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.

Rise to Power

In 1959-1960, Indira was elected the President of the Indian National Congress, with her father advocating her run from behind the scenes. Her term of office was uneventful, though it fuelled speculations that Nehru would soon appoint her to a minor ministry, prod her to contest elections to Parliament and groom her as his successor. Indira was gaining experience of government by acting as her father's chief of staff. Nehru however, was a vocal opponent of nepotism, and Indira did not contest a seat in the 1962 elections. It is unclear if Nehru ever intended Indira to succeed him; it is possible that Nehru may have wanted Indira to enter politics but win the highest office by her own merit.

Related Topics:
1959 - 1960 - Indian National Congress - Nepotism

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Nehru died in May of 1964, and Indira succumbed to the urgings of the new Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri to contest elections and join the Government, being immediately appointed Minister for Information and Broadcasting. Her sense of duty to her father's legacy, a sense of purpose stemming from a need to continue her father's work, may have played a major role in her decision to enter politics. She went to Chennai when the riots over Hindi becoming the national language broke out in Southern, non-Hindi speaking states: There she spoke to government officials, soothed the anger of community leaders and supervised reconstruction efforts for the affected areas. Shastri and senior Ministers were embarrassed, owing to their lack of such initiative. Indira's actions were probably not directly aimed at Shastri or her own political elevation, but are indicative that, while she lacked interest for details in work and was a lack-lustre Minister, she was media-savvy, and adept at the art of politics and image-making.

Related Topics:
1964 - Lal Bahadur Shastri - Chennai

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When the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 broke out, Indira was vacationing in the border region of Srinagar. Although warned by the Army that Pakistani insurgents had penetrated very close to the city, Indira refused to shift to Jammu or Delhi. She rallied local government and welcomed media attention, in effect reassuring the nation. Indira was hailed as the "only man in a cabinet full of women". Shastri died of a heart attack while negotiating the peace agreement in Tashkent under Soviet mediation with Pakistan. Amidst the sympathy wave and mourning, the movement to elect Indira as Prime Minister gained momentum.

Related Topics:
Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 - Srinagar - Jammu - Delhi - Tashkent

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Shastri had been a candidate of consensus, bridging the left-right gap and staving off the conservative Morarji Desai. Now the split was wide open, and the left-wing Congressmen and Nehru supporters, especially Congress President Kumaraswami Kamaraj, wanted Indira to overcome Desai's right wing. In a vote of the Congress Parliamentary Party, Indira won against Desai, 355 to 169, becoming the third Prime Minister of India, the first woman to hold that position in the world's most populous democracy.

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