Indira Gandhi Biography

Indira Gandhi

इं�दराइं�दराइं�दराइं�दरा गांधीगांधीगांधीगांधी

Prime Minister of India

In office

14 January 1980 – 31 October 1984

President Neelam Sanjiva Reddy

Giani Zail Singh

Preceded by Choudhary Charan Singh

Succeeded by Rajiv Gandhi

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

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

Indira GandhiFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (Kashmiri/Hindi: इं�दराूयदिश�नी गांधी Indirā Priyadarśinī Gāndhī; née: Nehru; 19

November 1917 – 31 October 1984), born Indira Nehru to

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru 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 is India's only female

prime minister to date. She is the world's all time longest

serving female Prime Minister.[1]

Contents

1 Life and career

2 Early life

2.1 Growing up in India

2.2 Studying in Europe

2.3 Marriage to Feroze Gandhi

3 Early leadership

3.1 President of the Indian National Congress

4 Prime minister

4.1 First term

4.2 Domestic policy

4.3 War with Pakistan in 1971

4.4 Foreign policy

4.5 Nuclear weapons program

4.6 Green Revolution

4.7 1971 election victory and second term

4.8 Corruption charges and verdict of

electoral malpractice

4.9 State of Emergency (1975-1977)

4.10 Rule by decree

4.11 Elections

4.12 Removal, arrest, and return

4.13 Currency crisis

4.14 Operation Blue Star and assassination

5 Personal life

6 Legacy

7 See also

8 References

9 Further reading

10 External links

Indira Gandhi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indira_Gandhi

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Succeeded by Dinesh Singh

Minister of Finance

In office

26 June 1970 – 29 April 1971

Preceded by Morarji Desai

Succeeded by Yashwantrao Chavan

Born 19 November 1917

Allahabad, United Provinces,

British India

Died 31 October 1984 (aged 66)

New Delhi, Delhi, India

Political party Indian National Congress

Spouse(s) Feroze Gandhi

Children Rajiv Gandhi

Sanjay Gandhi

Alma mater Somerville College, Oxford

Religion Hinduism

Adi Dharm

Signature

Life and career

Indira Gandhi was born Indira Nehru on November 19, 1917

into the politically influential Nehru Family. Her father was

Jawaharlal Nehru and her mother was Kamala Nehru. It is a

common myth[2] to relate the name Gandhi with Mahatma

Gandhi, but her surname is from her marriage to Feroze

Gandhi. 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 1934–35, after finishing school, Indira joined

Shantiniketan,[3] 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,[4]

and spent a few months at Badminton School in

Bristol, before clearing the exam in 1937 and joining

Somerville College, Oxford. During this period, she was

frequently meeting Feroze Gandhi, whom she knew from

Allahabad, and who was studying at the London School of

Economics. She married Feroze in 1942.

Returning to India 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 (upper house) and became a member

of Lal Bahadur Shastri's cabinet as Minister of Information and Broadcasting.[5]

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 the nation as

Prime Minister during the decisive victory in the 1971 war with Pakistan and creation of an independent

Bangladesh. A period of instability led her to impose a state of emergency in 1975. Due to the alleged

authoritarian excesses during the period of emergency, the 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.

Early life

Growing up in India

Indira Nehru Gandhi was born on 19 November 1917 to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Kamala Nehru and was

their only child. The Nehrus were a distinguished Kashmiri Pandit family. At the time of her birth, her

grandfather Motilal Nehru and father Jawaharlal were influential political leaders. Gandhi was brought up in an

intense political atmosphere at the Nehru family residence, Anand Bhawan, where she spent her childhood years.


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Growing up in the sole care of her mother, who was sick and alienated from the Nehru household, Indira

developed strong protective instincts and a loner personality. The flurry of political activity in the Nehru

household made mixing with her peers difficult. She had personal conflicts with her father's sisters, including

Vijayalakshmi Pandit, and these extended into her relationship with them in the political world.

In her father's autobiography, Toward Freedom, he writes that the police frequently came to the family home

while he was in prison and took away pieces of furniture as payment toward the fines the Government imposed

on him. He says, "Indira, my four-year-old daughter, was greatly annoyed at this continuous process of

despoliation and protested to the police and expressed her strong displeasure. I am afraid those early impressions

are likely to colour her future views about the police force generally."

