Sonia Gandhi's (left) memoir also discusses Sanjay Gandhi's (right) Five Point Programme, which sought to address social issues such as dowry, caste discrimination and illiteracy. (Express photo/Wikipedia)

Congress leader Sonia Gandhi has described her brother-in-law Sanjay Gandhi as a “man in a hurry”, saying he played a significant role in decision-making during the Emergency despite having no constitutional authority for some of his political interventions.

In her memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love , Sonia Gandhi writes that then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was never entirely comfortable with the imposition of the Emergency but felt compelled to take the step because of what she describes as the prevailing havoc at the time.

Sonia Gandhi, who had an inside view of developments during the period between June 1975 and March 1977, recalls how India woke up to the Emergency on the morning of June 26, 1975.…