Indira Gandhi

Born: 19 November 1917 Passed Away: 31 October 1984 Contributions Indira Gandhi was, undoubtedly, one of the greatest political leaders of India. She was the first and only woman to be elected as the Prime Minister. She is also regarded as the most controversial political leader of the country for her unprecedented decision of imposing "a state of emergency". She was also criticized for carrying out the Operation BlueStar in Punjab that eventually scripted her assassination on 31 October 1984. Life Indira 'Priyadarshini' Gandhi was born on 19 November, 1917, in Allahabad to Kamala and Jawaharlal Nehru. Indira's father was a well-educated lawyer and an active member of the Indian Independence Movement. Since the Nehru family was the centre of national political activity, Indira Gandhi was exposed to politics when she was a little child. A leader like Mahatma Gandhi was among the frequent visitors of the Nehru house in Allahabad. She passed her Metric from Pune University and went to Shantiniketan in West Bengal. Here, the students were made to lead a very strict and disciplined life. She later went on to study in Switzerland and Oxford University in London. Indira, then stayed few months in Switzerland with her ailing mother. In 1936, after Kamala Nehru finally succumbed to tuberculosis, she returned to India. At the time of Kamala's death, Jawaharlal Nehru, was languishing in the Indian jails. After his return to the country, Indira showed an active participation in the national movement. She also became a member of the Indian National Congress. Here, she met Feroze Gandhi, a journalist and key member of the Youth Congress - the youth wing of the Congress Party. In 1941, despite his father's objections, she married Feroze Gandhi. In 1944, Indira gave birth to Rajiv Gandhi followed two years later by Sanjay Gandhi. Post Independence After the independence, Indira Gandhi's father Jawaharlal Nehru became the first Prime Minister of India. Indira Gandhi decided to shift to Delhi to assist his father. Her two sons remained with her but Feroze decided to stay back in Allahabad. He was working as an editor of The National Herald newspaper founded by Motilal Nehru. During the 1951-52 Parliamentary Elections, Indira Gandhi handled the campaigns of her husband, Feroze, who was contesting from Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh. After being elected as MP, Feroze opted to live in a separate house in Delhi. Feroze soon became a prominent force against the corruption in the Nehru led government. He exposed a major scandal involving prominent insurance companies and the Finance Minister

T.T. Krishnamachari. The Finance Minister was considered to be a close aide of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Feroze had developed as a noted figure in the country's political circle. He, with a small coterie of supporters and advisors continued to challenge the Central government. On 8 September 1960, Feroze died after a major cardiac arrest. India as Congress President In 1959, Indira Gandhi was elected as the President of the Indian National Congress Party. She was one of the political advisors of Jawaharlal Nehru. After the death of Jawaharlal Nehru on 27 May 1964, Indira Gandhi decided to contest elections and eventually elected. She was appointed as the in-charge of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry under Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri It was believed that Indira Gandhi was an adept at the art of politics and image-making. This is corroborated by an event happened during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. While the war was going, Indira Gandhi went on a holiday trip to Srinagar. Despite repeated warnings by the security forces that Pakistani insurgents had entered very close to the hotel, she was staying, Gandhi refused to move. The incident fetched her huge national and international media attention. As Prime Minister Following the death of Lal Bahadur Shastri on 11 January 1966, in Tashkent, the race to the coveted throne of Prime Minister began. The party faced a serious trouble, as, all the senior leaders of the Congress party desired to contest. Unable to reach at a consensus, the high-command picked Indira as their contender. The virtual reason behind Indira's selection was the thought that "Indira would, indirectly be run by the top leadership." But Indira Gandhi, showing extraordinary political skills elbowed the Congress stalwarts out of power. In 1971, in order to stop the Bangladeshi refugees from flowing in into the country, Indira Gandhi supported the East Pakistan's struggle for freedom against West Pakistan. India provided logistical support and also sent troops to fight against West Pakistan. India's triumph in the war of 1971 against Pakistan enhanced the popularity of Indira Gandhi as a shrewd political leader. Imposition of Emergency In 1975, the Opposition parties and social activists staged regular demonstrations against the Indira Gandhi-led Central government over rising inflation, the poor state of economy and unchecked corruption. The same year, a ruling of Allahabad High Court that Indira Gandhi had used illegal practices during the last election helped in adding fuel to the existing political fire. The verdict ordered her to vacate her seat, immediately. The agitation and anger of the people intensified. Realizing the consequences, on 26 June, 1975, Indira Gandhi declared "an emergency, due to the turbulent political situation in the country". During the state of emergency, her political foes were imprisoned, constitutional rights of the citizens were abrogated, and the press placed under strict censorship. The Gandhian socialist

