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Indira Gandhi
Who2 Biography: Indira Gandhi, Political Figure
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Born: 19 November 1917
Birthplace: Allahabad, India
Died: 1984 (assassination)
Best Known As: Prime Minister of India, 1966-77 and 1980-84
Name at birth: Indira Priyadarshini
Indira Gandhi was the prime minister of India from 1966-77 and 1980-84 and one of the most famous women in 20th century politics. Her father was Jawaharlal Nehru, independent India's first prime minister (1947-64), and Indira spent her life amid Indian politics. In 1959 she was elected to the presidency of the Indian National Congress, and in 1964 she was elected to the parliament. When Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri died in 1966, Gandhi was chosen as a compromise candidate to replace him. She was elected to the office in 1967 and advanced an ambitious program of modernization. In 1975 she was convicted of violations stemming from the 1971 election and the High Court ordered her to resign. Instead she declared a state of emergency and clamped down on her opposition (the conviction was later overturned). She lost the election of 1977 and was out of office until a comeback in 1980, when she was again elected to be prime minister. In 1984 she used the military to suppress Sikh rebels and ordered an attack on a Sikh shrine in Amritsar; a few months later, Gandhi was assassinated by Sikh conspirators.
She was married to Feroze Gandhi (1942-60) and had two sons. Her son Sanjay Gandhi (1946-80) was a controversial figure in her government before he was killed in an airplane crash, and her son Rajiv Gandhi (1944-91) succeeded her as India's prime minister in 1984. Rajiv was killed in a 1991 bombing.
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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi
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Indira Gandhi (credit: AP)(born Nov. 19, 1917, Allahabad, India — died Oct. 31, 1984, New Delhi) Prime minister of India (1966 – 77, 1980 – 84). The only child of Jawaharlal Nehru, she studied in India and at the University of Oxford. In 1942 she married Feroze Gandhi (d. 1960), a fellow member of the Indian National Congress. In 1959 she was given the largely honorary position of party president, and in 1966 she achieved actual power when she was made leader of the Congress Party and, consequently, prime minister. She instituted major reforms, including a strict population-control program. In 1971 she mobilized Indian forces against Pakistan in the cause of East Bengal's secession. She oversaw the incorporation of Sikkim in 1974. Convicted in 1975 of violating election laws, she declared a state of emergency, jailing opponents and passing many laws limiting personal freedoms. She was defeated in the following election but returned to power in 1980. In 1984 she ordered the army to move into the Golden Temple complex of the Sikhs at Amritsar, with the intent of crushing the Sikh militants hiding inside the temple; some 450 Sikhs died in the fighting. She was later shot and killed by her own Sikh bodyguards in revenge.
For more information on Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi, visit Britannica.com.
Political Biography: Indira Gandhi
Top Home > Library > History, Politics & Society > Political Biographies(b. Allahabad, 19 Nov. 1917; d. 31 Oct. 1984) Indian; Prime Minister 1966 – 77, 1980 – 4 Daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi was educated at Visva-Bharati and Cambridge. In 1929 she founded Vanar Sena, the Congress children's organization. She joined the Congress in 1938 and married Feroze Gandhi in 1942. After her mother's death (1936), she became closer to her father.
Gandhi was elected to the Congress Working Committee in 1955 and became party president between 1959 and 1960. During this period she masterminded the collapse of the Kerala Communist state government. She was elected to parliament in 1964 and became the Minister for Information and Broadcasting under Nehru's successor, Lal Bahadur Shastri.
Following the death of Shastri (1966), Gandhi was elected as Prime Minister by the Congress party. She led the party to a fourth successive general election victory, though with a greatly reduced majority. In 1969 her nominee for President of India was successfully elected but precipitated a split within the Congress between the parliamentary and organizational wings. The split was followed by a radical left turn which included the nationalization of banks and insurance companies.
In 1971 Gandhi went into a national election on a slogan of "eradicate poverty". Her appeal projected her as a national leader and undermined organizational opposition to her within the party. The successful execution of the Indo-Pak War (1971) under Gandhi's guidance led to the creation of Bangladesh. Her popularity was at an alltime high and was followed by Congress victories in the states.
