NEW DELHI: President Pranab Mukherjee said Indira Gandhi remains the “most acceptable ruler, prime minister” of a democratic country even 33 years after her death. His comment was among a string of glorious tributes to the late premier at the release of a book on her life —“India’s Indira”.“She was one of the remarkable personalities of the 20th century all over the world. And to the people of India, even today after her passing away in 1984, she is the most acceptable ruler or PM of a democratic country even today,” he said.The commemorative book, edited by Congress leader Anand Sharma, is part of Indira’s centenary year celebrations.The event at Teen Murti Bhavan — also attended by Vice President MA Ansari, former PM Manmohan Singh and Rahul Gandhi who read the speech on behalf of an indisposed Sonia Gandhi — saw President Mukherjee speak about Indira’s views on ‘Operation Blue Star’ in Golden Temple As a minister taking the decision on storming the temple, Mukherjee said he was afraid of “doing anything to the Golden Temple” and remembered the bad times Ahmed Shah Abdali had to face after he “did something wrong to the Golden Temple” following the third battle of Panipat.He added:“It is not that she did not know it, she knew it very well. And she told me, ‘sometimes history demands some action which may not prove correct later on but, perhaps, is the most relevant at that moment.” Mukherjee said he had narrated the incident as an example of her fearlessness in action.With Rahul Gandhi on the dais listening in rapt attention, Mukherjee said Indira’s decisiveness was evident in how quickly she had rebuilt Congress after the defeat and split in 1977.He recalled she was elected party president on January 2, 1978, and by January 20, she had formed the working committee, parliamentary board, PCCs and AICC, and within two months, Congress won the elections in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka.The remark was significant in the wake of recent complaints in Congress that the organisation has not been restructured despite the passage of three years after the defeat in 2014.Reading Sonia’s speech, Rahul said Indira’s patriotism was “noble and generous...all inclusive, all embracing” which she had learnt from champions of freedom struggle.