Indira Gandhi, as the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, grew up amidst
the stalwarts of the freedom struggle, who used to assemble in their
ancestral home in Allahabad, Anand Bhawan. She formed a "Vanar
Sena" of children during the Non-cooperation Movement to help the
Congress in its fight for freedom. After the death of her mother
Kamala Nehru, Indira became Nehru's confidante and advisor and
eventually was appointed the Minister for Information and
Broadcasting under the government of Shastri. When Shastri died,
Indira was chosen as the Prime Minister by senior leaders of the
Congress, who had hoped that she would be a puppet PM. But in
the next general elections, she defeated the candidates of the clique
of senior leaders and was elected PM after beating Morarji Desai in
the Congress Parliamentary Party elections. In her first term as PM,
Indira took many decisions of national importance, among them, the
abolition of privy purses for erstwhile princes and nationalisation of
banks. She also split the Congress and took complete control of the
party. In 1971, Indira led the country into war with Pakistan over the
liberation of Bangladesh and emerged victorious and the undisputed
leader of the nation. But soon, problems began to crop up.
Corruption was growing, as was labour and industrial unrest.
Jayaprakash Narayan started a campaign against corruption and it
quickly became popular. To add to this, an Allahabad High Court
judgement in June 1975 nullified Indira's election to the Lok Sabha
on technical grounds. Indira reacted by declaring Emergency and
that allowed her son Sanjay and his cronies to let loose a reign of
terror in the country. Fundamental rights of citizens were suspended
and the press was heavily censored. In January 1979, Indira
announced Lok Sabha elections, in the belief that she would win
again. Instead, the Janata Party coalition, which provided opposition
for the first time to the Congress, won. Indira lost her seat, along with
son Sanjay.
Indira Gandhi came back to power in January 1980 with a thumping
majority, sent to Parliament by a nation disappointed with its first
experiment in coalition government. But the infighting in the
Congress had increased by this time. The economy was in a bad
shape and there was a lot of labour unrest. The Punjab problem
began to fester at this time. Indira also created Jarnail Singh
Bhindrawale, a militant Sikh leader, to fight the Akalis in Punjab, who
ultimately demanded the creation of a separate state for the Sikhs
and fuelled the terrorism in the state. Meanwhile, Indira suffered a
further shock when her son Sanjay died in a plane crash in Delhi.
This also signalled the induction of Rajiv into active politics. She also
received political setbacks, losing assembly elections in Karantaka
and Andhra Pradesh. She was shot dead on October 31, 1984, by
her security guards outside her own house in Delhi. Indira Gandhi,
as the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, grew up amidst
the stalwarts of the freedom struggle, who used to assemble in their
ancestral home in Allahabad, Anand Bhawan. She formed a "Vanar
Sena" of children during the Non-cooperation Movement to help the
Congress in its fight for freedom. After the death of her mother
Kamala Nehru, Indira became Nehru's confidante and advisor and
eventually was appointed the Minister for Information and
Broadcasting under the government of Shastri. When Shastri died,
Indira was chosen as the Prime Minister by senior leaders of the
Congress, who had hoped that she would be a puppet PM. But in
the next general elections, she defeated the candidates of the clique
of senior leaders and was elected PM after beating Morarji Desai in
the Congress Parliamentary Party elections. In her first term as PM,
Indira took many decisions of national importance, among them, the
abolition of privy purses for erstwhile princes and nationalisation of
banks. She also split the Congress and took complete control of the
party. In 1971, Indira led the country into war with Pakistan over the
liberation of Bangladesh and emerged victorious and the undisputed
leader of the nation. But soon, problems began to crop up.
Corruption was growing, as was labour and industrial unrest.
Jayaprakash Narayan started a campaign against corruption and it
quickly became popular. To add to this, an Allahabad High Court
judgement in June 1975 nullified Indira's election to the Lok Sabha
on technical grounds. Indira reacted by declaring Emergency and
that allowed her son Sanjay and his cronies to let loose a reign of
terror in the country. Fundamental rights of citizens were suspended
and the press was heavily censored. In January 1979, Indira
announced Lok Sabha elections, in the belief that she would win
again. Instead, the Janata Party coalition, which provided opposition
for the first time to the Congress, won. Indira lost her seat, along with
son Sanjay.
Indira Gandhi came back to power in January 1980 with a thumping
majority, sent to Parliament by a nation disappointed with its first
experiment in coalition government. But the infighting in the
Congress had increased by this time. The economy was in a bad
shape and there was a lot of labour unrest. The Punjab problem
began to fester at this time. Indira also created Jarnail Singh
Bhindrawale, a militant Sikh leader, to fight the Akalis in Punjab, who
ultimately demanded the creation of a separate state for the Sikhs
and fuelled the terrorism in the state. Meanwhile, Indira suffered a
further shock when her son Sanjay died in a plane crash in Delhi.
This also signalled the induction of Rajiv into active politics. She also
received political setbacks, losing assembly elections in Karantaka
and Andhra Pradesh. She was shot dead on October 31, 1984, by
her security guards outside her own house in Delhi.