Indira Gandhi

Indira Gandhi
Prime Minister's Office · GODL-India · source
Name	Indira Gandhi
Caption	Official portrait, 1966
Office	Prime Minister of India
Term start	24 January 1966
Term end	24 March 1977
President	Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Zakir Husain, Varahagiri Venkata Giri, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed
Predecessor1	Gulzarilal Nanda (acting)
Successor1	Morarji Desai
Term start2	14 January 1980
Term end2	31 October 1984
President2	Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, Zail Singh
Predecessor2	Charan Singh
Successor2	Rajiv Gandhi
Office3	Minister of External Affairs
Term start3	9 March 1984
Term end3	31 October 1984
Predecessor3	Narasimha Rao
Successor3	Rajiv Gandhi
Term start4	22 August 1967
Term end4	14 March 1969
Predecessor4	Mahommedali Currim Chagla
Successor4	Dinesh Singh
Office5	Minister of Defence
Term start5	14 January 1980
Term end5	15 January 1982
Predecessor5	Chidambaram Subramaniam
Successor5	Ramaswamy Venkataraman
Term start6	30 November 1975
Term end6	20 December 1975
Predecessor6	Sardar Swaran Singh
Successor6	Bansi Lal
Birth name	Indira Priyadarshini Nehru
Birth date	19 November 1917
Birth place	Allahabad, United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, British India
Death date	31 October 1984
Death place	New Delhi, Delhi, India
Party	Indian National Congress
Spouse	Feroze Gandhi, 1942, 1960
Children	Rajiv Gandhi, Sanjay Gandhi
Parents	Jawaharlal Nehru (father), Kamala Nehru (mother)
Alma mater	Somerville College, Oxford, Visva-Bharati University, Badminton School
Awards	Bharat Ratna (1971)

Indira Gandhi was an Indian politician who served as the third prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 until her assassination in 1984. She was the first and, to date, only female prime minister of India and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. Her tenure was marked by significant events including the Green Revolution, the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, the Shimla Agreement, the declaration of a state of emergency, and growing tensions in Punjab.

Early life and education

Born into the politically influential Nehru–Gandhi family, she was the daughter of India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Kamala Nehru. Her childhood was spent in the milieu of the Indian independence movement, with figures like Mahatma Gandhi being frequent visitors to the family home, Anand Bhavan in Allahabad. She was educated at institutions including the Badminton School in Bristol and briefly at Visva-Bharati University, founded by Rabindranath Tagore, before studying at Somerville College, Oxford. Her time in Europe exposed her to global political currents, but her formal education was interrupted by ill health and the tumultuous period of World War II.

Political career

Gandhi's political apprenticeship began as an unofficial aide to her father during his premiership. She was elected President of the Indian National Congress in 1959. After Nehru's death in 1964, she served as Minister of Information and Broadcasting in the cabinet of Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. Following Shastri's sudden death in 1966, she was chosen as the compromise candidate for prime minister by the Congress party leadership, known as the "Syndicate", defeating her rival Morarji Desai.

Prime Minister of India

Her first term saw the nationalization of major banks, the abolition of the privy purses for former royalty, and a decisive victory in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, which led to the creation of Bangladesh. This triumph was followed by the Simla Agreement with Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan. In 1975, facing political unrest and a court case invalidating her election, she imposed a 21-month state of emergency, a period marked by press censorship and the controversial sterilization campaign led by her son Sanjay Gandhi. After losing the 1977 election to the Janata Party alliance, she returned to power in 1980. Her final term was dominated by handling separatist movements, most notably the Khalistan movement in Punjab, which led to the military action at the Golden Temple in Amritsar in 1984.

Assassination and legacy

On 31 October 1984, Gandhi was assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards, Satwant Singh and Beant Singh, in retaliation for Operation Blue Star. Her death triggered the 1984 anti-Sikh riots across northern India. Her legacy remains deeply polarizing; she is celebrated for her political fortitude and the victory of 1971, but criticized for authoritarian measures during the Emergency and the erosion of democratic institutions. She was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honor. Her death precipitated the ascension of her son, Rajiv Gandhi, to the premiership.

Personal life and family

In 1942, she married Feroze Gandhi, a Parsi journalist and fellow Congress party member, despite initial opposition. They had two sons, Rajiv Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi. The marriage experienced strains, partly due to her deep involvement in her father's household and political life, and Feroze Gandhi died of a heart attack in 1960. She was the matriarch of the Nehru–Gandhi family, which has produced several Indian prime ministers. Her grandchildren, including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, remain prominent figures in the Indian National Congress.

Category:Prime Ministers of India Category:Assassinated Indian politicians Category:Recipients of the Bharat Ratna