Jaya Prakash Narayan and his supporters sought to unify students, peasants and labor organizations in a 'Total non-violent Revolution' to transform Indian society. Narayan was later arrested and jailed. Meanwhile, her younger son, Sanjay Gandhi, began to run the country with full-authority. Sanjay Gandhi had ordered the removal of slum dwellings, and in an attempt to curb India's growing population, initiated a highly resented program of forced sterilization. In 1977, fearing military coup if the emergency continued further, Indira Gandhi called for elections. She was brutally thrashed by the emerging Janata Dal, led by Morarji Desai and Jai Prakash Narayan. Congress managed to win only 153 Lok Sabha seats, as compared to 350 seats it grabbed in the previous Lok Sabha. With so little in common among the allies of the Janata Party, the members were busy in internal strife. In an effort to expel Indira Gandhi from the Parliament, the Janata government ordered to arrest her. However, the strategy failed disastrously and gained Indira Gandhi, a great sympathy from the people who had considered her as an autocrat just two years back. In the next elections, Congress returned to power with a landslide majority. Experts viewed the victory of the Congress as a result of inefficient and ineffective "Janata Dal". Operation Blue Star and her assassination In September 1981, a Sikh militant group demanding "Khalistan" entered into the premises of the Golden Temple, Amritsar. Despite the presence of thousands of civilians in the Temple complex, Indira Gandhi ordered the Army to barge into the holy shrine. The operation was carried out with tanks and armored vehicles. The act was viewed as an unparalleled tragedy in the Indian political history. The impact of the onslaught increased the communal tensions in the country. Many Sikhs resigned from the armed and civil administrative office and also returned their government awards. On 31 October 1984, Indira Gandhi's bodyguards Satwant Singh and Beant Singh, as a revenge of the Golden Temple assault, assassinated the Prime Minister at her Safdarjung Road residence. Indira Gandhi, a prime minister of India, was the most effective and powerful politician of her day in that country. Considered a hero by her supporters and cursed by her enemies, who later assassinated her, Indira Gandhi paved the way for democracy in India during the twentieth century.

Early life
Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi was born in the northern Indian city of Allahabad on November 19, 1917. She was the only child of Jawaharlal Nehru, an important figure in the nationalist movement, a movement devoted to the improvement of culture within the nation. Later he became India's first prime minister. Because of many of his political beliefs, Jawaharlal, along with much of his family, was often jailed for supporting Mohandas Gandhi's (18691948) nationalist movement. Mohandas Gandhi (no relation to Indira) opposed the dominant rule of Great Britain over India. This association placed Indira at the center of India's struggle for

freedom. Her family's fight for freedom made Indira's upbringing shaky. Her father was often absent from being jailed, and her mother was bed-ridden from tuberculosis, a terrible disease affecting the lungs and bones. Because of her father's stand against institutions run by the British government, Indira's early schooling was not consistent. For a while she was taught at home. Later she attended an academy run by a poet-philosopher. Shortly after her mother's death in 1936, Indira enrolled at Santiniketan University and Somerville College, Oxford University, in England. She married Feroze Gandhi (also no relation to Mohandas Gandhi) in March 1942, despite both family's objections, as the two were not part of the same social status or religionshe was a descendent of Iranian immigrants; she was Hindu. Feroze Gandhi became a lawyer and newspaper executive as well as an independent member of Parliament. Shortly after their marriage, they were both imprisoned for a period of thirteen months for their part in the nationalist political demonstrations against British rule. During her imprisonment Indira taught reading and writing to prisoners. Feroze Gandhi died in 1960. They had two sons, Rajiv and Sanjay.

Indian independence
On August 15, 1947, Great Britain released their control over India and the Indian Empire was quickly divided into two countries, today known as India and Pakistan. No longer under British control, India erupted into violence. Thousands of members of rival religious groups, the Hindus and the Moslems, were killed during riots. During this time Indira served as her father's hostess and housekeeper. Since her father had never remarried after his wife's death in 1936, Indira took charge of her father's large mansion and began helping him in political matters. Together they worked towards peace, arranging a meeting of Hindu and Moslem religious leaders in New Dehli, India. Throughout the period of Indira Gandhi's political association with her father, she focused on social welfare work, particularly children's welfare. The Indian National Congress had led the country to freedom and had then become its major political party. She had joined the Congress in 1938, and later served as a member of its Youth Advisory Board and chairman of its Woman's Department. Prior to

Indira Gandhi. Reproduced by permission of AP/Wide World Photos . assuming the presidency of the organization in 1959, Gandhi was named to its twenty-one-member executive Working Committee. She was elected with more votes than any other candidate to the powerful eleven-member Central Election Board, which named candidates and planned electoral strategy.

As prime minister
In June 1964, following her father's death, Gandhi became minister for information and broadcasting under Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri (19041966), where she helped start an Indian television system. In January 1966, when Shastri died, Gandhi was elected leader of the Congress Party in Parliament (the governing body of India) and became the third prime minister of independent India. Gandhi assumed office at a critical time in the history of the country. A truce had ended the 1965 war between India and Pakistan only a week earlier. The nation was in the midst of a two-year drought, resulting in severe food shortages and a deepening economic crisis with rising prices and rising unemployment. The political situation in India was equally as effected. In the fourth general elections of 1967 the Congress retained majority control (and reelected Gandhi as its leader), but lost control in half the state legislatures. After twenty years of political dominance, the Congress Party was experiencing serious difficulty.

A government divided
Gandhi immediately set about reorganizing the party to make it a more effective instrument of administration and national development. Her goal was to achieve a wider measure of social and economic justice for all Indians. As her left-of-center policies (slightly liberal, or supporting civil liberties and social progress) became clear, the Congress Party split, with the younger, more liberal elements rallying around Gandhi and the older, more conservative party leaders opposing her. This division came to a head in July 1969 when she nationalized (brought under the control of government) the country's fourteen leading banks in a highly popular move meant to make credit more available to agriculture and to small industry. The split was formalized when Gandhi's candidate for the presidency of India, V. V. Giri, won over the party's official nominee. Although Gandhi took 228 members of Parliament with her into the New Congress, this was not a majority in the 521-member house, and she held power only with support from more liberal parties. In December 1970, when Gandhi failed to get the necessary support to abolish, or end, the privileges of the former Indian princes, she called on the president to dissolve Parliament. Midterm elections were set for March 1971, one full year ahead of schedule. A coalition, or alliance, of three parties of the right and an anti-Congress socialist party opposed Gandhi, who made alliances with liberal parties as well as some regional parties. Her platform was essentially one of achieving social and economic change more rapidly in an effort to improve the quality of life of India's people. Her party won a massive victory with over a twothirds majority in Parliament.