After the 1973 global increase in oil prices, the opposition parties led a countrywide agitation against inflation and corruption. On 12 June 1975 Gandhi was found guilty of corrupt election practices by the Allahabad High Court. On 25 June 1975, Gandhi, using article 352 of the constitution, imposed a State of Emergency.
The State of Emergency was followed by the suspension of the constitution, arrests of opposition leaders, press censorship, and curtailment of the powers of the judiciary; 110,000 political activists were arrested. A twenty-point programme of economic and social reforms was promoted by Gandhi during the Emergency. Gandhi's son, Sanjay Gandhi, established the Youth Congress, which became notorious for its programme of forcible sterilization. The State of Emergency was lifted in March 1977 and elections were held to the national parliament.
The 1977 elections led to a crushing defeat for the Congress, which won only 154 seats, and the election of a Janata government. Gandhi was tried for the excesses of the Emergency but prosecution backfired on the Janata government as it became riven with factional conflict. In 1980 when a national election was called, Gandhi campaigned on a platform of a government that works. She made a successful comeback, winning 351 seats.
Gandhi's final term as Prime Minister was marked by the centralization and personalization of power. Dissent within Congress was not tolerated. Opposition state governments were regularly undermined by the imposition of President's Rule. Following the defeat of Congress in Andhra Pardesh and Karnataka, Gandhi sought to consolidate her support among the Hindu community.
Following the return to power in 1980, Gandhi dismissed the Akali Dal (Sikh Party) led state government in Punjab. This led to a state-wide agitation by the Akali Dal for regional autonomy. Factions within Congress supported the more militant groups among the Sikhs in order to gain party advantage. Between 1981 and 1983 several rounds of negotiations took place between Sikh leaders and the central government, but Gandhi always blocked a deal. As violence in Punjab increased, central rule was imposed. On 4 June 1984 Gandhi ordered the Indian Army to eradicate militant resistance based in the Golden Temple. Operation Blue Star resulted in the deaths of 1,000 people and the permanent alienation of the Sikh community.
Although Operation Blue Star made Gandhi very popular among the Hindu community, it marked the first major use of the Indian army against civilians and was followed by a mutiny of soldiers. Sikh resentment continued to fester and Gandhi was assassinated by her bodyguard on 31 October 1984. Her death was followed by massacres of Sikhs in Delhi in which 3,000 lost their lives.
Gandhi is often seen as the practitioner of realpolitik. What she lacked in intellectual ability she compensated for by a ruthless streak gained from a long apprenticeship in politics. Gandhi began the process of deinstitutionalization of Congress with her plebiscitary politics in the early 1970s and the destruction of the old Congress Party. She is best contrasted with her father, Nehru, and is seen as a centralizer who outmanœuvred more experienced contenders for power.
Biography: Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi
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Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (1917-1984), a prime minister of India, was the most effective and powerful politician of her day in that country.
Indira Gandhi was born in the northern Indian city of Allahabad on November 19, 1917. She was the only child of Jawaharlal Nehru, a dominant figure in the nationalist movement and India's first prime minister. This association placed her at the center of India's struggle for freedom. After independence in 1947, she served as her father's hostess and confidante until his death. Throughout the period of her political association with her father, one of Gandhi's primary interests was social welfare work, particularly children's welfare.
Indira Gandhi attended Santiniketan University and Somerville College, Oxford University, in England. She married Feroze Gandhi (no relation to Mahatma Gandhi) in March 1942. Shortly thereafter they were both imprisoned for a period of 13 months for their part in the nationalist political agitation against British rule. Feroze Gandhi was a lawyer and newspaper executive and became an independent member of Parliament. He died in 1960. They had two sons, Rajiv and Sanjay.
Gandhi became president of the Indian National Congress in 1959. The Congress had led the country to freedom and had then become its major political party. She had joined the Congress in 1938 and subsequently served as a member of its Youth Advisory Board and chairman of its Woman's Department. Prior to assuming the presidency of the organization, Gandhi was named to its 21-member executive Working Committee and was elected with more votes than any other candidate to the powerful 11-member Central Election Board, which named candidates and planned electoral strategy.
