was sent to her that she was not expected to join the family for lunch and the food would be sent to her room. About 1 p.m. another message was sent to her that the prime minister would like to see her.

Maneka was prepared for a dressing down. She was in the sitting room when Mrs Gandhi walked in barefoot. She ordered Dhawan and Dhirendra Brahmachari to come in as witnesses to what she had to say to Maneka.

According to Maneka, she was fuming with rage and was barely comprehensible. "You dirty little liar. You cheat, you..." she screamed, wagging her finger at Maneka." You will get out of this house immediately."

Indira Gandhi with Dhirendra Brahmachari Indira Gandhi with Dhirendra Brahmachari

Maneka assumed an air of innocence and asked, "Why? What have I done?" Mrs Gandhi screamed back: "I heard every word of the speech you made." Maneka added: "It was cleared by you." This caused another outburst.

Mrs Gandhi accused her of bringing her enemies into her house during her absence in London, and for good reasons added: "There was venom in every word you spoke. Get out this minute. Get out," she shrieked. "The car has been ordered to take you to your mother's house." Maneka stood her ground. She did not want to go to her mother's house and needed time to pack.

"You will go where you are told. Your things will be sent to you later," said Mrs Gandhi and again used strong words for Amteshwar. Maneka started sobbing, and left for her room shouting back that she would not allow her mother to be insulted.

Mrs Gandhi followed her barefooted on the gravel road shouting within the hearing of the staff and sentries outside: "Get out. Get out."

Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi

Meanwhile, Feroze Varun had been taken to Mrs Gandhi's room. The first thing Maneka did on getting back to her room was to ring up Sanjay's old friend and co-pilot, K.D. Singh, and tell him to inform everyone he could of what had happened, as she did not know if she would be able to communicate with anyone later.

No sooner had she put down the receiver than her telephone went dead and the gates of the prime minister's house closed.

Maneka's friends got busy spreading the word around to the press. Before going to the prime minister's house, Maneka's sister, Ambika, rang me up to tell me what was happening and to spread the information. By 9 p.m. a crowd of photographers and reporters, including foreign correspondents, began assembling outside the gates.

Mrs Gandhi always had a healthy dread and hatred of the foreign press. The police, which had been amassed at different points of approach to the house, had not been fully briefed about whom to stop and whom to let through.



When Maneka's relations with Mrs Gandhi, Rajiv and Sonia reached the point of no return, she decided to orchestrate her own "expulsion"

Ten minutes later, Ambika and her brother arrived at the house. For the first time in eight years they were stopped. Word of their arrival was sent to Mrs Gandhi and she was told that Ambika was talking to the pressmen.

Their car was allowed to enter and the two went into Maneka's room. They found Maneka in tears, trying to put whatever she could into her trunks.

Mrs Gandhi suddenly walked in and ordered Maneka to leave without taking anything. Ambika spoke out, "She won't leave, it is her house." Mrs Gandhi's dislike of Ambika was tinged with fear of the girl's sharp tongue.

"This is not her house," shouted Mrs Gandhi, "this is the house of the prime minister of India. She cannot bring people here without my permission. In any case, Ambika Anand, I don't want to speak to you." Ambika was not one to be cowed down. "Mrs Gandhi, you have no right to speak to my sister like this. This is Sanjay's house and she is Sanjay's wife. So it is her house. No one can order her out of it."

Mrs Gandhi began to fumble for words and to cry. "I did not tell her to get out. I have never told a lie in my life," she said. "You have never told the truth in your life" retaliated the two sisters now emboldened by each other's presence.

The fight went out of Mrs Gandhi; she began to cry hysterically and had to be escorted out of the room by Dhirendra Brahmachari. Thereafter, messages had to be conveyed through the hapless Dhawan, who received his share of tongue-lashing from the two girls, as well as being rewarded for his pains by being bitten by Maneka's Irish Wolfhound Sheba, who had been upset by the excitement.



