Indira Gandhi Biography  | Introduction to the life and work of Indira Gandhi | Indira Gandhi Full Information

Indira Gandhi Biography 

Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi… was the first and so far only female Prime Minister of India and also the focal point of the Indian National Congress. Indira Gandhi served the country from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 to 1984 until her assassination.

She was the second longest-serving Prime Minister and is the only woman to have held the office of Prime Minister.

 

Introduction to the life and work of Indira Gandhi -

Name - Indira Feroze Gandhi

Born - 19 November 1917, Allahabad (Uttar Pradesh)

Father - Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru

Mother - Kamala Jawaharlal Nehru

Married - 1942 with Feroze Gandhi

Death - 31 October 1984

Indira Gandhi was the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India. Indira Gandhi served her father's national institutions from 1947 to 1964. In recognition of her contributions, she was made the president of the National Congress in 1959. After her father's death in 1964, she gave up the struggle to become a leader in the Congress party and decided to become a cabinet minister in the government of Lal Bahadur Shastri. After Shastri's death, Congress president Indira Gandhi defeated Morarji Desai in the assembly elections and became the first woman Prime Minister of India. The only woman Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi is also known for her political brutality and supernatural centralization. She supported Pakistan's independence at that time and supported them in Pakistan's war of independence, which led to the victory of Pakistan and the creation of Bangladesh. Indira Gandhi declared a state of emergency in the country from 1975 to 1977 and ordered it to be implemented in all states. In 1984, when Indira Gandhi ordered the Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar, Punjab, she was shot dead by her Sikh bodyguard.

 

Early life of Indira Gandhi –

Indira Gandhi was born in Allahabad on 19 November 1917 in a Kashmiri Pandit family. Her father Jawaharlal Nehru was a great politician. He fought a political war with the British for India's independence. After that, she was appointed as the Prime Minister of her state and later as the Prime Minister of India. Indira was the only daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru (she had a younger brother, but he died in childhood). She grew up in Anand Bhawan with her mother Kamala Nehru. Indiraji's childhood was spent in solitude and sadness.

Since her father was a politician, he used to stay away from home for many days. Indiraji was mostly taught at home and occasionally went to school. She was educated at Modern High School, St. Cecilia's and St. Mary's Christian Convent, Allahabad, in Delhi. In addition, Indira studied at Ecole Internationale, Geneva, Ecole Nouvelle, Bex and Pupils' Own School, Pune and Mumbai. For further studies, Indira went to Visva-Bharati College, Santiniketan. Rabindranath Tagore named her Priyadarshini on their first meeting, and from then on she was known as Indira Priyadarshini Nehru.

About Indira Gandhi -

After a year, she left the university due to her mother's illness and later left for Europe. While in Europe, Indira's health deteriorated, and doctors often came to see her. She wanted to recover quickly and focus on her studies again. Indira was studying there at a time when the Nazi army was defeating Europe. Indira Gandhi tried hard to go to England from Portugal but she had only 2 months of standard left. But in 1941, she finally reached England and returned to India after leaving her studies there. Later, her university awarded her an honorary degree. While living in Great Britain, Indira Gandhi met her future husband Feroze Gandhi. They knew each other from Allahabad and were studying economics in London. Feroze Gandhi belonged to a Zoroastrian Parsi family. The two were married in Allahabad. After their marriage in 1950, Indira Gandhi started serving as her father's personal assistant in his campaign to become the Prime Minister. Indira Gandhi served as the President of the Congress Party until the end of 1950. She also tried to separate the state of Kerala but the government rejected it in 1959. Indira Gandhi's intention behind doing this was that she wanted to form a communist government.

In 1964, after the death of her father, she was appointed as a member of the Rajya Sabha. Later, she became a member of Lal Bahadur Shastri's cabinet and also became the Minister of Information. After Shastri's death in 1966, the Congress Party accepted Indira Gandhi, the successor of Morarji Desai, as its leader. Kamaraj, an experienced person of the Congress Party, helped Indira ji a lot for her victory. Indira Gandhi was a patriot, service to the country was in her blood. She always said, "You should learn to be still while running and active while resting." This means that a person should use his conscious mind while doing any work. As much as it is necessary to be active in life, rest is also necessary so that we can keep our brain more active. A look at Indira Gandhi's work –

In 1930, she formed a 'Monkey Army' of children to help Congress volunteers during the Civil Disobedience Movement. In 1942, she had to go to jail for participating in the 'Quit' movement. In 1955, she was elected as a member of the National Congress Executive Committee and in 1959 as the President of the National Congress. In 1964, after the death of Pandit Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri became the Prime Minister of India. During his tenure, Indira Gandhi became the Minister of Information and Broadcasting. In 1966, after the death of Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira was elected as the Prime Minister. She had the honor of becoming the first woman Prime Minister on the map of India. In 1969, due to a split in the Congress Party, two parties were born: the Syndicate Congress led by the old Congress leaders and the Indigene Congress led by Indira Gandhi. In the same year, she started implementing progressive and welfare schemes with vigour. She nationalised fourteen big banks of the country and decided to abolish the institutions of the princely states.

In 1971, Indiraji dissolved the Lok Sabha and announced early elections with the help of the Lok Sabha. In these elections, she gave the slogan of 'Eliminating Poverty'. Her party won this election with a majority. All the sources in the Congress party came into her hands and she became the top leader of the Congress. By providing military assistance to liberate the suffering people of East Bengal in Pakistan, which had repeatedly attacked India, Indiraji divided the Indian-occupied Pakistan into two parts, 'Bangladesh' and Pakistan. Before that, Indira Gandhi, keeping in mind the good relations between Pakistan and America, cleverly signed a twenty-year historic friendship and mutual cooperation agreement with the Soviet Union in 1971. Considering her extraordinary performance, the President honored her with the highest civilian honor, 'Bharat Ratna' in 1971. In 1972, Indiraji demonstrated her diplomacy by signing the bilateral 'Shimla Agreement' with Pakistan. In 1975, the Allahabad High Court declared Indiraji's election to the Lok Sabha from Rae Bareli constituency invalid. Indira Gandhi imposed Emergency in 1975. But the Indian people who love democracy were upset by this. The Congress lost the 1977 Lok Sabha elections.

 

Indira Gandhi Information -

Indira Gandhi herself was defeated from Rae Bareli constituency, resulting in the Janata Party winning, but due to differences between the party elements in that party and the government, the Congress achieved a resounding victory in the early elections of 1980 and Indiraji once again became the Prime Minister. In 1982, she played an important role in successfully organizing the Ninth Asian Games in Delhi. In 1983, the seventh summit of the Non-Aligned Movement was held in New Delhi. In this conference, the leadership of the national movement was entrusted to Indira Gandhi. Due to provocation by Pakistan, Sikh militants in Punjab created an independent nation called 'Khalistan' in Punjab, so harmful actions were being taken against them. Sikh militants kept weapons in holy places like the Golden Temple in Amritsar, so Indira Gandhi sent troops to the Golden Temple. The military action had to be taken to kill the traitor militants. This incident hurt some members of the Sikh community, as a result of which, on 31 October 1984, Indira's bodyguards Satwant Singh and Beant Singh shot and killed her.

 

Indira Gandhi Awards: 'Bharat Ratna' in 1971

 

Indira Gandhi Specialties:

 First female Prime Minister of India

 First woman to receive the Bharat Ratna

 

Indira Gandhi Death:

She died on 31 October 1984.