India, Nov. 8 -- Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi has described the imposition of the Emergency in 1975 as a mistake, saying she believes her mother-in-law and former prime minister Indira Gandhi eventually came to feel the same.

In an interview with British newspaper The Guardian ahead of the release of her memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love, Sonia said she believed Indira was a democrat at heart and was never comfortable with the course taken during the Emergency.

She also said that keeping Sanjay Gandhi, Indira's younger son, in check could have prevented much of the damage that followed the imposition of the Emergency.

In a separate interview with The Hindu, Sonia said pressure from senior Congress leaders ha...