Moscow: UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi has said that India and Russia enjoy
excellent relations due to the legacy of former prime minister Indira
Gandhi and praised Russian President Vladimir Putin and successive
Indian prime ministers for consolidating that legacy.
She was
speaking yesterday at the inauguration of a photo exhibition organised
here to celebrate the Centenary Anniversary of India's first woman prime
minister Indira Gandhi.
Gandhi said the exhibition on her
mother-in-law Indira Gandhi tells the story of a courageous, compelling
and charismatic leader who left an indelible imprint not only on her own
country, not only on the India-USSR relationship but on the world stage
as well.
"India and Russia enjoy such excellent relations is in
no small measure due to her legacy, a legacy that has been consolidated
by President Putin and successive Indian prime ministers," she said.
Gandhi
said her family's ties with Russia dates back to 1927 when Indira
Gandhi's grandfather Motilal Nehru, father Jawaharlal Nehru and mother
Kamala first visited Moscow, according to a press release issued by the
Congress party.
"It was this journey that inspired Nehru to write
his very first book, 'Soviet Russia: Some Random Sketches and
Impressions'," she said.
"Indira Gandhi herself made her first
trip to Russia in 1953. Her letters to her father tell him how excited
and deeply moved she was by Moscow and her people," Gandhi added.
India
and Russia shared a special partnership that has resulted in laying the
foundations of India's industrialisation which are still very visible,
she said.
"These include steel plants, oil refineries,
engineering complexes, power stations and fertilizer factories. The
Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai that is now globally renowned
was started with Russian assistance. Indira Gandhi took the Indo-Soviet
link to a new level altogether, giving it solid strategic content as
well," she said.
Commending Russia's support to India during the
Bangladesh's War of Independence, Gandhi said Moscow "stood like a rock"
with India during New Delhi's moment of "grave crisis".
"There was a genuine warmth and a rare chemistry between Indira Gandhi and the Russian leaders," she said.
PTI