End of her career

Gandhi faced major problems in the areas of food production, population control, land reform, regulation of prices, unemployment, and industrial production. The problems were increased by the arrival in India of almost ten million refugees, who were uprooted as a result of the civil unrest in East Pakistan. In November 1971 Indian troops crossed into East Pakistan to fight Pakistani forces. A month later Gandhi announced recognition of the Bangladesh government set up by East Pakistani rebel leaders. On December 16 Pakistan's commander in East Pakistan surrendered to India. In the state elections held in India in March 1972, Gandhi's New Congress Party scored the most overwhelming victory in the history of independent India. However, her opponent accused her of violating election laws, and a high court supported the charge in 1975. Because of this development, as well as domestic unrest, Gandhi declared a state of emergency and postponed elections. In the 1977 elections Gandhi and her party suffered major defeats and Gandhi eventually lost her seat and the post of prime minister. The following year Gandhi headed the Congress Party as she returned to Parliament. In 1979 she again became prime minister. In efforts to prove India's nonalliance in the global community, she visited both the United States and the U.S.S.R., the former Soviet Union, which consisted of Russia and several smaller states. Internally, riots broke out among Muslim, Hindu, and Sikh

religious sects, or groups. Sikhs, looking to separate themselves from India, secured weapons within their sacred Golden Temple in Amritsar, and assumed religious protection. Gandhi ordered government troops to storm the temple, leading to many Sikh deaths. This led to her assassination at her residence on October 31, 1984, by her own Sikh security guards. In death, Gandhi remains a symbol of courage and democracy in one of the world's most populated countries.

Read more: Indira Gandhi Biography - life, family, children, story, death, history, wife, mother, information, born, college, house http://www.notablebiographies.com/Fi-Gi/GandhiIndira.html#ixzz1V7K5dn1J

Indira Gandhi was the first woman ever elected to lead a democracy. She was the Prime Minister from 1966-77 and then again between 1980-84 till her death at the hands of her own bodyguards. A paradox she may seem for during the time that she served India as a Prime Minister, she was known as a dictator as well as one of the most charismatic leaders of India. Indira Gandhi was born on November 19, 1917 and was the only child of Jawaharlal and Kamala Nehru. The active participation of both her parents in India's independence struggle of India from the British, Indira Gandhi was drawn to politics at an early age. It was as if politics and politicians always surrounded her. By the time she was about twelve years old, she headed what came to be known as the Monkey Brigade. The monkey brigade consisted of children who warned the independence movement leaders of their arrest. Being its leader, she delivered speeches while other children actually warned the people who were going to be arrested. The Congress figured that the British would not suspect children of participating in such involvement. She was soon sent to England for her studies where she joined the Somerville college, Oxford. She also spent time in Switzerland primarily because her mother needed to be there due to her ill health. But her mother passed away in 1936. In 1938, Indira returned to India and joined the Indian National Congress Party. Soon afterwards in 1942, she married journalist Feroze Gandhi with whom she eventually had two sons-Sanjay and Rajiv Gandhi. Soon after the couple was married, they were sent to prison on charges of subversion by the British. Her one and only imprisonment lasted from September 11, 1942 until May 13, 1943 at the Naini Central Jail in Allahabad. India won its independence from Britain in 1947. In that same year, Indira's father Jawaharlal Nehru became India's first Prime Minister. Since her mother's death, Indira acted as her father's hostess and confidante and traveled with Nehru. Simultaneously, she was steadily making her way presence felt in the political arena. She began to associate herself with numerous organizations. From 1953-57 she was Chairman of the Central Social Welfare Board. In 1955, she became a member of the Working Committee and Central Election Committee, the Central Parliamentary Board from 1956, and was the President of the All India Youth Congress from 1956 to 1960.

After the death of her father, Jawaharlal Nehru in1964, the then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri appointed Indira Gandhi as the Minister of Information and Broadcasting. This position was the fourth highest-ranking position in the Cabinet as radio and television were an important source to disseminate information to the largely illiterate population of India. As a minister, She encouraged the making of inexpensive radios and started a family planning program. But Lal Bahadur Shastri suddenly died of a heart attack in 1966. The contenders for Prime Minister's post could not agree among themselves and therefore felt that Indira Gandhi would be the best for the position as a prime minister. Hence, she became the Prime Minister in 1966 till India held the next elections in 1967. She won that election--- in 1967, she became the first woman ever elected to lead a democracy. In 1971, Gandhi was re-elected by campaigning with the slogan "Garibi Hatao" (Abolish Poverty). She rode a wave of success in 1971 with India's victory in the Indo-pak war and the launching of the India's first satellite into space. And with the testing of a nuclear device in 1974, she earned the reputation of a tough and shrewd politician among the middle class. Simultaneously, by 1973, large-scale demonstrations were taking place across Delhi and north India. A large section of the population felt that she was not living up to her promises of "Garibi Hatao". High inflation, rampant corruption and poor standards of living were leading to social unrest. In an attempt to control population growth, she implemented a voluntary sterilization program. But her adversaries criticized it. She began to face a strong opposition to her administration in general. By 1975, Indira Gandhi had to face charges of corruption. In June 1975, the High Court of Allahabad found her guilty of using illegal practices during the last election campaign. She was ordered to vacate her seat. There were demands for her resignation. She responded by declaring a state of emergency on June 25, 1975. During this emergency, the Supreme Court of India overturned the Allahabad High Court's judgment. Through the powers ensured to her through the emergency, she ordered the arrests of the main opposition leaders. In her opinion, she declared an emergency for the good of India. The constitutional rights of the citizens were limited and the press was under strict censorship overnight. Meanwhile, her eldest son, Sanjay Gandhi, ordered the removal of slum dwellings, and in an attempt to curb India's growing population, initiated a highly resented program of forced sterilization. In early 1977, she thought she had eliminated her opposition and called for fresh elections. Her Congress party lost badly at the polls. She was voted out of power and a newly formed coalition of political parties came to power. Many declared that she was a spent force. But, three years later, she was to return as Prime Minister of India. Indira Gandhi came to power again as the prime minister in 1980. The same year, however, her son Sanjay was killed in an airplane crash.

