Today is her 25th Death Anniversary.
4th Prime Minister of India (1st tenure)
In office
24 January 1966 – 24 March 1977
President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
Zakir Hussain
Varahagiri Venkata Giri
Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed
Preceded by Gulzarilal Nanda
Succeeded by Morarji Desai
4th Prime Minister of India (2nd tenure)
In office
15 January 1980 – 31 October 1984
President Neelam Sanjiva Reddy
Giani Zail Singh
Preceded by Choudhary Charan Singh
Succeeded by Rajiv Gandhi
Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (Hindi: इंदिरा प्रियदर्शिनी गांधी Indirā Priyadarśinī Gāndhī; née: Nehru; (19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was the 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. She was India's first and, to date, only female Prime Minister. She is not related to Mohandas Gandhi.
Born in the politically influential Nehru Family, she grew up in an intensely political atmosphere. 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. Returning to India from Oxford in 1941, she became involved in the Indian Independence movement. 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 by the President of India and became a member of Lal Bahadur Shastri's cabinet as Minister of Information and Broadcasting.
The then Congress Party President K. Kamaraj was instrumental in making Indira Gandhi the Prime Minister after the sudden demise of Shastri[citation needed]. Gandhi soon showed an ability to win elections and outmaneuver opponents through populism. She introduced more left-wing economic policies and promoted agricultural productivity. She was the Prime Minister during the decisive victory in the 1971 war with Pakistan. A period of instability led her to impose a state of emergency in 1975. Due to the authoritarian excesses for a period of excesses, the Congress Party lost the next general election for the first time in 1977. Congress again won the 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 shrine, to arrest insurgents. She was assassinated on October 31, 1984 in retaliation to this operation.
|