In June 1964, following her father's death, Gandhi became minister for information and broadcasting in the Cabinet of Lal Bahadur Shastri and instituted an Indian television system. In January 1966, when Shastri died, she was elected leader of the Congress party in Parliament and became the third prime minister of independent India. She assumed office at a critical time in the history of the country. A truce had ended the 1965 war between India and Pakistan only a week before. The nation was in the midst of a two-year drought resulting in severe food shortages and a deepening economic crisis with rising prices and rising unemployment. The political repercussions of these difficulties were profound. In the fourth general elections of 1967 the Congress retained majority control (and reelected Gandhi as its leader) but lost control in half the state legislatures. After 20 years of political dominance, the Congress party experienced serious difficulty.
Gandhi immediately set about reorganizing the party to make it a more effective instrument of administration and national development. Her goal was to achieve a wider measure of social and economic justice for all Indians. As her left-of-center policies became clear, the Congress party split, with the younger, more liberal elements coalescing around Gandhi and the older, more conservative party leaders opposing her. This division came to a head in July 1969 when she nationalized the country's 14 leading banks in a highly popular move meant to make credit more available to agriculture and to small industry.
The split was formalized when Gandhi's candidate for the presidency of India, V.V. Giri, won over the party's official nominee. Although Gandhi took 228 members of Parliament with her into the New Congress, this was not a majority in the 521-member house, and she held power only with support from parties of the left. In December 1970 when Gandhi failed to get the necessary support to abolish the privy purses and privileges of the former princes, she called on the President to dissolve Parliament. Midterm elections were set for March 1971, one full year ahead of schedule.
A coalition of three parties of the right and an anti-Congress socialist party opposed Gandhi, who made alliances with parties of the left and some regional parties. Her platform was essentially one of achieving social and economic change more rapidly in an effort to improve the quality of life of India's people. Her party won a massive victory with over a two-thirds majority in Parliament.
Gandhi faced major problems in the areas of food production, population control, land reform, regulation of prices, unemployment, and industrial production. The problems were exacerbated by the influx of almost 10 million refugees as a result of the civil turmoil in East Pakistan. In November 1971 Indian troops crossed into East Pakistan to fight Pakistani forces. On December 6 Gandhi announced diplomatic recognition of the Bangla Desh government set up by East Pakistani rebel leaders. Ten days later Pakistan's commander in East Pakistan surrendered to India.
In the state elections held in India in March 1972, Gandhi's New Congress party scored the most overwhelming victory in the history of independent India; however, her opponent accused her of violating election laws, and a high court upheld the charge in 1975. Because of this development, as well as domestic unrest, Gandhi declared a state of emergency and postponed elections. In the 1977 elections Gandhi and her party suffered major defeats; Gandhi lost her seat and the premiership.
The following year she headed the Congress party faction as she returned to Parliament. In 1979 she again became Prime Minister. In efforts to prove India's nonalliance in the global community, she visited both the United States and the USSR. Internally, riots broke out among Muslim, Hindu, and Sikh religious sects. Sikh separatists secured weapons within their sacred Golden Temple in Amritsar, assuming religious protection. Gandhi ordered government troops to storm the temple, leading to many Sikh deaths. This led to her assassination on the grounds of her own residence and office October 31, 1984, by her own Sikh security guards.
Further Reading
Biographies of Gandhi include Tariq Ali, An Indian Dynasty: The Story of the Nehru-Gandhi Family, Putnam, 1985; and Pupu Jayakar, Indira Gandhi: An Intimate Biography, Pantheon Books, 1993.
Answer of the Day: Indira Gandhi
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Indira Gandhi
Indira Gandhi, born on this date in 1917, was Prime Minister of India from 1966-1977 and 1980-1984. The daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister, Gandhi was elected as a member of Parliament in her father's Indian National Congress Party after he died in 1964. Reviews of her own two terms as Prime Minister were mixed, and in 1984 Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards. Her son, Rajiv Gandhi, succeeded her as Prime Minister, only to meet a similar fate in 1991, when he was assassinated by Tamil separatists.
