Indian Women in Politics: Indira Gandhi (1917-1984) became India’s first woman Prime Minister in 1966, succeeding Lal Bahadur Shastri. She is the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru.
Following India’s defeat of Pakistan in a war in 1971, she won a notable victory in a general election. In 1975, she declared a state of emergency in India. After losing the election of 1977, she returned to power in 1980.
Indira Gandhi was born on 19 November 1917 into the politically influential Nehru Family. Indira Gandhi’s father was Jawaharlal Nehru and her mother was Kamala Nehru. She married Feroze Khan, a Muslim, who later changed his name to Feroze Gandhi. This is how Indira got the surname “Gandhi.”
She had no relation to Mohandas K. Gandhi, either by blood or marriage. Her grandfather, Motilal Nehru, was a prominent Indian nationalist leader. Her father, Jawaharlal Nehru, played a pivotal role in the Indian independence movement of Independent India.
In 1934–35, after finishing school, Indira joined Shantiniketan, a school that Rabindranath Tagore set up. Subsequently, she went to England and sat for the University of Oxford entrance examination, but she failed and spent a few months at Badminton School in Bristol before passing the exam in 1937 and enrolling at Somerville College, Oxford.
During this time, she frequently met Feroze Khan, whom she knew from Allahabad, and who was studying at the London School of Economics. She married him in 1942.
Indira returned to India in 1941. In the 1950s, she unofficially served her father as a personal assistant during his tenure as the first Prime Minister of India. After her father’s death in 1964, they appointed her as a member of the Rajya Sabha (upper house) and she became a member of Lal Bahadur Shastri’s cabinet as Minister of Information and Broadcasting.
The then Congress Party President K. Kamaraj was instrumental in making Indira Gandhi the Prime Minister after the sudden demise of Shastri. Gandhi soon showed an ability to win elections and outmaneuver her opponents.
Indira Gandhi introduced more left-wing economic policies and promoted agricultural productivity. She led India as Prime Minister during the decisive victory of East Pakistan over Pakistan in the 1971 war and the creation of an independent Bangladesh.
Indira imposed a state of emergency in 1975. The Congress Party and Indira Gandhi herself lost the next general election for the first time in 1977. Indira Gandhi led the Congress back to victory in the 1980 elections and resumed the office of the Prime Minister.
In June 1984, Gandhi ordered the Indian army to forcefully enter the Golden Temple, the most sacred Sikh Gurdwara, to remove armed insurgents present inside the temple. Her bodyguards killed her on 31 October 1984 in retaliation for this operation.
Content for this question contributed by Santosh Rani, resident of Naraina Vihar, New Delhi, India
