Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (Hindustani: [ˈɪnːdɪrə ˈɡaːnd̪ʱi] (
listen); née Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and central figure of the Indian National Congress party, and to date the only female Prime Minister of India. Indira Gandhi was the only child of India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. She served as Prime Minister from 1966 to 1977 and then again from 1980 until her assassination in 1984, making her the second-longest-serving Prime Minister after her father.
listen); née Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and central figure of the Indian National Congress party, and to date the only female Prime Minister of India. Indira Gandhi was the only child of India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. She served as Prime Minister from 1966 to 1977 and then again from 1980 until her assassination in 1984, making her the second-longest-serving Prime Minister after her father.
Gandhi served as her father's personal assistant and hostess during his tenure as prime minister between 1947 and 1964. She was elected Congress President in 1959. Upon her father's death in 1964, Gandhi refused to enter the Congress party leadership contest and instead chose to become a cabinet minister in the government led by Lal Bahadur Shastri. In Congress' party parliamentary leadership election held in early 1966 upon the death of Shastri, she defeated her rival, Morarji Desai, to become leader and thus succeed Shastri as Prime Minister of India.
Indira Gandhi
| |
| 3rd Prime Minister of India | |
|---|---|
| In office 14 January 1980 – 31 October 1984 | |
| President | Neelam 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 |
| Deputy | Morarji Desai |
| Preceded by | Gulzarilal Nanda (Acting) |
| 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 16 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 |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Indira Priyadarshini Nehru 19 November 1917 Allahabad, United Provinces,British India |
| Died | 31 October 1984 (aged 66) New Delhi, India |
| Political party | Indian National Congress |
| Spouse(s) | Feroze Gandhi |
| Relations | See Nehru–Gandhi family |
| Children | Rajiv Sanjay |
| Parents | Jawaharlal Nehru Kamala Nehru |
| Alma mater | Visva-Bharati University(dropout) Somerville College, Oxford(dropout) |
| Religion | Hinduism |
| Awards |  Bharat Ratna (1971) |
| Signature |  |
As Prime Minister of India, Gandhi was known for her political ruthlessness and unprecedented centralisation of power. She went towar 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 regional hegemon ofSouth Asia. Gandhi also presided over a controversial state of emergency from 1975 to 1977 during which she ruled by decree. She was assassinated in 1984 by her Sikh bodyguards a few months after she ordered the storming of the Harmandir Sahib in Amritsarto counter the Punjab insurgency.
Early life and career[edit]
Indira Gandhi was born Indira Nehru in a Kashmiri Pandit family on 19 November 1917 in Allahabad.[1] Her father, Jawaharlal Nehru, was a leading figure in India's political struggle for independence from British rule, and became the first Prime Minister of the Union(and later Republic) of India.[2] She was the only child (a younger brother was born, but died young),[3] and grew up with her mother,Kamala Nehru, at the Anand Bhavan; a large family estate in Allahabad.[4] She had a lonely and unhappy childhood.[5] Her father was often away, directing political activities or being incarcerated in prison, while her mother was frequently bed-ridden with illness, and later suffered an early death from tuberculosis.[6] She had limited contact with her father, mostly through letters.[7]
Gandhi was mostly taught at home by tutors, and intermittently attended school until matriculation in 1934. She was a student at theModern School in Delhi, St Cecilia's and St Mary's Christian convent schools in Allahabad, the International School of Geneva, the Ecole Nouvelle in Bex, and the Pupils' Own School in Poona and Bombay.[8] She and her mother Kamala Nehru moved to Belur Mathheadquarters of Ramakrishna Mission where Swami Ranganathananda was her guardian[9] later she went on to study at the Viswa Bharati University in Shantiniketan. It was during her interview that Rabindranath Tagore named her Priyadarshini, and she came to be known as Indira Priyadarshini Nehru.[10] A year later, however, she had to leave university to attend to her ailing mother inEurope.[11] While there, it was decided that Gandhi would continue her education at the University of Oxford.[12] After her mother died, she briefly attended the Badminton School before enrolling at Somerville College in 1937 to study history.[13] Gandhi had to take the entrance examination twice, having failed at her first attempt with a poor performance in Latin.[13] At Oxford, she did well in history, political science and economics, but her grades in Latin—a compulsory subject—remained poor.[14][15] She did, however, have an active part within the student life of the university, such as the Oxford Majlis Asian Society.[16]
During her time in Europe, Gandhi was plagued with ill-health and was constantly attended by doctors. She had to make repeated trips to Switzerland to recover, disrupting her studies. She was being treated there in 1940, when the Nazi armies rapidly conquered Europe. Gandhi tried to return to England through Portugal but was left stranded for nearly two months. She managed to enter England in early 1941, and from there returned to India without completing her studies at Oxford. The university later awarded her an honorary degree. In 2010, Oxford further honoured her by selecting her as one of the ten Oxasians, illustrious Asian graduates from the University of Oxford.[17]
During her stay in Great Britain, young Gandhi frequently met her future husband Feroze Gandhi (no relation to Mahatma Gandhi), whom she knew from Allahabad, and who was studying at the London School of Economics. The marriage took place in Allahabadaccording to Adi Dharm rituals though Feroze belonged to a Zorastrian Parsi family of Gujarat.[18]
In the 1950s, Indira, now Mrs. Indira Gandhi after her marriage, served her father unofficially as a personal assistant during his tenure as the first Prime Minister of India.[19] Towards the end of the 1950s, Indira Gandhi served as the President of the Congress. In that capacity, she was instrumental in getting the Communist led Kerala State Government dismissed in 1959. That government had the distinction of being India's first ever elected Communist Government.[20] 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.[21] In 1966, after Shastri's death, the Congress legislative party elected Indira Gandhi over Morarji Desai as their leader. Congress party veteran,Kamaraj was instrumental in achieving Indira's victory.[22]
First term as Prime Minister between 1966 and 1971[edit]
Following a poor showing in the 1967 general election, Indira Gandhi started progressively moving to the left in the political spectrum. In 1969, after falling out with senior party leaders on a number of issues, the party president S. Nijalingappa expelled her from the party.[23][24][25] Gandhi, in turn floated her own faction of the Congress party and managed to retain most of the Congress MPs on her side with only 65 on the side of Congress (O) faction. The policies of the Congress under Indira Gandhi, prior to the 1971 elections, also included proposals for the abolition of Privy Purse to former rulers of the Princely states and the 1969 nationalization of the fourteen largest banks in India.
