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Indira Gandhi

About Indira Gandhi

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Who was Indira Gandhi

Indira Gandhi was India’s third prime minister and the only women prime minister of India till date. She is considered by many to be the strongest Prime Minister India has ever seen. Gandhi belonged to the Indian National Congress and was elected as the PM for the first time in 1966 after Lal Bahadur Shastri died in office.
 
Indira Gandhi was the second longest-serving prime minister after India’s first prime minister and her father Jawaharlal Nehru. She served from 1966 to 1977 and then again from 1980 until her assassination by her bodyguards in 1984.
 
Indira Gandhi’s early years
 
Indira Gandhi was the daughter of one of India’s tallest leaders, freedom fighter, and independent India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. Her mother, Kamala Nehru, was also a freedom fighter and the leader of the Indian National Congress. She was born on November 19, 1917 in Allahabad.
 
She did her early schooling from Modern School in Delhi, St Cecilia’s and St Mary’s Convent in Allahabad. She also studied in International School of Geneva, the Ecole Nouvelle in Bex, and the Pupil’s Own School in Poona and Bombay. She later moved with her mother to Belur Math, which is the headquarter of the Ramakrishna Mission. She also studied at Santiniketan where Rabindranath Tagore named her Priyadarshini after, which she came to be known as Indira Priyadarshhini Tagore.
 
She attended Oxford University in England but could not complete her course and returned to India.
 
She later married Feroze Gandhi in 1942 and had two sons, Rajiv and Sanjay.
 
Political career
 
In the early 1950s, she unofficially served as the personal assistant to her father. In 1955, she became a member of the Congress Working Committee and in 1959 and then the president of the party.
 
In 1964, after her father’s death, she was made the information and Broadcasting minister in Lal Bahadur Shastri’s cabinet.
 
After Shastri's death in 1966, the Congress legislative party elected Gandhi as the leader over Moraji Desai.
 
Indira as the Prime Minister
 
Many Congressmen believed, because she was a woman, she would be weak and could be used as a puppet. But her leadership and policy decisions made her one of the most popular prime ministers ever in the history of Indian politics.
 
Her anti-poverty measures, Green revolution, and the war with Pakistan, which helped liberate Bangladesh made her immensely popular.
 
Emergency
 
After her election to the Lok Sabha in 1971, Gandhi was accused of misconduct by Raj Narain who contested against her. The Allahabad High Court declared her election void on the grounds of electoral malpractice, which meant she could no longer hold her position as the prime minister. But she refused to step down. This led to protests and unrest.
 
Gandhi arrested most of the Opposition leaders who participated in the protests. Gandhi and her cabinet recommended to the President of India Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed to declare a state of emergency, which the president did in 1975.
 
After the declaration of emergency, the entire country was under direct rule of Gandhi and the Congress party. Police were granted special powers, which enabled them to curb liberty indefinitely. The press was also censored. Most of the Opposition leaders were detained and states governed by the Opposition parties were dismissed.
 
Finally, in 1977, Gandhi decided to call elections. She grossly misjudged her popularity and lost the elections.
 
She won it back in 1980, helped by her charismatic leadership and the infighting within the Janata Party-led government.
 
Assassination
 
In 1984, the Golden Temple in Amritsar was overtaken by extremists led by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale who sought an independent state for Sikhs.
 
To control the situation, Gandhi sent the army. But this resulted in bloodshed, and offended the Sikh community.
 
On October 31, 1984, Gandhi was assassinated by her two bodyguards outside her home, who had sought revenge for what happened at the Golden Temple.
 

Latest Updates on Indira Gandhi

In her nearly 80-minute speech, Sitharaman said the Congress keeps questioning the Sangh Parivar about its role during the freedom movement

Updated On: 16 Dec 2024 | 11:43 PM IST

Congress, on its official X handle said, that on strength of its indomitable courage and valour, the Indian Army defeated Pakistan on Dec 16, 1971 and played important role in creation of Bangladesh

Updated On: 16 Dec 2024 | 11:36 AM IST

During his address in the Parliament on Saturday, Rahul Gandhi lashed out at the central govt, accusing it of cutting off opportunities for youth by handing over various sectors to industrialists

Updated On: 15 Dec 2024 | 7:20 AM IST

Daniel Barenboim is an Argentine-born distinguished classical pianist and conductor, known for his relentless endeavour in using music to foster harmony in West Asia

Updated On: 19 Nov 2024 | 11:31 PM IST

Indira Gandhi worked untiringly but without making bombastic claims, Ramesh said

Updated On: 19 Nov 2024 | 10:03 AM IST

She met the students of CMS Business School here on Saturday and discussed various measures undertaken by the Centre to support innovation as well as the government schemes available for young people

Updated On: 09 Nov 2024 | 6:30 PM IST

In a post in Hindi on X, Rahul Gandhi said, 'Panditji's Indu, Bapu's Priyadarshini, fearless, justice-loving -- Indira of India!

Updated On: 31 Oct 2024 | 1:08 PM IST

Narayan is remembered for leading a rainbow coalition of Opposition parties in the mid-1970s against then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, calling for 'Sampoorna Kranti'

Updated On: 11 Oct 2024 | 2:56 PM IST

Mayawati became the first Dalit woman to hold the post, meanwhile, Syeda Anwara Taimur was the first Muslim woman

Updated On: 21 Sep 2024 | 8:00 AM IST

Emergency, which features Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, and Shreyas Talpade, is centred around the 1975 Emergency imposed by the then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi

Updated On: 19 Sep 2024 | 1:38 PM IST

Kangana Ranaut-directed Emergency movie's release date has been postponed indefinitely. Previously, the movie was scheduled to release in theatres on September 6, 2024

Updated On: 02 Sep 2024 | 12:36 PM IST

SGPC has issued a legal notice to actress and producer Kangana Ranaut to remove the trailer of the film and for the filmmakers to issue a formal apology to the Sikh community

Updated On: 28 Aug 2024 | 12:22 PM IST

Before today's Independence Day speech, PM Modi's longest speech was made in 2016 celebrations of the I-Day, lasting 96 minutes

Updated On: 15 Aug 2024 | 11:49 AM IST

PM Narendra Modi broke the record of his immediate predecessor Manmohan Singh by hoisting the national flag from the ramparts of the Red Fort for the 11th consecutive time

Updated On: 15 Aug 2024 | 9:08 AM IST

Natwar Singh was External Affairs minister in 2004-05 in Manmohan Singh's government till he was asked to step down after alleged charges of nepotism

Updated On: 11 Aug 2024 | 9:53 PM IST

Delhi Court reserves order on framing charges against Congress Leader Jagdish Tytler in 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, where three people were killed

Updated On: 19 Jul 2024 | 6:00 PM IST

Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the commemoration will serve as a reminder of "what happened when the Constitution was trampled over"

Updated On: 12 Jul 2024 | 6:18 PM IST

Congress leader K C Venugopal has written a letter to Om Birla condemning his remarks on the 1975 Emergency following Birla's re-election as Lok Sabha Speaker

Updated On: 27 Jun 2024 | 3:37 PM IST

The Congress and BJP have been engaged in a war of words over the Emergency period with the BJP claiming it as 'dark days' while the Congress accusing the Centre of diverting attention from issues

Updated On: 25 Jun 2024 | 4:34 PM IST

The Congress and other opposition members carried copies of the Constitution in Parliament on Monday as the first session of the 18th Lok Sabha began

Updated On: 25 Jun 2024 | 9:38 AM IST