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Columbia Encyclopedia: Indira Gandhi
Top Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Columbia Encyclopedia - PeopleGandhi, Indira (ĭndē'rə gän'dē), 1917-84, Indian political leader; daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru. She served as an aide to her father, who was prime minister (1947-64), and as minister of information in the government of Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri (1964-66). On Shastri's death in 1966, she succeeded as prime minister. Her first administration, marked by her increasing personal control of the Indian National Congress party, led to a party split. Her faction, New Congress, won overwhelming electoral victories in 1971 and 1972. She triumphed in foreign affairs with India's 1971 defeat of Pakistan, which resulted in the establishment of the state of Bangladesh. Found guilty in June, 1975, of illegal practices during the 1971 campaign, she refused to resign, declaring a state of emergency. Her administration arrested opponents and imposed press censorship. In November the Supreme Court overruled her conviction. In 1977 her faction in the Congress party lost the parliamentary elections; she lost both her seat and her position as prime minister. In 1980, she again became prime minister, this time as leader of the Congress (Indira) party, and held the office until assassinated by her security guards in 1984. Her son Rajiv Gandhi succeeded her as prime minister.
Bibliography
See biographies by K. Bhatia (1974) and D. Moraes (1980); T. Ali, Nehru and the Gandhis, (1985); I. Gandhi, Letters to an American Friend, 1950-1984 (1985).
History Dictionary: Gandhi, Indira
Top Home > Library > History, Politics & Society > History Dictionary(in-deer-uh gahn-dee, gan-dee)
An Indian political leader of the twentieth century. She was the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister, and she served herself as prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977. Indira connected with the poor and dispossessed of India, and she was instrumental in securing the independence of Bangladesh. Yet her record for helping the dispossessed was marred by the State of Emergency, which she imposed from 1975 to 1977, when democratic norms were suspended and the press censored. She served as prime minister again from 1980 until 1984, when she was assassinated by her own bodyguards.
Quotes By: Indira Gandhi
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"Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave."
"You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist."
"Martyrdom does not end something, it only a beginning."
"Even if I died in the service of the nation, I would be proud of it. Every drop of my blood... will contribute to the growth of this nation and to make it strong and dynamic."
"You must learn to be still in the midst of activity and to be vibrantly alive in repose."
"There are two kinds of people: Those who do the work and those who take the credit. Try to be in the first group because there is less competition there."
See more famous quotes by Indira Gandhi
Wikipedia: Indira Gandhi
Top Home > Library > Miscellaneous > WikipediaIndira Gandhi
इंदिरा गांधी
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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
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(1917-11-19)
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
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 is India's only female prime minister to date. She is the world's all time longest serving female Prime Minister.[1]
Contents [hide]
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 Devaluation of the rupee
4.6 Nuclear weapons program
4.7 Green Revolution
4.8 1971 election victory and second term
4.9 Corruption charges and verdict of electoral malpractice
4.10 State of Emergency (1975-1977)
4.11 Rule by decree
4.12 Elections
4.13 Removal, arrest, and return
4.14 Currency crisis
4.15 Operation Blue Star and assassination
5 Personal life
6 Legacy
7 See also
8 References
9 Further reading
10 External links
Life and career
Indira Gandhi was born 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.
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 young Parsi man active in politics, Feroze Gandhi.[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. 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.
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).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
Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, the second President of India, administering the oath of office to Indira Gandhi on 24 January 1966.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.
She was criticized by some for not making the Line of Control 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.
Devaluation of the rupee
During the late 1960s, Gandhi's administration decreed a 40% devaluation in the value of the Indian rupee from 4 to 7 to the United States dollar to boost trade.
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 youngest nuclear power.
Green Revolution
Main article: Green Revolution in India
Richard Nixon and Indira Gandhi in 1971. They had a deep personal antipathy that coloured bilateral relations.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 hard working farmers of 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.
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
Gandhi meeting with Shah of Iran Mohammad-Reza Pahlavi and Shahbanu Farah Pahlavi during the laters' State visit to India in 1970.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 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 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 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.
Removal, arrest, and return
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 stampThe 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
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 to the US Dollar.[citation needed]
Operation Blue Star and assassination
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.Main articles: Operation Blue Star, 1984 anti-Sikh riots, and Indira Gandhi assassination
In June 1984, 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 has 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 opposition BJP party.
