Indira Gandhi

 Indira Gandhi, full of Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi, Nee Nehru, (born November 19, 1917, Allahabad, India - died October 31, 1984, New Delhi), Indian politician who was India's first female prime minister , working for three consecutive years (1966-77) and for the fourth time from 1980 until his assassination in 1984.

Early Life And Rise to Appearance

Indira Nehru was the only child of Jawaharlal Nehru, one of the most influential figures in India's struggle for independence in Britain, a prominent and powerful leader of the Indian National Congress (Congress Party), and the first prime minister (1947-64) of India. His grandfather Motilal Nehru was one of the pioneers of an independent organization and was very close to Mohandas (“Mahatma”) Gandhi. He studied for one year, at Visva-Bharati University in Shantiniketan (now in Bolpur, West Bengal province) and at the University of Oxford in England. He joined the Congress Party in 1938.

In 1942 she married Feroze Gandhi (who died in 1960), a member of the group. The couple had two children, Sanjay and Rajiv. However, both parents were divorced because of their multiple marriages. Indira's mother had died in the mid-1930's, after which she often served as her father's manager at events and accompanied him on his travels.

The Congress Party came to power when his father took office in 1947, and Gandhi became a member of the working committee in 1955. In 1959 he was elected to the position of party president. He was a member of the Rajya Sabha (India's upper chamber) in 1964, and in that year Lal Bahadur Shastri - who had replaced Nehru as prime minister - named his minister of information and broadcasting in his government.

First time as Prime Minister

In the sudden death of Shastri in January 1966, Gandhi was elected leader of the Congress Party - and thus became prime minister - in a consensus between the party's right and left wings. His leadership, however, has been under ongoing challenge on the right side of the party, led by former Finance Minister Morarji Desai. He won a seat in the 1967 election in Lok Sabha (India's lower house of parliament), but Congress won only a few seats, and Gandhi had to accept Desai as deputy prime minister.

Disagreements escalated within the group, however, and in 1969 he was expelled from the party by Desai and other senior security guards. Unexpectedly, Gandhi, joined the majority of the party members, formed a new party around his home called the "New" Congress Party. In the 1971 Lok Sabha election the New Congress party won a landslide victory in the by-elections. Gandhi strongly supported East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in its war of secession with Pakistan in late 1971, and the Indian armed forces gained a quick and decisive victory in Pakistan that led to the formation of Bangladesh. He became the first leader in the government to embrace the new world.

In March 1972, applauded by the country's victory over Pakistan, Gandhi once again led his New Congress Party party to a landslide victory in a series of by-elections. Shortly thereafter, the victor of his Socialist Party in the 1971 national election was charged with felony criminal mischief. In June 1975 the Supreme Court of Allahabad issued a ruling against him, meaning that he would be deprived of his seat in parliament and would have to stay out of politics for six years. He appealed the decision to the Supreme Court but did not receive a satisfactory answer. Taking matters into his own hands, he declared a state of emergency throughout India, arrested his political opponents, and seized emergency power. Many new laws were enacted that restricted personal freedom. During that time he also used a number of unpopular policies, including high interest rates as a method of birth control.

Get Out of Power and Back to the Office

Public opposition to Gandhi's two years of urgent rule was intense and widespread, and after the end of early 1977, the rival political rivals were determined to oust him and the New Congress Party from power. During the long-running national parliamentary elections in 1977, he and his party lost a landslide victory. The Janata Party (which preceded the Baratiya Janata Party) took over the reins of government, with a newly appointed member Desai as Prime Minister.

In early 1978 Gandhi and his supporters ended the division of the Congress Party by forming the Congress (I) Party - the term "I" meaning Indira. He was temporarily detained (October 1977 and December 1978) on charges of official corruption. Despite the challenges, he won a new seat in Lok Sabha in November 1978, and his Congress (I) Party began to gain power. Disagreements between the ruling Janata Party led to the collapse of its government in August 1979. During the Lok Sabha by-elections in January 1980, Gandhi and Congress (I) were restored to power with a landslide victory. His son Sanjay, a former political adviser, also won a seat in Lok Sabha. All charges against Indira, including Sanjay, have been dropped.

Sanjay Gandhi's death in a plane crash in June 1980 removed Indira's successor from India's political leadership. After Sanjay's death, Indira trained his other son, Rajiv, in his team leadership. He adheres to the quasi-socialist policy of industrial development initiated by his father. He forged close ties with the Soviet Union, with the country's support for the former Indian conflict with Pakistan.

During the early 1980s Indira Gandhi had faced threats to political credibility in India. Several provinces demanded greater independence from the central government, and separatist Sikhs in Punjab province have used violence to prove their independence. In 1982 a large number of Sikhs, led by Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, settled and fortified the Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple) building in Amritsar, the most sacred place of the Sikhs. Tensions between the government and the Sikhs escalated, and in June 1984 Gandhi ordered the Indian army to attack and remove dissenters from the complex. Some buildings in the temple were badly damaged in battle, and at least 450 Sikhs were killed (Sikh estimates of the number of people killed were very high). Five months later Gandhi was killed in his garden in New Delhi when bullets erupted from two Sikh guards in retaliation for an attack on Amritsar. He was succeeded by his prime minister, who served until 1989.