In the post-emergency period, as a prime minister Indira Gandhi was preoccupied by efforts to resolve the political problems in the state of Punjab. In her attempt to crush the secessionist movement of Sikh militants, led by Jarnail Singh Bindranwale, she ordered an assault upon the holiest Sikh shrine in Amritsar, the "Golden Temple". It was from here that Bindranwale and his armed supporters waged their campaign. "Operation Bluestar", waged in June 1984, led to the death of Bindranwale, and the Golden Temple was stripped clean of Sikh terrorists. However, the Golden Temple was damaged, and Mrs. Gandhi earned the undying hatred of Sikhs who bitterly resented her action in their sacred space. In November of the same year, Mrs. Gandhi was assassinated, at her residence, by two of her own Sikh bodyguards, who claimed to be avenging the insult heaped upon the Sikh nation. Her death led to sectarian violence across India during which over a 1000 people died of which many were Sikhs. Indira Gandhi was remarkable for her ambition for personal power, her endurance and political tenacity. Mrs. Gandhi acquired a formidable international reputation as a "statesman", and there is no doubt that she was extraordinarily skilled in politics. On the international front, she insisted on India's independence, gradually loosened ties with the former USSR that were developed in the early 1970s when China seemed menacing. She was proved to be a forceful spokeswoman for the rights of poorer nations. On the domestic front, however, her autocratic methods often clashed with her democratic principles. She had an authoritarian streak and rarely tolerated dissent. In many respects, Indian democracy was irreparably harmed during her rule. Apart from her infamous imposition of the internal emergency, the use of the army to resolve internal disputes greatly increased in her time. After her death, her second son, Rajiv Gandhi, was sworn in as head of the Congress party and Prime Minister.

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Quick Look : : Life Line 1917, November 19: Date of birth 1930: founded the Bal Chakha Sangh and was part of the Vanas Sena---a children's organization which ran messages to help the Congress Party or Freedom Movement during the non-cooperative movement. -Goes to study in England and joins Somerville college in Oxford. 1938: joins the Indian National Congress 1942: marries Feroze Gandhi 1942: The couple is soon imprisoned at the Naini Central jail, Allahabad on September 11, 1942 on charges of subversion 1943, May 13: released from Naini Central jail 1947-1964: remains with her father as his hostess and close supporter 1947: under Gandhi's instructions, she works in riot-affected areas of Delhi. 1953-57: serves as the Chairman of the Central Social Welfare Board 1955: becomes a member of the working Committee and Central Election Committee 1956: member of Central Parliamentary Board 1956-60: Becomes the President of the All India Youth congress

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1960: Feroze Gandhi, her husband, dies 1964: Nehru, her father, dies 1964: she is elected to the parliament in his place 1964-66: serves as the Minister of Information and Broadcasting 1966: becomes the Prime Minister after the death of Lal Bahadur Shastri 1971: calls for a general election and wins by an enormous margin -declares war with Pakistan over Bangladesh -sends India's first satellite into space -her period in office is marked by severe economic troubles. 1973: there are demonstrations across the country due to high inflation, poor state of the economy, rampant corruption and the poor standards of living. 1974: tests the explosion of a nuclear device. 1975, June: the High Court of Allahabad found her guilty of illegal practices during the last election campaign and ordered her to vacate her seat. -She responded by declaring a state of emergency. 1977: Indira Gandhi calls for early elections but loses -she faces charges of corruption and authoritarianism -is expelled from parliament and is imprisoned. 1978: is released from prison. -Resigns from the congress party -Becomes leader of the Indian National Congress -Wins a seat through a by-election 1980: is re-elected as the Prime Minister -Sanjay Gandhi, her youngest son, dies in a plane crash 1984, June: in an attempt to crush the secessionist movement in Punjab, she launched "Operation Blue Star". She sent troops into the "Golden Temple" of Amritsar. This led to the death of Jarnail Singh Bindrawale, the leader of the secessionist movement of Sikh militants.

ndira Gandhi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Indira Gandhi

3rd Prime Minister of India In office 14 January 1980 31 October 1984 President Preceded by Neelam Sanjiva Reddy Zail Singh Charan Singh

Succeeded by Rajiv Gandhi In office 24 January 1966 24 March 1977 Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Zakir Hussain Varahagiri Venkata Giri (Acting) Mohammad Hidayatullah (Acting) Varahagiri Venkata Giri Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed Basappa Danappa Jatti (Acting) Morarji Desai Gulzarilal Nanda (Acting)

President

Deputy Preceded by

Succeeded by Morarji Desai Minister of External Affairs In office 9 March 1984 31 October 1984 Preceded by Narasimha Rao

Succeeded by Rajiv Gandhi In office 22 August 1967 14 March 1969 Preceded by Mahommedali Currim Chagla

