Thatcher admired Indira

New Delhi (IANS): Margaret Thatcher did not approve of the state of emergency in force during her visit to India in 1976. But she was so touched by a gesture of her host and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi that she made it a point to mention it in her memoirs. "I lunched with Indira Gandhi in her own modest home, where she insisted on seeing that her guests were all looked after, and clearing away the plates while discussing matters of high politics," Ms Thatcher, who died Monday, wrote in "The Path to Power". "Both her sons, Sanjay and Rajiv, were present, although it was the former who had most to say for himself. He had, indeed, allegedly been responsible for many of the abuses such as forced sterilisation and compulsory re-housing which had provoked such bitter opposition," she said. "But in spite of everything I found myself liking Mrs Gandhi herself. Perhaps, I naturally sympathised with a woman politician faced with the huge strains and difficulties of governing a country as vast as India." Ms Thatcher had visited India in September 1976 as an opposition leader, three years before she became prime minister, at the invitation of Indira Gandhi. The British press had criticised her for her comment post-visit: "I came to learn and not to comment." Yet, in her memoirs, Ms Thatcher did say that she did not see eye-to-eye on Indira Gandhi's emergency and the restrictions on the press.

A transformative figure: India New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday expressed "deepest sadness" over the demise of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, describing her as a "transformative figure" under whom the UK registered important progress in national and international arenas. "People of India join me in sending our sincerest condolences to the Thatcher family, the government and people of the United Kingdom," he said in his condolence message. Singh said Thatcher was "a transformative figure under whom the United Kingdom registered important progress" in the national and international arenas.