Name: Indira Gandhi

Birth Year: 19 November 1917

Birth Place: Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh

Education: International School of Geneva, Vishwabharati University, Shantiniketan; Somerville College, Oxford

Born to: Father (Jawaharlal Nehru), Mother (Kamala Nehru)

Children: Rajiv Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi

Husband: Feroze Gandhi

Association: Indian National Congress

Movement: Indian Independence Movement

Political Ideology: Right winged, Liberal

Religion: Hinduism

Publications: My Truth (1980), Eternal India (1981)

Passed Away: 31 October 1984

Memorial: Shakti Sthal, New Delhi

Introduction

Indira Gandhi is best known as the only female Prime minister of India and she was a very active politician of India. She was born in the Neharu and so probably she was destined to become a well known name in the Indian Politics. She was the prime minister of the country from 1966 to 1977 and from 1980 to 1984 (till she got assassinated). Her tenure is marked by political ruthlessness and centralization of power and it was all beleaguered with allegations and controversies. She is also known for imposing emergency from 1975-1977 and had to face a lot of criticism for the operation Blue star which led to her brutal assassination on 31st of October 1984.

Early Life and Childhood

Indira Gandhi was born to Jawaharlal Nehru and Kamala Nehru on 19th November 1917. Her father Jawaharlal Nehru was a well known layer of his time and an active member of the Independent movement. She went to the Pune for her matriculation and later studied at Shantiniketan in West Bengal. After that she also went to Oxford University in London and Switzerland where she stayed with her ill mother for a couple of months. She returned back to India when her mother died of TB. At that time her father Jawaharlal Nehru was in Jail.

Family and Marriage

Indira Gandhi got married in the year 1941 to Feroze Gandhi in spite of objection made by his father. She gave birth to her first child, Rajiv Gandhi in the year 1944 and the second child in the year 1946, and she named him as Sanjay Gandhi. Indira Gandhi took charge to handle the campaign for her husband in 1951-52 while he was fighting the parliamentary election from Rae Bareli, UP. Feroze started living in a spate house in Delhi when he got elected as the MP. After going through a major cardiac arrest he succumbed to death on September 8, 1960.

Political Career

Because she was born in a family where politics was engraved in the minds of the members and so it was quite obvious that Indira Gandhi had the zeal to move forward in the same direction. On the top of that with leaders like Mahatma Gandhi making visits to the Nehru home brought a burning desire to dig deeper into it. Finally she became member of the Indian National Congress and there she met Feroze Gandhi who was a journalist and was an important member of the Indian National Congress.

Indira Gandhi became Congress President

In the year 1959, the Indian National Congress elected Indira Gandhi as the president and also she served as one of the political advisors of Jawaharlal Nehru. In 1964, 27th May, when Jawaharlal Nehru passed away, Indira Gandhi decided to content elections and thus was elected to look after the information and broadcasting ministry during the tenure of Lal Bahadur Shastri as Prime minister.

Indira Gandhi first Tenure as Prime Minister of India

When the race for election of the prime minister began in 1966 on 11th of January after the death of Lal Bahadur Shastri, people chose Gandhi to the throne. Not so surprisingly she took the charge very powerfully and came out to be a winner and carried out many such tasks which prove her prowess and the beauty with which she took charge of her responsibilities. Some of her notable works include abolition of Privy Purse, nationalization of banks in 1969, and many such. Also, she made strive forward towards shortage of food into the country and brought it into the nuclear age.

India Pakistan war of 1971

The war of 1971 was completely result of the liberation war of the East Pakistan which was led by Mujibar Rahman of the Awami legue which brought about for the against the brutality of the military led by the president of Pakistan, Yahya Khan. During that time, the military specifically targeted the Hindu population and tortured them. Because of this around 10 million Pakistan fled to India to take shelter here. Looking at the huge number of people fleeing to India, Indira Gandhi was encouraged to support Awami League's struggle for freedom against West Pakistan. India helped with troops sending to fight against West Pakistan and also provided logistic support. The war ended on 17th of December 1971 in Dhaka and a new nation named Bangladesh came into being. And, this gave more popularity to the courage of Indira Gandhi as leader of the country.

Emergency imposition

The opposition parties demonstrated demanding Indira Gandhi to vacate her office for the increased inflation, rising corruption and the poor state of economy. In the same year, also the Allahabad high court ruled that she had used illegal means during the election. All this added fuel to the existing fire. Instead of giving resignation Ms. Gandhi declared a state of emergency on 26th June 1975.

Operation Blue Star

In 1981 September, a group of some Sikh militant started demanded a separate state called Khalistan and they entered into the Golden temple of Amritsar to save themselves. In spite of the fact that there were thousands of civilians inside the premises of the temple she ordered the Army to attack into the temple to conduct Operation Blue Star. The army atrociously started firing with tanks and cannons. This act of hers led to the loss of lives of many innocent civilians. Till now the incident is considered as a tragedy in the Indian history. There was an uncontrollable rise in the communal war and tension in the country. As an act of protest many of the Sikhs returned their awards and resigned from the armed service offices. And, it was the tie when the image of Indira Gandhi was affected poorly.

Assassination

In 1984, 31st of October, the bodyguards of Indira Gandhi, Satwant Singh and Beant Singh open fired a total of 31 bullets. They used the service weapon which has been given to them for protection of Ms. Gandhi. They did this at her residence to retaliate for the brutal act that took place in the Golden temple.