Indira created the Vanara Sena movement for young girls and boys which played a small but

notable[citation needed]

role in the Indian Independence Movement, conducting protests and flag marches, as well

as helping members of the Indian National Congress circulate sensitive publications and banned materials. In an

often-told story, she smuggled out in her schoolbag an important document from her father's house under police

observation, that outlined plans for a major revolutionary initiative in the early 1930s.[citation needed]

Studying in Europe

In 1936, her mother, Kamala Nehru, finally succumbed to tuberculosis after a long struggle. Indira was 18 at the

time and had never experienced a stable family life during her childhood. While studying at Somerville College,

University of Oxford, England, during the late 1930s, she became a member of the radical pro-independence

London based India League.[6]

In early 1940, Indira spent time in a rest home in Switzerland to recover from chronic lung disease. She

maintained her long-distance relationship with her father in the form of long letters as she was used to doing

through her childhood. They argued about politics.[7]

In her years in continental Europe and the UK, she met a man active in politics, Feroze Khan who was later

renamed to Feroze Gandhi to legalize the inter religion marriage.[8]

After returning to India, Feroze Gandhi grew

close to the Nehru family, especially to Indira's mother Kamala Nehru and Indira herself.

Marriage to Feroze Gandhi

When Indira and Feroze Gandhi returned to India, they were in love and had decided to get married.[9]

Indira

liked Feroze's openness, sense of humor and self-confidence. Jawaharlal Nehru did not like the idea of the

marriage, but Indira was adamant and the marriage took place in March 1942 according to Hindu rituals.[10]

Feroze and Indira were both members of the Indian National Congress, and when they took part in the Quit India

Movement in 1942, they were both arrested.[11]

After independence, Feroze went on to run for election and

became a member of parliament from Raebareli Uttar Pradesh in 1952. After the birth of their two sons, Rajiv

Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi, their relationship was strained leading to a separation. Shortly after his re-election,

Feroze suffered a heart attack, which led to a reconciliation. Their relationship endured for the few years prior to

the death of Feroze Gandhi in September 1960.


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The Nehru family - Motilal Nehru is seated in

the center, and standing (L to R) are Jawaharlal

Nehru, Vijayalakshmi Pandit, Krishna

Hutheesing, Indira, and Ranjit Pandit; Seated:

Swaroop Rani, Motilal Nehru and Kamala

Nehru (circa 1927).

Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, the

second President of India,

administering the oath of office to

Indira Gandhi on 24 January 1966.

Early leadership

President of the Indian National Congress

During 1959 and 1960, Gandhi ran for and was elected as the

President of the Indian National Congress. Her term of office

was uneventful. She also acted as her father's chief of staff.

Nehru was known as a vocal opponent of nepotism, and she

did not contest a seat in the 1962 elections.

Prime minister

First term

Domestic policy

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'.[12]

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.

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.[13][14]

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).[15]

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.

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.


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Richard Nixon and Indira Gandhi

in 1971. They had a deep personal

antipathy that coloured bilateral

relations.

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.

.

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.

Green Revolution

Main article: Green Revolution in India

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"),[15]

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.[16]

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 Gandhi—as indeed all Indian politicians—heavily

depended.[17]

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.[18]

Lasting about ten years, the program was ultimately to bring about a tripling

of wheat production, a lower but still impressive increase of rice; while there was little to no increase (depending

on area, and adjusted for population growth) of such cereals as millet, gram and coarse grain, though these did, in

fact, retain a relatively stable yield.


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Gandhi meeting with Shah of Iran

Mohammad-Reza Pahlavi and

Shahbanu Farah Pahlavi during the

laters' State visit to India in 1970.

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."[19]

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.

Corruption charges and verdict of electoral malpractice

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.[20]

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 upper 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. 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


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of India will continue in office until the electorate of India decides otherwise".

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.

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.[21]

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..."[22]

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.

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.


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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

Removal, arrest, and return

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

Gandhi’s 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’”.[23]

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.

In the 1980s, Money meant for aid given by Mrs Gandhi was used by the LTTE and other Tamil militant groups

in Sri Lanka Although Mrs Gandhi never meant to give the support to terrorism, she gave it to groups for aid for

Tamils but these groups went ahead and transferred the installments to the LTTE without her knowledge.[24]

Currency crisis


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Indira Gandhi's blood-stained saree

and her belongings at the time of

her assassination, preserved at the

Indira Gandhi Memorial Museum

in New Delhi.