Succeeded by Dinesh Singh Minister of Defence In office 14 January 1980 15 January 1982 Preceded by Chidambaram Subramaniam

Succeeded by Ramaswamy Venkataraman In office 30 November 1975 20 December 1975 Preceded by Sardar Swaran Singh

Succeeded by Bansi Lal Minister of Home Affairs In office 27 June 1970 4 February 1973 Preceded by Yashwantrao Chavan

Succeeded by Uma Shankar Dikshit Minister of Finance

In office 16 July 1969 27 June 1970 Preceded by Morarji Desai

Succeeded by Yashwantrao Chavan Personal details Born 19 November 1917 Allahabad, British India 31 October 1984 (aged 66) New Delhi, India

Died

Political party Indian National Congress Spouse(s) Relations Feroze Gandhi Jawaharlal Nehru (father) Kamala Nehru (mother) Rajiv Sanjay Somerville College, Oxford Hinduism

Children Alma mater Religion

Signature

Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi ( i/lnd r pri w rshni ndi/; Hindi: ; 19 November 1917 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and the leader of the Indian National Congress. She was the third Prime Minister of the Republic of India for three consecutive terms from 1966 to 1977 and for a fourth term from 1980 until her assassination in 1984, a total of fifteen years. Gandhi was the first female prime minister to hold the office and remained as the world's longest serving female Prime Minister as of 2011.[1] Noted for her charismatic authority and political astuteness, Gandhi adhered to the quasi-socialist policies of industrial development that were begun by her father. She was also the only Indian Prime Minister to have declared a state of emergency in order to 'rule by decree' and the only Indian Prime Minister to have been imprisoned after holding that office.

Contents
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1 Early life and career 2 Legislative career o 2.1 War with Pakistan in 1971 o 2.2 Foreign policy o 2.3 Nuclear weapons program o 2.4 Green Revolution o 2.5 1971 election victory and second term o 2.6 Corruption charges and verdict of electoral malpractice o 2.7 State of Emergency (1975 1977) o 2.8 Rule by decree o 2.9 Elections o 2.10 Removal, arrest, and return o 2.11 Currency crisis o 2.12 Operation Blue Star and assassination 3 Family and personal life 4 Legacy 5 See also 6 References 7 Further reading 8 External links

[edit] Early life and career

Indira Gandhi was born on 19 November 1917 into the politically influential Nehru Family. Indira Gandhi's father was Jawaharlal Nehru and her mother was Kamala Nehru. Indira gained the surname "Gandhi" by her marriage to Feroze Gandhi. She had no relation to Mahatma Gandhi, either by blood or marriage. Her grandfather, Motilal Nehru, was a prominent Indian nationalist leader. Her father, Jawaharlal Nehru, was a pivotal figure in the Indian independence movement and the first Prime Minister of Independent India. In 193435, after finishing school, Indira joined Shantiniketan,[2] a school set up by Rabindranath Tagore, who gave her the name Priyadarshini (priya=pleasing, darshini=to look at). Subsequently, she went to England and sat for the University of Oxford entrance examination, but she failed,[3] and spent a few months at Badminton School in Bristol, before passing the exam in 1937 and enrolling at Somerville College, Oxford. During this time, she frequently met Feroze Gandhi, whom she knew from Allahabad, and who was studying at the London School of Economics. She married him in 1942. She returned to India in 1941. In the 1950s, she served her father unofficially as a personal assistant during his tenure as the first Prime Minister of India. After her father's death in 1964

she was appointed as a member of the Rajya Sabha (upper house) and became a member of Lal Bahadur Shastri's cabinet as Minister of Information and Broadcasting.[4] The then Congress Party President K. Kamaraj was instrumental in making Indira Gandhi the Prime Minister after the sudden demise of Shastri. Gandhi soon showed an ability to win elections and outmaneuver opponents. She introduced more left-wing economic policies and promoted agricultural productivity. She led India as Prime Minister during the decisive victory of East Pakistan over Pakistan in 1971 war and creation of an independent Bangladesh. She imposed a state of emergency in 1975. Congress Party and Indira Gandhi herself lost the next general election for the first time in 1977. Indira Gandhi led the Congress back to victory in 1980 elections and Gandhi resumed the office of the Prime Minister. In June 1984, under Gandhi's order, the Indian army forcefully entered the Golden Temple, the most sacred Sikh Gurdwara, to remove armed insurgents present inside the temple. She was assassinated on 31 October 1984 in retaliation for this operation by her bodyguards.

[edit] Legislative career

When Gandhi became Prime Minister in 1966, the Congress was split in two factions, the socialists led by Gandhi, and the conservatives led by Morarji Desai. Rammanohar Lohia called her Gungi Gudiya which means 'Dumb Doll'.[5] The internal problems showed in the 1967 election where the Congress lost nearly 60 seats winning 297 seats in the 545 seat Lok Sabha. She had to accommodate Desai as Deputy Prime Minister of India and Minister of Finance. In 1969 after many disagreements with Desai, the Indian National Congress split. She ruled with support from Socialist and Communist Parties for the next two years. In the same year, in July 1969 she nationalized banks.
[edit] War with Pakistan in 1971 Main article: Indo-Pakistan War of 1971

The Pakistan army conducted widespread atrocities against the civilian populations of East Pakistan.[6][7] An estimated 10 million refugees fled to India, causing financial hardship and instability in the country. The United States under Richard Nixon supported Pakistan, and mooted a UN resolution warning India against going to war. Nixon apparently disliked Indira personally, referring to her as a "witch" and "clever fox" in his private communication with Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (now released by the State Department).[8] Indira signed the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation, resulting in political support and a Soviet veto at the UN. India was victorious in the 1971 war, and Bangladesh was born.
[edit] Foreign policy

Gandhi invited the late Pakistani President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to Shimla for a week-long summit. After the near-failure of the talks, the two heads of state eventually signed the Shimla Agreement, which bound the two countries to resolve the Kashmir dispute by negotiations and peaceful means. Due to her antipathy for Nixon, relations with the United States grew distant, while relations with the Soviet Union grew closer.