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. On the other hand, the combined opposition alliance had a two word manifesto of "Indira Hatao" (Remove Indira).[26][27] The Garibi Hatao 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 governments; 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 and developed by the Central Government in New Delhi. The program was supervised and staffed by 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.",[28]
The biggest achievement of Indira Gandhi after the 1971 election was India's decisive victory in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, that led to the formation of independentBangladesh. Some sources claim she was hailed as Goddess Durga by opposition leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee at that time.[29][30][31] [32] Atal Bihari Vajpayee though categorically denied ever having said that when he made an appearance in Rajat Sharma's show Aap ki Adalat.[33] In the elections held for State assemblies across India in March 1972, the Congress(R) swept to power in most states riding on the post-war "Indira wave".[34]
Despite the victory against Pakistan, the Congress government faced numerous problems during this term. Some of these were due to high inflation which was in turn caused by war time expenses, drought in some parts of the country and more importantly, the 1973 oil crisis. The opposition to Gandhi in 1973-75 period, after the Indira wave had receded, was strongest in Bihar and Gujarat. In Bihar, Jayaprakash Narayan, the veteran leader came out of retirement to lead the protest movement there.[34]
Verdict on electoral malpractice[edit]
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.[citation needed] The court thus ordered her stripped of her parliamentary seat and banned from running for any office for six years. The Prime Minister must be a member of either the Lok Sabha (the lower house in the Parliament of India) or the Rajya Sabha (the upper house). Thus, this decision effectively removed her from office. Gandhi had asked one of her colleagues in government, Mr Ashoke Kumar Sen to defend her in court.
But Gandhi rejected calls to resign and announced plans to appeal to the Supreme Court. The verdict was delivered by Mr Justice Jagmohanlal 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.[35]The judge, however, rejected more serious charges of bribery against her.
Gandhi insisted that 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)[edit]
Main article: The Emergency (India)
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(1) of the Constitution, on 25 June 1975.
Rule by decree[edit]
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.[36] 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. Finally, the 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 Gandhi used the emergency provisions to change conflicting party members.
President Ahmed issued ordinances that did not require debate in the Parliament, allowing Gandhi to rule by decree.
Rise of Sanjay[edit]
The Emergency saw the entry of Gandhi's younger son, Sanjay, into Indian Politics. Sanjay wielded tremendous power during the emergency without holding any Government office. According to Mark Tully, "His inexperience did not stop him from using the Draconian powers his mother, Indira Gandhi, had taken to terrorise the administration, setting up what was in effect a police state."[38]
It was said that during the Emergency he virtually ran India along with his friends, especially Bansi Lal.[39] It was also quipped that Sanjay Gandhi had total control over his mother and that the government was run by the PMH (Prime Minister House) rather than the PMO (Prime Minister Office).[40][41][42]
1977 election and opposition years[edit]
In 1977, after extending the state of emergency twice, Indira Gandhi called elections to give the electorate a chance to vindicate her rule. Gandhi may have grossly misjudged her popularity[citation needed] by reading what the heavily censored press wrote about her. In any case, she was opposed by the Janata alliance of Opposition parties. Janata alliance, with Jai Prakash Narayan as its spiritual guide, claimed the elections were the last chance for India to choose between "democracy and dictatorship." The Congress Party split during the election campaign of 1977: veteran Gandhi supporters like Jagjivan Ram, Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna and Nandini Satpathy were compelled to part ways and form a new political entity, CFD (Congress for Democracy), primarily due to intra-party politicking and also due to circumstances created by Sanjay Gandhi. The prevailing rumour was that Sanjay had intentions of dislodging Gandhi and the trio stood between that. Gandhi's Congress party was crushed soundly in the elections. The public realized the statement and motto of the Janata Party alliance. 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. The Janata alliance, under the leadership of Morarji Desai, came into power after the State of Emergency was lifted. The alliance parties later merged to form the Janata Party under the guidance of Gandhian leader, Jayaprakash Narayan. The other leaders of the Janata Party were Charan Singh, Raj Narain, George Fernandes and Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
In opposition and return to power[edit]
