Parameswaran Namboothiri recalls Indira Gandhi’s rare emotional moment in Badrinath during Emergency

Thrissur: It was the time when Indira Gandhi was defeated in the general elections held after the Emergency. Parameswaran Namboothiri, who was in Delhi, received a phone call from a Malayali priest (Rawal) in Badrinath. He realised the urgency in the voice and returned to Badrinath. When he reached the room after a long car journey, he saw an incredible sight, Indira Gandhi talking to Rawal with deep emotion and many sighs. “I did not expect this much. My only aim was to avoid chaos. Who else…”, Indira kept saying many things. Parameswaran knew that Indira had sought Rawal during all her previous moments of mental turmoil.

Parameswaran says that Rawal may have called him to be a witness to Indira's private confession. He had been close to Parameswaran since his days as a student at the Thrissur Brahmaswam Madham. Rawal, who has not publicly denied it, knew that Parameswaran Namboothiri ,who was the secretary to Gujarat Governor K K Viswanathan, was well acquainted with Indira.

He spoke about that secret week, which no one else knew about while sitting at Pazhur Mana in Kolazhy. Later, Parameswaran says that having to appear in court alongside the Solicitor General for the Central Government in the Indira Gandhi assassination case was another painful assignment.

After Indira, Parameswaran had the opportunity to work with Prime Ministers such as Rajiv Gandhi, Narasimha Rao, Vajpayee, and Manmohan Singh as a Central Government Pleader.

Parameswaran was born in 1947 in Chalissery, Pattissery, Pazhur Illam, Palakkad. He began his legal career in the High Court at the age of 23. In 1973, he went to Ahmedabad as the personal secretary to the Governor of Gujarat, K K Viswanathan. He began practising in the Supreme Court in 1978. He became a Central Government Pleader in 1985. He returned to Thrissur in 2010. He has been the president of the Thrissur Brahmaswam Math for ten years.