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Indira Gandhi
Indira Gandhi was born on 19th November 1917 to Kamla Nehru and Jawaharlal Nehru. She was a politician and served India as the PM for 3 consecutive terms. She was mid-way in her 4th term when her assassination took place in the year 1984.
Early Life and Academics
Indira was born in Allahabad in 1917. Jawaharlal Nehru, her father was leading the fight for freedom against the British. Being the only Nehru child to them, she was well kept at the palatial Anand Bhavan. However, since her father was usually away, she was mostly lonely. She was taught by many tutors. Indira was a student at Vishwa Bharti University in West Bengal. Thereafter, she went to Oxford University as well.
Family and Personal Life
Indira was very distant from her Father since they hardly met. Her mother was mostly unwell and later succumbed to her illnesses leaving Indira in distraught. In 1942, she got married to Feroze Gandhi of the INC. They had two sons namely, Rajiv Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi. Indira chose Sanjay, her youngest son to be her heir but after he died, she pushed Rajiv, the elder son to leave his job to enter into politics. Rajiv too was later assassinated.
Dhirendra Brahamachari, her yoga guru guided her in many tough matters. The emergency situation matter was something he helped her take a decision on.
Career
From 1955 onwards, Indira started actively participating in party's affairs. She was elected as the party's president 4 years later. L.B. Shastri appointed her as the I&B minister in the year 1964. In 1966, Shastri died and Indira became the Congress Party leader. She also became PM which led to a huge fight between the left and right wing of their party. In 1967, Indira won the election by a poor majority and was forced to accept Moraji Desai for the deputy PM post. In 1971, Indira swept the elections and supported Bangladesh's constant conflict with Pakistan. Under her wish, the armed forces of the country fought with Pakistan for the creation of what is known as modern Bangladesh.
In 1975, the Allahabad court prevented her from getting a Parliamentary seat on which she declared emergency and had all her political opponents jailed. She was also responsible for implementing sterilization as a means of controlling unwanted pregnancy. In 1977, she was badly defeated and had to leave the office.
In 1980s, Indira had the Golden temple attacked which caused the death of hundreds of Sikhs. In response, two of her Sikh bodyguards assassinated her for this attack.
Honors, Awards and International Recognition
In 1972, Indira Gandhi won the Bharat Ratna award. She was always given the Second Annual Medal at the FAO in 1973. Indira Gandhi was also the recipient of the Mother's award in the United States. Yale University also honored her with the Memorial Howland prize. The Islbellad’Este honor was conferred to her in Italy for her contribution in diplomacy.
Photo Gallery