She was criticized by some for not making the Line of Control (LoC) a permanent border while a few critics even believed that Pakistan-administered Kashmir should have been extracted from Pakistan, whose 93,000 prisoners of war were under Indian control. But the agreement did remove immediate United Nations and third party interference, and greatly reduced the likelihood of Pakistan launching a major attack in the near future. By not demanding total capitulation on a sensitive issue from Bhutto, she had allowed Pakistan to stabilize and normalize. Trade relations were also normalized, though much contact remained frozen (sealed) for years.
[edit] Nuclear weapons program

A national nuclear program was started by Gandhi in 1967, in response to the nuclear threat from the People's Republic of China and to establish India's stability and security interests as independent from those of the nuclear superpowers. In 1974, India successfully conducted an underground nuclear test, unofficially code named as "Smiling Buddha", near the desert village of Pokhran in Rajasthan. Describing the test as for peaceful purposes, India became the world's then youngest nuclear power.
[edit] Green Revolution Main article: Green Revolution in India

Richard Nixon and Indira Gandhi in 1971. They had a deep personal antipathy that coloured bilateral relations.

Special agricultural innovation programs and extra government support launched in the 1960s finally transformed India's chronic food shortages into surplus production of wheat, rice, cotton

and milk, the success mainly attributed to the hard working majority Sikh farmers of Punjab. Rather than relying on food aid from the United States headed by a President whom Gandhi disliked considerably (the feeling was mutual: to Nixon, Indira was "the old witch"),[8] the country became a food exporter. That achievement, along with the diversification of its commercial crop production, has become known as the "Green Revolution". At the same time, the White Revolution was an expansion in milk production which helped to combat malnutrition, especially amidst young children. 'Food security', as the program was called, was another source of support for Gandhi in the years leading up to 1975.[9] Established in the early 1960s, the Green Revolution was the unofficial name given to the Intense Agricultural District Program (IADP) which sought to insure abundant, inexpensive grain for urban dwellers upon whose support Gandhias indeed all Indian politiciansheavily depended.[10] The program was based on four premises: 1) New varieties of seed(s), 2) Acceptance of the necessity of the chemicalization of Indian agriculture, i.e. fertilizers, pesticides, weed killers, etc., 3) A commitment to national and international cooperative research to develop new and improved existing seed varieties, 4) The concept of developing a scientific, agricultural institutions in the form of land grant colleges.[11]
[edit] 1971 election victory and second term

Indira's government faced major problems after her tremendous mandate of 1971. The internal structure of the Congress Party had withered following its numerous splits, leaving it entirely dependent on her leadership for its election fortunes. Garibi Hatao (Eradicate Poverty) was the theme for Gandhi's 1971 bid. The slogan and the proposed anti-poverty programs that came with it were designed to give Gandhi an independent national support, based on rural and urban poor. This would allow her to bypass the dominant rural castes both in and of state and local government; likewise the urban commercial class. And, for their part, the previously voiceless poor would at last gain both political worth and political weight. The programs created through Garibi Hatao, though carried out locally, were funded, developed, supervised, and staffed by New Delhi and the Indian National Congress party. "These programs also provided the central political leadership with new and vast patronage resources to be disbursed... throughout the country."[12] Scholars and historians now agree as to the extent of the failure of Garibi Hatao in alleviating poverty only about 4% of all funds allocated for economic development went to the three main anti-poverty programs, and precious few of these ever reached the 'poorest of the poor' and the empty sloganeering of the program was mainly used instead to engender populist support for Gandhi's re-election.

[edit] Corruption charges and verdict of electoral malpractice

Gandhi meeting with Shah of Iran Mohammad-Reza Pahlavi and Shahbanu Farah Pahlavi during the latters' State visit to India in 1970.

On 12 June 1975 the High Court of Allahabad declared Indira Gandhi's election to the Lok Sabha void on grounds of electoral malpractice. In an election petition filed by Raj Narain (who later on defeated her in 1977 parliamentary election from Rae Bareily), he had alleged several major as well as minor instances of using government resources for campaigning.[13] The court thus ordered her to be removed from her seat in Parliament and banned from running in elections for six years. The Prime Minister must be a member of either the Lok Sabha (Lower house in the Parliament of India) or the Rajya Sabha (the Higher house of the Parliament). Thus, this decision effectively removed her from office. Mrs Gandhi had asked one of India's best legal minds and also one of her colleagues in government, Mr Ashoke Kumar Sen to defend her in court. It has been written that Mrs Gandhi was told she would only win if Mr Sen appeared for her[citation needed] . But Gandhi rejected calls to resign and announced plans to appeal to the Supreme Court. The verdict was delivered by Mr Justice Sinha at Allahabad High Court. It came almost four years after the case was brought by Raj Narain, the premier's defeated opponent in the 1971 parliamentary election. Gandhi, who gave evidence in her defence during the trial, was found guilty of dishonest election practices, excessive election expenditure, and of using government machinery and officials for party purposes.[14] The judge rejected more serious charges of bribery against her. Indira insisted the conviction did not undermine her position, despite having been unseated from the lower house of parliament, Lok Sabha, by order of the High Court. She said: "There is a lot of talk about our government not being clean, but from our experience the situation was very much worse when [opposition] parties were forming governments". And she dismissed criticism of the way her Congress Party raised election campaign money, saying all parties used the same methods. The prime minister retained the support of her party, which issued a statement backing her. After news of the verdict spread, hundreds of supporters demonstrated outside her house, pledging their loyalty. Indian High Commissioner BK Nehru said Gandhi's conviction would not harm her political career. "Mrs Gandhi has still today overwhelming support in the country," he

said. "I believe the prime minister of India will continue in office until the electorate of India decides otherwise".
[edit] State of Emergency (1975 1977) Main article: Indian Emergency (1975-1977)