Legacy This section does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2010)
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". BBC News. 2010-05-05. http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/oxford/hi/people_and_places/arts_and_culture/newsid_8661000/8661776.stm.
^ Mark Shepard. "Mahatma Gandhi and His Myths". 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.”
^ Gandhi, Indira Priyadarshini(nee Nehru)
^ Katherine Frank, p.116: Indira got her results and learned that she had failed, with a particularly bad performance in Latin.
^ Gandhi, Indira. (1982) My Truth
^ Katherine Frank, p. 139
^ Katherine Frank, p. 144
^ Katherine Frank, p. 136
^ Katherine Frank, p. 164
^ "Around the world; Mrs. Gandhi Not Hindu, Daughter-in-Law Says". 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 March 2009.
^ Tribute to Feroze Gandhi, Satya Prakash Malaviya, The Hindu, 20-Oct-2002
^ 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'.
^ U.S. Consulate (Dacco) Cable, Sitrep: Army Terror Campaign Continues in Dacca; Evidence Military Faces Some Difficulties Elsewhere, 31 March 1971, Confidential
^ East Pakistan: Even the Skies Weep, Time Magazine, 25 October 1971.
^ a b Nixon's dislike of 'witch' Indira, BBC News, 29 June 2005
^ "India's Green Revolution". Indiaonestop.com. http://indiaonestop.com/Greenrevolution.htm. Retrieved 31 October 2008.
^ Katherine Frank, p. 295
^ Farmer, B.H., Perspectives on the 'Green Revolution' Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 20 No.1 (February, 1986) p. 177
^ Rath, Nilakantha, "Garibi Hatao": Can IRDP Do It?"(EWP,xx,No.6) February 1981.
^ Katherine Frank, p. 372
^ Kochanek, Stanely, "Mrs. Gandhi's Pyramid: The New Congress, (Westview Press, Boulder, CO 1976) p. 98
^ Brass, Paul R., The Politics of India Since Independence, (Cambridge University Press, England 1995) p. 40
^ Malhotra, Inder. Indira Gandhi. New York: Coronet Books, 1991.
^ Lost opportunities for the Tamils, Sri Lanka Today, 2 February 2009
^ Katherine Frank, p. 105.
^ [1], Indiatimepass.com
^ Dhirendra Brahmachari, Yoga Master, 7, NY times, June 10, 1994
^ Mrs G's String of Beaus, Outlook India, March 26, 2001
^ Khushwant Singh's autobiography - the Tribune
^ Indian Budget, indiabudget.nic.in
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 Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Indira Gandhi
Indira Gandhi Biography
Feature on Indira Gandhi 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
1975: Gandhi found guilty of corruption
Authority control: LCCN: n79064593
Party political offices
Preceded by
Uchharangrai Navalshankar Dhebar President of the Indian National Congress
1959 Succeeded by
Neelam Sanjiva Reddy
Preceded by
Dev Kant Baruah President of the Indian National Congress
1978–1984 Succeeded by
Rajiv Gandhi
Political offices
Preceded by
Gulzarilal Nanda Prime Minister of India
1966–1977 Succeeded by
Morarji Desai
Preceded by
Mahommedali Currim Chagla Minister of External Affairs
1967–1969 Succeeded by
Dinesh Singh
Preceded by
Morarji Desai Minister of Finance
1970–1971 Succeeded by
Yashwantrao Chavan
Preceded by
Choudhary Charan Singh Prime Minister of India
1980–1984 Succeeded by
Rajiv Gandhi
Preceded by
Narasimha Rao Minister of External Affairs
1984
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History Statewise Election history of Congress Party · Nehru-Gandhi family · Congress Radio · 10 Janpath · The Emergency · Bofors scandal · INA Defence Committee · Indian National Congress (Organisation) · Breakaway parties
Persondata
Name Gāndhī, Indira Priyadarśinī
Alternative names इन्दिरा प्रियदर्शिनी गान्धी (Devanāgarī)
Short description Prime Minister of India
Date of birth 19 November 1917(1917-11-19)
Place of birth Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India
Date of death 31 October 1984
Place of death New Delhi, India
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