Hi, I’m 99 year old Nayantara Sahgal, and I’m still alive. I'm the woman whose photo @amitmalviya first weaponised on…

Hi, I’m 99 year old Nayantara Sahgal, and I’m still alive. I'm the woman whose photo @amitmalviya first weaponised on 15 Nov 2017 to malign my mamu (uncle) Nehru. I’m the daughter of freedom fighters R.S. Pandit & Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit - Nehru’s sister. Here’s my story. 🧵1/11

@amitmalviya I was little. One day, Mahatma Gandhi came to our home & mother asked me to gift him flowers. “But isn’t he so ugly?” I protested. Before mother could scold me, Gandhiji smiled & said, “I hope she will always tell the truth.” That truth cost me my beloved Indira. 🧵 2/11

@amitmalviya I was sent to Wellesley, US, for study in 1943 while my parents & uncle Nehru were still in jail. Then my father had died, his health broken by harsh prison. Uncle Nehru's another loved one lost to prison. Today, some say they lived like kings in prison. 🧵 3/11

@amitmalviya When I returned in 1947, my home was with Indira. After my father, Nehru became a father-figure to me, my lifelong hero, 3rd parent whom I never spared from criticism. At 17 York Road, the huge compound was filled with tents for refugees. It was a very grim situation. 🧵 4/11

@amitmalviya I used to take mamu Nehru’s lunch to his office, where the External Affairs Ministry was then housed. I was still just a youngster in the house. Then one day, we were told Gandhiji had been shot. We rushed to Birla House. We were in the room when he breathed his last.🧵5/11

@amitmalviya Then came 1966–67. After my divorce, I took up writing to support myself. My cousin Indi (Indira) was PM, my mother Vijaya Lakshmi, my late uncle Nehru, my hero. Could I not have chosen a life of luxury? I chose another path, to become a voice of dissent against power.🧵 6/11

@amitmalviya In 1974, JP sent me a message through our mutual friend Rashid Shervani, seeking my help. I agreed. In Nov, 1974 I visited Bihar at JP’s request to see his movement firsthand. From Oct 1974-May 1975, I wrote 17 articles for JP’s Everyman’s. I literally turned activist. 🧵7/11

@amitmalviya Siddharth Shankar Ray - Indira's hatchet man during the Emergency warned us I could be picked up “any day under MISA.” The family feared that even if Indira spared me, Sanjay Gandhi might not. I remained adamant. I spoke out against my cousin becoz she was my cousin. 🧵 8/11

@amitmalviya Under Indira crony capitalism blossomed and prospered. Indira was fed up with Rajiv and Sonia, who were most disinterested in politics. Sanjay brought dynamism into the system - he soothed the capitalists and she soothed the communists. This was her brilliant politics. 🧵 9/11

@amitmalviya “The noblest man I have ever known” - that was him, our beloved Mamu Nehru. So, I opposed Indira. My mother never cautioned me against speaking out. She knew I had to do what I had to do, and completely sympathised with me. @AmitMalviya did not spare her either. 🧵 10/11

11/11 🧵 To people like us, India was an idea. I once called it a “glittering idea in our imagination.” So I opposed Indira then. I also returned my Sahitya Akademi Award in 2015. Today, in the garb of nationalism, their divisive ideology remains the same, the same old Jan Sangh slogan of the 1960s “Hindi, Hindu, Hindustan.” Save this dream of India from them before its too late.

A disclaimer - The words in the tweets above are drawn from Nayantara Sahgal’s own interviews and writings, though I edited and connected them to tell her story in the first person. However, final warning in the last tweet is entirely my own. I may have crossed a line by writing in her voice. But I felt this story needed to be told. So, I will not delete this thread unless Nayantara Sahgal herself asks me to.