During the early 1980s, Indira's administration failed to arrest the 40 percent fall in the value of the Indian Rupee

from 7 to 12 against the US Dollar.[citation needed]

Operation Blue Star and assassination

Main articles: Operation Blue Star, 1984 anti-Sikh riots, and

Indira Gandhi assassination

In July 1982, Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale's Sikh group occupied the

Golden Temple.[25]

In response, on 6 June 1984, during one of the holiest

Sikh holidays, enacting Operation Blue Star, the Indian army opened fire,

killing a disputed number of Sikh militants along with supporters of

Bhindranwale. The State of Punjab was closed to international media,

Sikh devotees, human rights organizations, and other groups during the

period. On 31 October 1984, two of Gandhi's 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[26]

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.

Personal life

Initially Sanjay had been her chosen heir; but after his death in a flying accident, his mother persuaded a

reluctant Rajiv Gandhi to quit his job as a pilot and enter politics in February 1981.

Indira was known for her closeness with his personal yoga guru Dhirendra Brahmachari, who not only helped her

in taking certain decisions but also executed certain top level political tasks on her behalf, especially during the

emergency[27][28]

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.

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[29]

- as well as Sanjay's son, Varun Gandhi, are active in politics as members of the main


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opposition BJP party.

Legacy

Being the first woman Prime Minister of India, and an influential leader, in a prevalently male-dominated

society, Indira Gandhi is a symbol of feminism in India.[citation needed]

. 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%. During her rule, food production increased by 250%.[30]

Literacy

was also increased in India by 30%.

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. 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 as the Indira Gandhi International Airport in

her honour.

Indira Gandhi enjoys widespread popularity in Russia and other former Soviet states like Ukraine and Georgia as

a symbol of feminism. Many girls in these countries have been named Indira.[citation needed]

See also

Jawaharlal Nehru

Rajiv Gandhi

Sanjay Gandhi

List of assassinated Indian politicians

List of Prime Ministers of India

Nehru-Gandhi Family

Operation Blue Star

The State of Emergency in India 1975-77

References

^ "Oxford University's famous south Asian

graduates#Indira Gandhi" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/local

/oxford/hi/people_and_places/arts_and_culture

/newsid_8661000/8661776.stm) . BBC News.

2010-05-05. http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/oxford

/hi/people_and_places/arts_and_culture

/newsid_8661000/8661776.stm.

1.

^ Mark Shepard. "Mahatma Gandhi and His Myths"

(http://www.markshep.com/nonviolence/Myths.html) .

http://www.markshep.com/nonviolence/Myths.html.

... here’s a quick bust of another myth concerning

Gandhi and India’s leaders: Indira Gandhi and her son

Rajiv, the current prime minister, are no relation to

the Mahatma. Indira Gandhi was the daughter of

Nehru. The name “Gandhi” is common in India, and

came to her by marriage. The name means “grocer.”

2.

^ Gandhi, Indira Priyadarshini(nee Nehru)3.

(http://www.s9.com/Biography/Gandhi-Indira-

Priyadarshini)

^ Katherine Frank, p.116: Indira got her results and

learned that she had failed, with a particularly bad

performance in Latin.

4.

^ Gandhi, Indira. (1982) My Truth5.

^ Katherine Frank, p. 1396.




^ "Around the world; Mrs. Gandhi Not Hindu,

Daughter-in-Law Says" (http://www.nytimes.com

/1984/05/02/world/around-the-world-mrs-gandhi-

not-hindu-daughter-in-law-says.html) . New York

Times. 2 May 1984. http://www.nytimes.com

/1984/05/02/world/around-the-world-mrs-gandhi-

not-hindu-daughter-in-law-says.html. Retrieved 29

10.


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March 2009.

^ Tribute to Feroze Gandhi, Satya Prakash Malaviya,

The Hindu, 20-Oct-2002 (http://www.hinduonnet.com

/thehindu/mag/2002/10/20/stories

/2002102000110500.htm)

11.

^ Katherine Frank, p. 303. Also lists other put-downs

commonly used to describe the forty-year-old Indira

Gandhi, both in the press and by her Congress

colleagues. Lyndon Johnson referred to her as 'this

girl'.

12.

^ U.S. Consulate (Dacco) Cable, Sitrep: Army

Terror Campaign Continues in Dacca; Evidence

Military Faces Some Difficulties Elsewhere

(http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB

/NSAEBB79/BEBB6.pdf) , 31 March 1971,

Confidential

13.

