Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (इंदिरा प्रियदर्शिनी गांधी )Indirā Priyadarśinī Gāndhī; 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.
In 1999, she was voted the greatest woman of the past 1000 years in a poll carried by BBC news, ahead of other notable women such as Queen Elizabeth I of England Marie Curie and Mother Teresa
Born in the politically influential Nehru dynasty , she grew up in an intensely political atmosphere. Despite the same last name, she was of no relation to the statesman Mohandas 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. 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 Shastris cabinet as Minister of Information and Broadcasting.[2]
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 through populism .She introduced more left-wing economic policies and promoted agricultural productivity. A decisive victory in the 1971 war with Pakistan was followed by a period of instability that led her to impose a state of emergency in 1975; she paid for the authoritarian excesses of the period with three years in opposition. Returned to office in 1980, she became increasingly involved in an escalating conflict with separatists in Punjab that eventually led to her assassination by her own bodyguards in 1984.
Early life
Growing up in India
Indira Nehru Gandhi, was born on 19 November 1917 to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and his young wife Kamala Nehru She was their only child. The Nehru family can trace their ancestry to the Brahmins of Jammu and Kashmir Kashmirand Delhi Indira's grandfather Motilal Nehru was a wealthy barrister of Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh .Nehru was one of the most prominent members of the Indian National Congress in pre-times and would go on to author the Nehru Report ,the people's choice for a future Indian system of government as opposed to the British system. Her father Nehru was a well-educated lawyer and was a popular leader of the Indian Independence Movement At the time of Indira's birth, Nehru entered the independence movement under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi .
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. Her grandfather and father continually being enmeshed in national politics also made mixing with her peers difficult. She had conflicts with her father's sisters, including Vijayalakshmi Pandit and these continued into the political world.
Indira created the Vanara Sena movement for young girls and boys which played a small but notable role in the Indian Independence Movement conducting protests and flag marches, as well as helping Congress politicians circulate sensitive publications and banned materials. In an often-told story, she smuggled out from her father's police-watched house an important document in her schoolbag that outlined plans for a major revolutionary initiative in the early 1930s.
Studying in Europe
In 1936, her mother, Kamala Nehru, finally succumbed to tuberculosis after a long struggle. Indira was 18 at the time and thus 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
In early 1940, Indira spent time in a rest home in Switzerland to recover from chronic lung disease. As she had during her childhood, she maintained her long-distance relationship with her father in the form of long letters. They argued about politics In her years in continental Europe and the UK, she met a young Parsi man active in politics, Feroze Gandhi After returning to India, Feroze Gandhi grew close to the Nehru family, especially to Indira's mother Kamala Nehru and Indira herself. Feroze helped nurse the ailing Kamala too.
Marriage to Feroze Gandhi
When Indira and Feroze returned to India, they were in love and had decided to get married, despite doctors' advice.[6] Indira liked Feroze's openness, sense of humour and self-confidence. Nehru did not like the idea of his daughter marrying so early and sought Mahatma Gandhi's help to dissuade their love relationship. The lady in love was adamant. The inter-religion marriage was controversial and fed newspaper gossip. It was rumored that they had already been married when in London. When the couple returned to India, a Vedic style marriage was also arranged.
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. After independence, Feroze went on to run for election and became a member of parliament from Uttar Pradesh. After the birth of their two sons, Rajiv Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi, the couple lead a separated life due to some conflict, until 1958. Shortly after his re-election, Feroze suffered a heart attack, which dramatically healed their broken marriage. But the love did not last for many years as Feroze died in September 1960.
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