Since Gandhi had lost her seat in the election, the defeated Congress party appointed Yashwantrao Chavan as their parliamentary party leader. Soon afterwards, the Congress party split again with Gandhi floating her own Congress (I) faction. She won a bye-election from the Chikamagalurconstituency to the Lok sabha in 1978.[43] However, the Janata government's Home Minister, Choudhary Charan Singh, ordered the arrest of her and Sanjay Gandhi on several charges, none of which would be easy to prove in an Indian court. The arrest meant that Indira Gandhi was automatically expelled from Parliament. These allegations included that she "‘had planned or thought of killing all opposition leaders in jail during the Emergency’".[44] In response to her arrest, Indira Gandhi's supporters hijacked an Indian Airlines jet and demanded her immediate release.[45]However, this strategy backfired disastrously. Her arrest and long-running trial gained her great sympathy from many people. The Janata coalition was only united by its hatred of Gandhi (or "that woman" as some called her). The party included right wing Hindu Nationalists, Socialists and former Congress party members. With so little in common, the Morarji Desai government was bogged down by infighting. In 1979, the government started to unravel over the issue of dual loyalties of some members to Janata and the RSS. The ambitious Union Finance minister, Charan Singh, who as the Union Home Minister during the previous year had ordered arrest of Gandhi, took advantage of this and started courting the Congress (I). After a significant exodus from the party to Charan Singh's faction, Desai resigned in July 1979. Charan Singh was appointed Prime Minister, by President Reddy, after Indira and Sanjay Gandhi promised Singh that Congress (I) would support his government from outside on certain conditions.,[46][47] The conditions included dropping all charges against Indira and Sanjay. Since Charan Singh refused to drop the charges, Congress (I) withdrew its support and President Reddy dissolved Parliament in August 1979.
Before the 1980 elections Gandhi approached the then Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid, Syed Abdullah Bukhari and entered into an agreement with him on the basis of 10-point programme to secure the support of the Muslim votes.[48] In the elections held in January, Congress returned to power with a landslide majority.
In 1979, when she visited Madurai, some hooligans attacked her. Nedumaran saved her from the attacks.[49][50]
1980 elections and third term[edit]
The Congress (I) under Gandhi swept back to power in January 1980. Elections soon after to State assemblies across the country also brought back Congress ministries in the state with Indira's son Sanjay Gandhi choosing loyalists to lead the states. Sanjay died soon after in an air crash, early into this term. Sanjay Gandhi died instantly from head wounds in an air crash on 23 June 1980 near Safdarjung Airport in New Delhi.[15] He was flying a new aircraft of the Delhi Flying club, and, while performing an aerobatic manoeuvre over his office, lost control and crashed. The only passenger in the plane, Captain Subhash Saxena, also died in the crash.[51] Gandhi by this stage only trusted her family members and therefore decided to bring in her reluctant pilot son, Rajiv into politics.
Operation Blue Star[edit]
Main article: Operation Blue Star
In the 1977 elections, a coalition led by the Sikh-majority Akali Dal came to power in the northern Indian state of Punjab. In an effort to split the Akali Dal and gain popular support among the Sikhs, Indira Gandhi's Congress helped bring the orthodox religious leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale to prominence in Punjab politics.[52][53] Later, Bhindranwale's organisation Damdami Taksal became embroiled in violence with another religious sect called the Sant Nirankari Mission, and he was accused of instigating the murder of the Congress leader Jagat Narain.[54] After being arrested in this matter, Bhindranwale disassociated himself from Congress and joined hands with the Akali Dal.[55] In July 1982, he led the campaign for the implementation of the Anandpur Sahib Resolution, which demanded greater autonomy for the Sikh-majority state. Meanwhile, a small section of the Sikhs, including some of Bhindranwale's followers, turned to militancy after being targeted by government officials and police in support of the Resolution.[56] After several futile negotiations, Indira Gandhi ordered the Indian army to enter the Golden Temple in order to confront those followers of Bhindranwale who had turned to militancy. Indian army used heavy artillery such as tanks and canons and machine guns in addition with helicopters to crush the Sikhs of Harmindar Sahib. In the resulting Operation Blue Star, the shrine was damaged and many civilians were brutally massacred. Which started a swim of riot in Punjab and as a result many religious Sikh leaders as well as many devotees of Harminder Sahib were arrested, tortured and killed. Still there is a long list of missing persons from Sikh religious community of Punjab being abducted by state agencies, police and army. The State of Punjab was closed to international media, its phone and communication lines shut. To this day the events remain controversial with a disputed number of victims; Many Sikhs seeing the attack as unjustified and Bhindrawale being declared the greatest Sikh martyr of the 20th century by Akal Takht (Sikh Political Authority) in 2003.
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