A photo exhibition commemorating the birth centenary of Indira Gandhi, with more than 200 pictures depicting various events from her life, commenced today at the historic Swaraj Bhavan here where the former Prime Minister was born.
The exhibition will be thrown open to public only from tomorrow, after its formal inauguration by Congress president Sonia Gandhi this evening.
"Altogether 220 photographs have been selected for this exhibition out of nearly 90,000 that we are in possession of," Secretary of the Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust (IGMT), New Delhi, Suman Dubey, told reporters here.
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"This commemorative photo exhibition will, during the course of next year, be held in various cities like Mumbai, Kolkata and Bengaluru and finally at New Delhi on November 19 when the centenary celebrations would come to a close.
"Allahabad was chosen for its launch because it is her birthplace, a city with which her family has had long and close ties," Dubey said.
He said the criteria adopted for choosing the pictures from the mammoth collection was the significance of the events portrayed and also the skill of the photographer concerned, many of whom remain unknown.
Placed for display in Swaraj Bhavan, Gandhi's ancestral house where she was born on November 19, 1936 and spent her early life, are several pictures of a young Indira Priyadarshini, the name given to her by her father Jawaharlal Nehru, some of them solo while in others she is flanked by her parents.
"80 per cent of the pictures in the exhibition are such that people of the young generation may never have seen," the IGMT secretary said.
In another photograph she shares the frame with Nehru and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
There are a quite a few pictures of her life at Santiniketan as well -- some capturing her in a jovial mood with her friends, while in another she stands solemnly, along with a number of fellow students, in the presence of Rabindra Nath Tagore.
There are also photographs clicked at the time of her
marriage to fiery Congress leader Feroze Gandhi. Besides, there is a rare photograph of the family of her husband, taken before he was born.
Another fascinating picture has three former Prime Ministers in one frame - Nehru, Indira, and a young Rajiv Gandhi in her lap.
There are also many photographs depicting her political journey, including her swearing-in as a minister in the government headed by Lal Bahadur Shastri, her visit -- as Prime Minister -- to Pokhran when India conducted its first nuclear test, and various events leading to the truncation of Pakistan and formation of Bangladesh, which established her image as a "tough" leader.
Besides, there are also photographs taken when Gandhi, out of power, was arrested as per directions from the Janata Party government.
The move was said to have backfired and triggered a sympathy wave in favour of the late Congress leader who stormed back to power in 1980, barely three years after she suffered a crushing defeat in the general elections upon the lifting of Emergency.
Upon her return to power, Gandhi remained the Prime Minister until her assassination on October 31, 1984.
Quite a few pictures also provide a glimpse into the former PM's artistic, literary and religious inclinations.
There are photographs of her with singer Lata Mangeshkar and poet Jaan Nisaar Akhtar.
In another photograph, she can be seen seated deferentially alongside spiritual master Anandamayi Ma.