^ East Pakistan: Even the Skies Weep

(http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article

/0,9171,877316,00.html) , Time Magazine, 25

October 1971.

14.

^ a b Nixon's dislike of 'witch' Indira, BBC News, 29

June 2005 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia

/4633263.stm)

15.

^ "India's Green Revolution" (http://indiaonestop.com

/Greenrevolution.htm) . Indiaonestop.com.

http://indiaonestop.com/Greenrevolution.htm.

Retrieved 31 October 2008.

16.


^ Farmer, B.H., Perspectives on the 'Green

Revolution' (http://www.jstor.org/pss/312485)

Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 20 No.1 (February,

18.

1986) p. 177

^ Rath, Nilakantha, "Garibi Hatao": Can IRDP Do

It?"(EWP,xx,No.6) February 1981.

19.


^ Kochanek, Stanely, "Mrs. Gandhi's Pyramid: The

New Congress, (Westview Press, Boulder, CO 1976)

p. 98

21.

^ Brass, Paul R., The Politics of India Since

Independence, (Cambridge University Press, England

1995) p. 40

22.

^ Malhotra, Inder. Indira Gandhi. New York: Coronet

Books, 1991.

23.

^ Lost opportunities for the Tamils

(http://srilankatoday.com

/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&

id=1019&Itemid=52) , Sri Lanka Today, 2 February

2009

24.

^ Katherine Frank, p. 105.25.

^ [1] (http://www.indiatimepass.com/famous_indians

/Indra-gandhi.html) , Indiatimepass.com

26.

^ Dhirendra Brahmachari, Yoga Master, 7

(http://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/10/obituaries

/dhirendra-brahmachari-yoga-master-70.html) , NY

times, June 10, 1994

27.

^ Mrs G's String of Beaus

(http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?211174) ,

Outlook India, March 26, 2001

28.

^ Khushwant Singh's autobiography - the Tribune

(http://www.tribuneindia.com/2001/20010919

/main7.htm)

29.

^ Indian Budget (http://indiabudget.nic.in/) ,

indiabudget.nic.in

30.

Further reading

Ved Mehta, A Family Affair: India Under Three Prime Ministers (1982) ISBN 0-19-503118-0

Pupul Jayakar, Indira Gandhi: An Intimate Biography (1992) ISBN 9780679424796

Katherine Frank, Indira: the life of Indira Nehru Gandhi (2002) ISBN 0-395-73097-X

Ramachandra Guha, India after Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy (2007) ISBN

978-0-06-019881-7

Inder Malhotra, Indira Gandhi: A personal and political biography (1991) ISBN 0-340-53548-2

External links

Indira Gandhi Biography (http://www.peopleforever.org/nfhomepage.aspx?nfid=972)

Feature on Indira Gandhi (http://www.imow.org/wpp/stories/viewStory?storyId=95) by the International

Museum of Women.

Obituary, NY Times, 1 November 1984 Assassination in India: A Leader of Will and Force; Indira

Gandhi, Born to Politics, Left Her Own Imprint on India (http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general

/onthisday/bday/1119.html)

1975: Gandhi found guilty of corruption (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/12

/newsid_2511000/2511691.stm)


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Authority control: LCCN: n79064593 (http://errol.oclc.org/laf/n79064593.html)

Party political offices

Preceded by

Uchharangrai Navalshankar

Dhebar


1959

Succeeded by

Neelam Sanjiva Reddy

Preceded by

Dev Kant Baruah


1978–1984Succeeded by

Rajiv Gandhi

Political offices

Preceded by

Gulzarilal Nanda


1966–1977

Succeeded by

Morarji Desai

Preceded by

Mahommedali Currim Chagla


1967–1969

Succeeded by

Dinesh Singh

Preceded by

Morarji Desai

Minister of Finance

1970–1971

Succeeded by

Yashwantrao Chavan

Preceded by

Choudhary Charan Singh


1980–1984 Succeeded by

Rajiv GandhiPreceded by

Narasimha Rao


1984

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indira_Gandhi"

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women in politics | Indian women in war | Kashmiri people | Lenin Peace Prize recipients | Nehru–Gandhi family

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National Congress | Prime Ministers of India | Women in 20th-century warfare | Women leaders of India | Indira

Gandhi administration | Old Badmintonians

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