Indira Gandhi

Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (इन्दिरा प्रियदर्शिनी गान्धी) (November 19, 1917 – October 31, 1984) was Prime Minister of India from January 19, 1966 to March 24, 1977, and from January 14, 1980 until her assassination in 1984. She was one of modern India's most important political leaders.

Early years

The Nehru family traced their ancestry to the Brahmins of Jammu and Kashmir and Delhi. Indira's grandfather, Motilal Nehru, was a wealthy barrister of Allahabad in what is now Uttar Pradesh. Nehru was also one of the most prominent members of the Indian National Congress in pre-Gandhi 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, non-Indian Simon Commission report in 1928. Her father Jawaharlal Nehru was a well-educated lawyer and was a popular leader of the Indian Independence Movement. Indira was born to his young wife Kamala as Nehru entered the struggle and Mahatma Gandhi prepared the masses for a new kind of revolution. Jawahar had a host of other affairs, including one with Lady Mountbatten, the vice-roy's wife.

Related Topics:
Nehru - Brahmin - Jammu and Kashmir - Delhi - Motilal Nehru - Allahabad - Uttar Pradesh - Indian National Congress - Gandhi - Nehru Report - British - Simon Commission - 1928 - Jawaharlal Nehru - Indian Independence Movement

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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. Her grandfather and father continually being enmeshed in national politics also made mixing with her peers difficult. Conflict with her father's sisters would continue into the political world and until her death in 1984.

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As a true scion of a political family, 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, Indira smuggles out from her father's police-watched house an important document in her schoolbag that outlines plans for a major revolutionary initiative in the early 1930s.

Related Topics:
Vanara Sena - Indian Independence Movement - 1930s

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Kamala Nehru had been suffering from ill health for a long period of time. Both Indira and her father had spent years travelling across Europe with Kamala, helping her recuperate and find a care center which would help her cure her illness. She finally succumbed to cancer in 1936, when Indira was 17. Indira thus never experienced a stable family life, a fact which shaped her entire life. While being educated in prominent Indian, European and British schools like Santiniketan and Oxford, her weak academic performance prevented her from obtaining a degree. In her years in continental Europe and the U.K., she met Feroze Gandhi, a young Parsee Congress activist, whom she married in 1942, just before the beginning of the Quit India Movement - the final, all-out national revolt launched by Mahatma Gandhi and the Congress Party. Indira and Feroze were arrested and detained for several months for their involvement in the movement. In 1944, Indira gave birth to Rajiv Gandhi, followed two years later by Sanjay Gandhi.

Related Topics:
Kamala Nehru - Europe - Cancer - 1936 - Santiniketan - Oxford - Feroze Gandhi - Parsee - 1942 - Quit India Movement - Mahatma Gandhi - 1944 - Rajiv Gandhi - Sanjay Gandhi

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The Partition of India in 1947 traumatized the subcontinent, particularly due to the widespread riots perpetrated against adherents of all faiths. Indira helped organize refugee camps and provide medical care for the millions of refugees from Pakistan. This was her first exercise in major public service, and a valuable experience for the tumult of the coming years.

Related Topics:
Partition of India - 1947 - Pakistan

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