Gandhi moved to restore order by ordering the arrest of most of the opposition participating in the unrest. Her Cabinet and government then recommended that President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed declare a state of emergency, because of the disorder and lawlessness following the Allahabad High Court decision. Accordingly, Ahmed declared a State of Emergency caused by internal disorder, based on the provisions of Article 352 of the Constitution, on 26 June 1975.
[edit] Rule by decree

Within a few months, President's Rule was imposed on the two opposition party ruled states of Gujarat and Tamil Nadu thereby bringing the entire country under direct Central rule or by governments led by the ruling Congress party.[15] Police were granted powers to impose curfews and indefinitely detain citizens and all publications were subjected to substantial censorship by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Inder Kumar Gujral, a future prime minister himself, resigned as Minister for Information and Broadcasting to protest Sanjay Gandhi's interference in his work. Finally, impending legislative assembly elections were indefinitely postponed, with all opposition-controlled state governments being removed by virtue of the constitutional provision allowing for a dismissal of a state government on recommendation of the state's governor. Indira Gandhi used the emergency provisions to grant herself extraordinary powers. "Unlike her father Jawaharlal Nehru, who preferred to deal with strong chief ministers in control of their legislative parties and state party organizations, Mrs. Gandhi set out to remove every Congress chief minister who had an independent base and to replace each of them with ministers personally loyal to her...Even so, stability could not be maintained in the states..."[16] It is alleged that she further moved President Ahmed to issue ordinances that did not need to be debated in the Parliament, allowing her to rule by decree. Simultaneously, Gandhi's government undertook a campaign to stamp out dissent including the arrest and detention of thousands of political activists; Sanjay was instrumental in initiating the clearing of slums around Delhi's Jama Masjid under the supervision of Jag Mohan, later Lt. Governor of Delhi, which allegedly left thousands of people homeless and hundreds killed, and led to communal embitterment in those parts of the nation's capital; and the family planning program which forcibly imposed vasectomy on thousands of fathers and was often poorly administered.

[edit] Elections

After extending the state of emergency twice, in 1977 Indira Gandhi called for elections, to give the electorate a chance to vindicate her rule. Gandhi may have grossly misjudged her popularity by reading what the heavily censored press wrote about her. In any case, she was opposed by the Janata Party. Janata, led by her long-time rival, Desai and with Jai Prakash Narayan as its spiritual guide, claimed the elections were the last chance for India to choose between "democracy and dictatorship." Indira's Congress party was beaten soundly. Indira and Sanjay Gandhi both lost their seats, and Congress was cut down to 153 seats (compared with 350 in the previous Lok Sabha), 92 of which were in the south.
[edit] Removal, arrest, and return

Mrs. Gandhi with M.G. Ramachandran, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. In the post-emergency elections in 1977, only the Southern states returned Congress majorities.

1984 USSR commemorative stamp

The downfall of Indira Gandhi began after India won the war against Pakistan in 1971. The Allahabad High Court found Indira Gandhi guilty with electoral corruption for the 1971 elections. In 1975, Indira Gandhi called a State of Emergency under Article 352 in which she ordered the arrest of her opposition, who later joined together and formed the Janata Party In 1977, Indira Gandhi and her party, Indian National Congress, lost the election to the Janata Party, a coalition of virtually all of Indira opponents. After the elections, Gandhi found herself without work, income or residence. The Congress Party split during the election campaign of 1977: veteran Gandhi supporters like Jagjivan Ram and her most loyal Bahuguna and Nandini Satpathy very close to Indira, the three were compelled due to politicking and possibly circumstances created by Sanjay Gandhi to part ways. The prevailing rumour was that Sanjay had intentions of dislodging Indira. The Congress Party was now a much smaller group in Parliament, although the official opposition. Once the Janata Party came into power, they aimed to return all Indian citizens the freedoms taken away when Indira Gandhi declared the State of Emergency. The leader of the Janata Party was Jayaprakash Narayan who kept the party united. The other party leaders of the Janata Party were Morarji Desai, Charan Singh, Raj Narain and Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Unable to govern owing to fractious coalition warfare, the Janata government's Home Minister, Choudhary Charan Singh, ordered the arrest of Indira and Sanjay Gandhi on several charges, none of which would be easy to prove in an Indian court. The arrest meant that Indira was automatically expelled from Parliament. These allegations included that Indira Gandhi had planned or thought of killing all opposition leaders in jail during the Emergency.[17] However, this strategy backfired disastrously. Her arrest and long-running trial, however, gained her great sympathy from many people who had feared her as a tyrant just two years earlier.The Janata coalition was only united by its hatred of Indira (or "that woman" as some called her). With so little in common, the government was bogged down by infighting and Gandhi was able to use the situation to her advantage. She began giving speeches again, tacitly apologizing for "mistakes" made during the Emergency. Jayaprakash Narayan died on 8 October 1979, which broke the unity of the Janata Party and Desai took his place. Desai resigned in June 1979, and Charan Singh was appointed Prime Minister by Reddy after Gandhi promised that Congress would support his government from outside. After a short interval, she withdrew her initial support and President Reddy dissolved Parliament in the winter of 1979. In elections held the following January, Congress was returned to power with a landslide majority.
[edit] Currency crisis