Left to themselves, the two sisters planned their strategy and time-schedule for departure. They ordered lunch and put on their video cassette with the film Sattey Pe Satta starring Amitabh Bachchan at full blast so that Mrs Gandhi, who was in the neighbouring room, could know they did not give a damn.

Maneka Gandhi with young Feroze Varun, leaving the Gandhi home Maneka Gandhi with young Feroze Varun, leaving the Gandhi home

Every time Dhawan came in to plead with them to leave, they presented him with a new demand. The dogs had to be fed. The dogs were fed. When Dhawan failed to dissuade the girls from taking away anything, Mrs Gandhi came in with Dhirendra Brahmachari to order a search of everything they had packed.

Maneka insisted that if there was going to be a search of her belongings it would take place on the road for all the press to see. The trunks outside the room were deliberately opened for pressmen to see the photograph by cameras outside the gate fitted with telescopic lenses.

Another round of abuse and counter-abuse followed. Once again Mrs Gandhi shouted at Maneka to get out that very instant. Ambika took up cudgels on behalf of her sister and shouted back, "How dare you speak to my sister like this? She will do everything as she likes."



Mrs Gandhi screamed back: "You shut up. Who asked you to speak?" "Shut up yourself" shot back Ambika, "Who do you think you are, you bitch."



The prime minister of India had never been spoken to in this manner. All the fight went out of her. She broke down and fled the room in tears.



Mrs Gandhi was no longer mistress of the situation. Rajiv accompanied by Arun Nehru took over. They summoned the security officer. N.K. Singh, and ordered him to throw out the two sisters. Being a shrewd man, N.K. asked for the order to be put in writing.

Neither Rajiv nor Arun Nehru would commit themselves on paper. Verbal requests by N.K. Singh were turned down by the girls who wanted their luggage, dogs, and now also Feroze Varum who had a fever, to be sent ahead of them.

Maneka Gandhi's bags strewn outside Maneka Gandhi's bags strewn outside

Singh conveyed the message to Rajiv and Arun who again ordered him to act as expected of a security officer. "What if they lodge an FIR at the police station against me?" asked Singh.Arun Nehru blurted out that the neighbouring police stations had been instructed not to record any complaint by Maneka or on her behalf. Singh warned them: "Sir, she may exploit this against you. All she has to do is to take the pressmen, including foreigners, with her and say to the world that the police in India refuse to entertain complaints."

Rajiv and Arun who had obviously not thought over the matter rushed in to consult Mrs Gandhi. Mrs Gandhi knew she had been beaten and gave in down the line.



The girls and their brother took their time eating a sumptuous lunch. The luggage and the dogs were sent ahead in a taxi. A very sleepy Feroze Varun was handed over to them at 11 p.m. Instead of a taxi, the prime minister's car was ordered to take Maneka and her son wherever she wanted to go.

The last thing Mrs Gandhi did, as was her habit, was to dictate a letter to Maneka spelling out her misdeeds which had made her expulsion necessary.

Maneka sat down and wrote her reply which she released to the press. A few minutes after 11 p.m., a very tearful Maneka, bearing a bleary-eyed and bewildered Feroze Varun, came out of the room to explosions of press-camera flashbulbs. Maneka had won this round against the prime minister of India with a knock-out.



My close relationship with Amteshwar and Maneka came to an abrupt end a few months later. At the time there was wild speculation about the relationship between Maneka and Sanjay's friend, Akbar Ahmed (Dumpy), now a Congress leader in Uttar Pradesh.

Two journals interviewed me on the subject. In my enthusiasm to defend Maneka, I described her as sexless and flat-chested and compared her unfavourably to her mother who was neither.

I also described her as the biggest liar in the world barring two people, her mother and mother-in-law. A couple of days later, Maneka stormed into my apartment and flung a copy of the magazine in my face and stormed out.

An hour later, I received a registered AD letter from Amteshwar accusing me of telling lies about the family. My association with the Gandhis and the Anands had ended. I heaved a sigh of relief. Another chapter in my life was over.