Indira Gandhi
Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (Hindi: [ˈɪnd̪ɪɾɑː ˈɡɑːnd̪ʰi] (
listen); née Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as 3rd prime minister of India in 1966 and was also the first and, to date, only female prime minister of India. Gandhi was the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, the 1st prime minister of India. She served as prime minister from January 1966 to March 1977 and again from January 1980 until her assassination in October 1984, making her the second longest-serving Indian prime minister after her father.
Indira Gandhi | |
|---|---|
 Gandhi in 1966 | |
| 3rd Prime Minister of India | |
| In office 14 January 1980 – 31 October 1984 | |
| President | N. Sanjiva Reddy Zail Singh |
| Preceded by | Charan Singh |
| Succeeded by | Rajiv Gandhi |
| In office 24 January 1966 – 24 March 1977 | |
| President | Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Zakir Husain V. V. Giri Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed |
| Deputy | Morarji Desai |
| Preceded by | Gulzarilal Nanda (Acting) |
| Succeeded by | Morarji Desai |
| Minister of External Affairs | |
| In office 9 March 1984 – 31 October 1984 | |
| Preceded by | P. V. Narasimha Rao |
| Succeeded by | Rajiv Gandhi |
| In office 22 August 1967 – 14 March 1969 | |
| Preceded by | M. C. Chagla |
| Succeeded by | Dinesh Singh |
| Minister of Defence | |
| In office 14 January 1980 – 15 January 1982 | |
| Preceded by | Chidambaram Subramaniam |
| Succeeded by | R. Venkataraman |
| In office 30 November 1975 – 20 December 1975 | |
| Preceded by | 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 17 July 1969 – 27 June 1970 | |
| Preceded by | Morarji Desai |
| Succeeded by | Yashwantrao Chavan |
| Minister of Information and Broadcasting | |
| In office 9 June 1964 – 24 January 1966 | |
| Prime Minister | Lal Bahadur Shastri |
| Preceded by | Satya Narayan Sinha |
| Succeeded by | Kodardas Kalidas Shah |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Indira Priyadarshini Nehru 19 November 1917 Allahabad, United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, British India (present-day Prayagraj, India) |
| Died | 31 October 1984 (aged 66) New Delhi, India |
| Cause of death | Assassination (Ballistic trauma) |
Monuments | |
| Political party | Indian National Congress |
| Spouse(s) | |
| Children | Rajiv Gandhi Sanjay Gandhi |
| Parent(s) | Jawaharlal Nehru (father) Kamala Nehru (mother) |
| Relatives | See Nehru–Gandhi family |
| Alma mater | Visva-Bharati University (dropped out)[1] Somerville College, Oxford (dropped out)[1] |
| Awards |
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| Signature |  |
| Nickname(s) | see article |
During Nehru's premiership from 1947 to 1964, Gandhi was considered a key assistant and accompanied him on his numerous foreign trips. She was elected president of the Indian National Congress in 1959. Upon 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. In the Congress Party's parliamentary leadership election held in early 1966 (upon the death of Shastri), she defeated her rival Morarji Desai to become leader, and thus succeeded Shastri, after his death, as Prime Minister of India.
As prime minister, Gandhi was known for her political intransigency and unprecedented centralisation of power. She went to war with Pakistan in support of the independence movement and war of independence in East Pakistan, which resulted in an Indian victory and the creation of Bangladesh, as well as increasing India's influence to the point where it became the sole regional power of South Asia. Citing separatist tendencies, and in response to a call for revolution, Gandhi instituted a state of emergency from 1975 to 1977 where basic civil liberties were suspended and the press was censored. Widespread atrocities were carried out during the emergency.[2] In 1980, she returned to power after free and fair elections. After Gandhi ordered military action in the Golden Temple in Operation Blue Star, her own bodyguards and Sikh nationalists assassinated her on 31 October 1984.
In 1999, Indira Gandhi was named "Woman of the Millennium" in an online poll organised by the BBC.[3] In 2020, Gandhi was named by Time magazine among the world's 100 powerful women who defined the last century.[4]