Biography of Indira Gandhi

India's first and, only female PrimeMinister

Biography of Indira Gandhi

She was India's first and, only female PrimeMinister. Indira Gandhi was born on 19th November 1917, in Allahabad of Uttar Pradesh. She was the Daughter of first Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawarharlal Nehru. Her grandfather, Motilal Nehru, was a prominent Indian freedom fighter. Indira’s father, Jawaharlal Nehru, was a pivotal figure in the Indian freedom movement and the first Prime Minister of Independent India. After her return to India she married Feroze Gandhi, in March 1941. When Pandit Nehru was in jail he used to write beautiful, long letters to her about patriotic feelings and the current political situation, which encouraged her a lot to start the journey for leader ship.

In 1942, she joined the 'Quit India' Movement along with her husband and was arrested. After Nehru’s death in 1964, she was elected as a member of the Rajya Sabha and became a Minister of Information and Broadcasting in the cabinet of Lal Bahadur Shastri.

Indira Gandhi as a Prime Minister :

Indira Gandhi was appointed as the Prime Minister of India in the year 1966. She will be remembered for her commendable efforts in the development and progress of science, space exploration, irrigation, as well as policies likethe nationalization of banks and the 20-point programme. On June 26th, 1975, Mrs. Gandhi declared an emergency, due to the turbulent political situation in the country at that time.

Janta Party leaders like J.P. Narayan were arrested and jailed. But Mrs. Gandhi lost out to them in the next general election in 1977 and was re-elected to power in 1980.

Assassination :

On 31 October 1984, two of Gandhis bodyguards, Satwant Singh and Beant Singh, assassinated her 0with their service weapons in the garden of the Prime Minister's Residence.She was cremated on 3 November near RajGhat. This day is celebrated as Jatiya Sankalp Divas, as a tribute to the memory of a Great lady, leader and a remarkable statesman.

The Success of Indira Gandhi, at the highest position of the world's most populous democracy has lot of significance for empowerment of Indian women, who had traditionally been subservient to men. In addition, she was also an inspiration topeople of other Third World nations.