Global InformationIndira Gandhi information
Indira Gandhi | |
|---|---|
 Gandhi in 1983 | |
| 3rd Prime Minister of India | |
| In office 14 January 1980 – 31 October 1984 | |
| President | N. Sanjiva Reddy Zail Singh |
| Preceded by | Charan Singh |
| Succeeded by | Rajiv Gandhi |
| In office 24 January 1966 – 24 March 1977 | |
| President | Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Zakir Husain V. V. Giri Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed B. D. Jatti (Acting) |
| Deputy | Morarji Desai (13 March 1967 – 16 July 1969) |
| Preceded by | Lal Bahadur Shastri[a] |
| Succeeded by | Morarji Desai |
| Minister of External Affairs | |
| In office 9 March 1984 – 31 October 1984 | |
| Preceded by | P. V. Narasimha Rao |
| Succeeded by | Rajiv Gandhi |
| In office 22 August 1967 – 14 March 1969 | |
| Preceded by | M. C. Chagla |
| Succeeded by | Dinesh Singh |
| Minister of Defence | |
| In office 14 January 1980 – 15 January 1982 | |
| Preceded by | Chidambaram Subramaniam |
| Succeeded by | R. Venkataraman |
| In office 30 November 1975 – 20 December 1975 | |
| Preceded by | Swaran Singh |
| Succeeded by | Bansi Lal |
| Minister of Home Affairs | |
| In office 27 June 1970 – 4 February 1973 | |
| Preceded by | Yashwantrao Chavan |
| Succeeded by | Uma Shankar Dikshit |
| Minister of Finance | |
| In office 17 July 1969 – 27 June 1970 | |
| Preceded by | Morarji Desai |
| Succeeded by | Yashwantrao Chavan |
| Minister of Information and Broadcasting | |
| In office 9 June 1964 – 24 January 1966 | |
| Prime Minister | Lal Bahadur Shastri |
| Preceded by | Satya Narayan Sinha |
| Succeeded by | Kodardas Kalidas Shah |
| President of the Indian National Congress | |
| In office 1959 | |
| Preceded by | U. N. Dhebar |
| Succeeded by | Neelam Sanjiva Reddy |
| President of the Indian National Congress (I) | |
| In office 1978–1984 | |
| Preceded by | Devakanta Barua as INC (R) |
| Succeeded by | Rajiv Gandhi |
| Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha | |
| In office 1980–1984 | |
| Preceded by | Mallikarjun Mudiraj |
| Succeeded by | P. Manik Reddy |
| Constituency | Medak, Andhra Pradesh |
| In office 1978–1980 | |
| Constituency | Chikmagalur, Karnataka |
| In office 1967–1977 | |
| Constituency | Raebareli, Uttar Pradesh |
| Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha | |
| In office 1964–1967 | |
| Constituency | Uttar Pradesh |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Indira Priyadarshini Nehru 19 November 1917 Allahabad, United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, British India (present-day Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, India) |
| Died | 31 October 1984 (aged 66) New Delhi, Delhi, India |
| Manner of death | Assassination |
Monuments | Shakti sthal |
| Political party |
|
| Spouse |
Feroze Gandhi
(m. 1942; died 1960) |
| Children | Rajiv Gandhi (son) Sanjay Gandhi (son) |
| Parent(s) | Jawaharlal Nehru (father) Kamala Nehru (mother) |
| Relatives | See Nehru–Gandhi family |
| Education | Visva-Bharati University (dropped out)[1] Somerville College, Oxford (dropped out)[1] |
| Awards | See section |
| Signature |  |
| Nicknames | see article |
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Prime Minister of India 1966–1977 1980–1984
Premiership
National policy
Legislation
Treaties and accords
Missions and projects
Controversies
Riots and attacks
Constitutional amendments
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Indira Gandhi (Hindi: [ˈɪndɪɾɑː ˈɡɑːndʱi] ⓘ; née Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician who served as the third Prime Minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 until her assassination in 1984. She was India's first and, to date, only female prime minister, and a central figure in Indian politics as the leader of the Indian National Congress. Gandhi was the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India, and the mother of Rajiv Gandhi, who succeeded her in office as the country's sixth prime minister. Furthermore, Gandhi's cumulative tenure of 15 years and 350 days makes her the second-longest-serving Indian prime minister after her father. Henry Kissinger described her as an "Iron Lady", a nickname that became associated with her tough personality since her lifetime.[2][3][4]
During Nehru's premiership from 1947 to 1964, Gandhi served as his hostess and accompanied him on his numerous foreign trips. In 1959, she played a part in the dissolution of the communist-led Kerala state government as then-president of the Indian National Congress, otherwise a ceremonial position to which she was elected earlier that year. Lal Bahadur Shastri, who had succeeded Nehru as prime minister upon his death in 1964, appointed her minister of information and broadcasting in his government; the same year she was elected to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament. On Shastri's sudden death in January 1966, Gandhi defeated her rival, Morarji Desai, in the Congress Party's parliamentary leadership election to become leader and also succeeded Shastri as prime minister. She led the Congress to victory in two subsequent elections, starting with the 1967 general election, in which she was first elected to the lower house of the Indian parliament, the Lok Sabha. In 1971, the Congress Party headed by Gandhi managed to secure its first landslide victory since her father's sweep in 1962, focusing on issues such as poverty. But following the nationwide Emergency implemented by her, she faced massive anti-incumbency and lost the 1977 general election, the first time for the Congress party to do so. Gandhi was ousted from office and even lost her seat in parliament in the election. Nevertheless, her faction of the Congress Party won the next general election by a landslide, due to Gandhi's leadership and weak governance of the Janata Party rule, the first non-Congress government in independent modern India's history.