During the early 1980s, Indira's failed to arrest the 40 percent fall in the value of the Indian Rupee from 7 to 12 against the US Dollar. However it is argued that the Reserve Bank of India had decided to devalue to rupee to make Indian exports more competitive.[citation needed]

[edit] Operation Blue Star and assassination

Indira Gandhi's blood-stained sari and her belongings at the time of her assassination, preserved at the Indira Gandhi Memorial Museum in New Delhi. Main articles: Operation Blue Star, 1984 anti-Sikh riots, and Indira Gandhi assassination

In July 1982, Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the head of the Sikh religious institution the Dam Dami Taxsal based in the northern Indian state of Punjab, led a campaign for the implementation of the Anandpur Sahib Resolution for the Khalistan separatist movement. Bhindranwale and his men had gained a massive supply in firearms and explosives and began recruitment, with Indian reports stating they had near total control of the Punjab state. In a controversial move, Bhindrawale and his men occupied the Harmindar Sahib, the holiest of the Sikh temples, and began fortifying it. In response to this Indira Gandhi ordered Bhindrawale to lay down his arms but he refused and so, on 6 June 1984 during one of the holiest Sikh holidays, Indira Gandhi enacted Operation Blue Star. The Indian Army attacked the temple and cleared the site of Bhindrawale and his supporters. The State of Punjab was closed to international media, Sikh devotees, human rights organizations, and other groups during the period. To this day the events remain controversial with a disputed number of victims; Sikhs seeing the attack as unjustified and Bhindrawale as a martyr, while some see him as a misguided terrorist. On 31 October 1984, two of Gandhi's Sikh bodyguards, Satwant Singh and Beant Singh, assassinated her with their service weapons in the garden of the Prime Minister's residence at 1 Safdarjung Road, New Delhi as she was walking past a wicket gate guarded by Satwant and Beant. She was to be interviewed by the British actor Peter Ustinov, who was filming a documentary for Irish television. According to information immediately following the incident, Beant Singh shot her three times using his side-arm, and Satwant Singh fired 30 rounds[18] using a Sten submachine gun. Beant Singh and Satwant Singh dropped their weapons and surrendered. Afterwards they were taken away by other guards into a closed room where Beant Singh was shot dead as he tried to capture one of the guard's weapons. While Satwant Singh was arrested at the site of assassination, Kehar Singh was later arrested for conspiracy in the assassination. Both were sentenced to death and hanged in Tihar jail in Delhi. Gandhi died on her way to the hospital, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, where doctors operated on her. Official accounts at the time stated as many as 19 entry and exit wounds and some reports stated 16 bullets were extracted from her body. She was cremated on 3

November near Raj Ghat. Her funeral was televised live on domestic and international stations including the BBC.

[edit] Family and personal life

Initially, her younger son Sanjay had been her chosen heir; but after his death in a flying accident in June 1980, his mother persuaded a reluctant elder son Rajiv Gandhi to quit his job as a pilot and enter politics in February 1981. Over a decade later, Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated. Indira was known for her closeness with her personal yoga guru, Dhirendra Brahmachari, who not only helped her in making certain decisions but also executed certain top level political tasks on her behalf, especially from 1975 to 1977 when Gandhi "dissolved Parliament, declared a state of emergency and suspended civil liberties."[19][20] After Indira Gandhi's death, Rajiv Gandhi became Prime Minister. In May 1991, he too was assassinated, this time at the hands of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Rajiv's widow, Sonia Gandhi, led the United Progressive Alliance to a surprise electoral victory in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections. Following widespread political and public protests against a foreign born citizen becoming the Prime Minister, Sonia Gandhi declined the opportunity to assume the office of Prime Minister but remains in control of the Congress' political apparatus; Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, formerly finance minister, now heads the nation. Rajiv's children, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, have also entered politics. Sanjay Gandhi's widow, Maneka Gandhi who fell out with Indira after Sanjay's death and was famously thrown out of the Prime Minister's house[21] as well as Sanjay's son, Varun Gandhi, are active in politics as members of the main opposition BJP party.

[edit] Legacy
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2010)

As per economic surveys, when Indira Gandhi became Prime Minister, 65% of the country's population was below the poverty line, and when her regime ended in 1984, this figure was 45%.[citation needed]. During her rule, food production increased by 250%.[citation needed] (although this was in good part due to the efforts of Norman Borlaug). Literacy also increased in India by 30%.[citation needed] The goodwill of the rural population earned by Gandhi still has its effects on the success of the Congress Party in rural India, as well as the popular support of the Nehru-Gandhi Family.[citation needed] She is reverently remembered in many parts of rural India as Indira-Amma ("Amma" means "mother" in many Indian languages).[citation needed] Her Garibi Hatao slogan is still used by the Congress during political campaigns.[citation needed] The present president of the Indian National

Congress, Sonia Gandhi, who is also the daughter-in-law of Indira Gandhi, is said to style herself in resemblance to her. The Indira Awaas Yojana, a programme of the central government to provide low-cost housing to rural poor, is named after her. The international airport at New Delhi is named the Indira Gandhi International Airport in her honour. A negative legacy Mrs. Gandhi will be associated with is that of fostering a culture of nepotism.[22]