As prime minister, Gandhi was known for her political intransigence and unprecedented centralization of power. In 1967, she headed a military conflict with China in which India successfully repelled Chinese incursions in the Himalayas.[5] In 1971, she went to war with Pakistan in support of the independence movement and war of independence in East Pakistan, which resulted in an Indian victory and the creation of Bangladesh, as well as increasing India's influence to the point where it became the sole regional power in South Asia. Gandhi's rule saw India grow closer to the Soviet Union by signing a friendship treaty in 1971, with India receiving military, financial, and diplomatic support from the Soviet Union during its conflict with Pakistan in the same year.[6] Despite India being at the forefront of the non-aligned movement, Gandhi led India to become one of the Soviet Union's closest allies in Asia, with India and the Soviet Union often supporting each other in proxy wars and at the United Nations.[7] Citing separatist tendencies and in response to a call for revolution, Gandhi instituted a state of emergency from 1975 to 1977, during which basic civil liberties were suspended and the press was censored. Widespread atrocities were carried out during that period.[8] Gandhi faced the growing Sikh separatism throughout her third premiership; in response, she ordered Operation Blue Star, which involved military action in the Golden Temple and resulted in bloodshed with hundreds of Sikhs killed. On 31 October 1984, Gandhi was assassinated by her bodyguards, both of whom were Sikh nationalists seeking retribution for the events at the temple.
Gandhi is remembered as the most powerful woman in the world during her tenure.[9][10][11] Her supporters cite her leadership during victories over geopolitical rivals China and Pakistan, the Green Revolution, a growing economy in the early 1980s, and her anti-poverty campaign that led her to be known as "Mother Indira" (a pun on Mother India) among the country's poor and rural classes. However, critics note her authoritarian rule of India during the Emergency. In 1999, Gandhi was named "Woman of the Millennium" in an online poll organized by the BBC.[12] In 2020, Gandhi was named by Time magazine among the 100 women who defined the past century as counterparts to the magazine's previous choices for Man of the Year.[13]
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
degreewas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Himmat. R. M. Lala. 1979. p. 8.
Few cast so low, so ignominiously, have the courage and belief to return. Mrs Gandhi is the real iron lady.
- ^ Asian Studies. Institute of Asian Studies, University of the Philippines. 1982. p. 82.
Indira Gandhi, is "charismatic" and tough. She is described as an "iron lady".
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Sharma 1988 p.was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Brahma Chellaney (2006). Asian Juggernaut: The Rise of China, India, and Japan. HarperCollins. p. 195. ISBN 9788172236502.
Indeed, Beijing's acknowledgement of Indian control over Sikkim seems limited to the purpose of facilitating trade through the vertiginous Nathu-la Pass, the scene of bloody artillery duels in September 1967 when Indian troops beat back attacking Chinese forces.
- ^ Shrivastava, Sanskar (30 October 2011). "1971 India Pakistan War: Role of Russia, China, America and Britain". The World Reporter. Archived from the original on 1 November 2011. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
- ^ Mehrotra, Santosh K., ed. (1991), "Bilateral trade", India and the Soviet Union: Trade and Technology Transfer, Cambridge Russian, Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 161–206, doi:10.1017/CBO9780511559884.010, ISBN 978-0-521-36202-3, retrieved 29 March 2023
- ^ "The darkest phase in Indira's tenure as PM – Emergency!". The Economic Times.
- ^ Khorana, M. (1991). The Indian Subcontinent in Literature for Children and Young Adults: An Annotated Bibliography of English-language Books. Bibliographies and indexes in world literature. Greenwood Press. p. 188. ISBN 978-0-313-25489-5. Retrieved 13 May 2023.
- ^ Hampton, W.H.; Burnham, V.S.; Smith, J.C. (2003). The Two-Edged Sword: A Study of the Paranoid Personality in Action. Sunstone Press. p. 91. ISBN 978-0-86534-147-0. Retrieved 13 May 2023.
- ^ Steinberg, B.S. (2008). Women in Power: The Personalities and Leadership Styles of Indira Gandhi, Golda Meir, and Margaret Thatcher. Arts Insights Series. McGill-Queen's University Press. p. 75. ISBN 978-0-7735-7502-8.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
BBCPOLLwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Indira Gandhi, Amrit Kaur named by TIME among '100 Women of the Year'". The Economic Times.