Biography of Indira Gandhi – Third Prime Minister of India

Indira Gandhi was one of the most extraordinary women India has produced. She was acknowledged throughout the world not only as the head of Government of India but also a world ranking statesman. She had a charismatic personality and had tremendous sway over the people of India. She was one of the most powerful prime ministers in a democratic set up.

Priyadarshni-for that was her childhood name given to her by her father-was born in Anand Bhawan in Allahabad on 19th November, 1917. She inherited brilliance, courage and resolution from her ancestors. Her grandfather Moti Lai Nehru was a very famous and successful lawyer of his times, who later on left his lucrative legal practice and became a national public figure.

Her father, Jawahar Lai Nehru was a great freedom fighter who later on as Prime Minister of Indian nation for seventeen long years and gradually was recognized as a world statesman. But Indira Gandhi’s place in history rests not on her inheritance-rich and impressive as it may be, but on her own merit and achievements.

Political scene of those days was dominated by Gandhiji. Whenever Gandhiji visited Allahabad he stayed at Anand Bhawan. As a child Indira Gandhi was very much influenced by him. Once she went to Sabarmati Ashram also.

The simple and hard life of the Ashram left an imprint on her life and she was imbued with patriotic feelings. She received her education at different places. She matriculated form Pune and thereafter she was enrolled in Shanti niketan which was established by Rabindra Nath Tagore. There the students were expected to lead a life of very strict discipline. Though she was brought up in a lap of luxury she adjusted herself well in the Ashram.

Later on she studied at Switzerland and England. She organized a ‘Monkey Army’ when she was just twelve years old. Some small duties like distributing food to Congress delegates during different conferences were entrusted to this ‘Army’. Its members carried messages also to the Congress leaders.

Indira Gandhi’s mother Kamla Nehru was ill and for her treatment Indira accompanied her to Germany and then to Switzerland. But she did not respond to the treatment and died on 16th February 1937. Now she had only her father to look after her.

After her mother’s death she joined Oxford University. The clouds of war were hovering over Europe. Jawahar Lai Nehru went to England and Indira Gandhi came back home along with her father. But soon her father noticed that her health was deteriorating. She was sent to Switzerland where she gained health. After coming back from Switzerland her marriage was settled with Feroze Gandhi.

Since he was a Parsi a section of conservative Hindus expressed them against the marriage and tried to dissuade Jawahar Lai Nehru from consenting to it. But the wishes of the daughter were important to him and the marriage was celebrated in March 1941. Thereafter she accompanied Feroze Gandhi to Lucknow where he was working as editor of the National Herald.

Those were the days when India was a stir with political activities. The freedom movement was gathering momentum day by day. In the meantime ‘Quit India’ resolution was passed in Bombay Congress Session. Before it also she saw hectic political activities and conferences in Anand Bhawan. Her aunt Krishna Hutheesing says, “From the time she was three or four, she heard nothing but talk of politics. Though she did not understand all that was said, her sensitivity made her intensely aware that something vitally important was happening.”

Her father had gone to jail many a time. Sometimes she was left all alone at home thinking about the ongoing events. So on the one hand, she was surrounded by property and affluence, and on the other, by uncertainty and anxiety; on the one hand hectic political and social activity and on the other a void and loneliness.

Come August, 15, 1947 and it brought along with it she independence. Independence brought joy and jubilation and functions and festivals were organized to celebrate it. But the partition of the country brought in its wake untold suffering for certain sections of people. In the meantime Jawaharlal Nehru had shifted to official accommodation. She tried to help her father in his multifarious activities. Not only did she look after guests-native and foreign in the prime minister’s house, but also accompanied him on his foreign tours.

Thus she had gained a lot of experience and knowledge. She was associated with the Congress party right from her birth. In her own words. “The Congress is very dear to me I was born in the Congress. There was no time when my home, since I was born, was not the centre of all political movements, decisions and the meetings that took place, and the whole of modern Indian history was being made there.” She was declared to be the President of the Congress Party, in which capacity she worked very hard and rose in the estimation of the people as a leader in her own right.

May 1964-India suffered a tragic blow on the death of Jawahar Lai Nehru. Lai Bahadur Shastri succeeded him and Indira Gandhi became Information and Broadcasting Minister in his cabinet. In January, 1966 Lai Bahadur Shastri suddenly died in Tashkent. Thereafter, Indira Gandhi was elected the leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party.

A woman Prime Minister of such a vast country as India-the greatest democracy in the world! With the passage of time, her firm determination, her hardworking nature and her foresight brought her praise from all quarters. She started meeting common people every day and tried to redress their grievances. It brought her great popularity. When she found that political atmosphere in the parliament was not comfortable for her in 1969, she ordered midterm poll in which she was returned to power with a thumping majority.

In the meantime, Bangladesh problem was thrust in front of India. Lakhs of refugees from East Bengal infiltrated into India due to the atrocities of the Pakistani army. They could not be persuaded to go back due to fear of repression. The Indian economy was heavily strained due to feeding of about ten million refugees. The problem that India faced was put before the world but none paid any heed to it.

In the meanwhile Pakistan launched an attack on India in December 1971. A fierce war lasted for two weeks which resulted in the creation of Bangladesh. So Indira Gandhi solved this ticklish problem successfully and won wide acclaim for her qualities of leadership.

With the passage of time, the political atmosphere underwent a sea change in the mid-seventies and Indira Gandhi had to declare emergency in the country on 26th June 1975. The opposition leaders headed by Jay Parkash Narayan launched a movement against the emergency. They were arrested and put behind bars. General elections were held in March 1977 in which Indira Gandhi was badly defeated and Janta Party was elected to power.

Infighting in the Janta Party resulted in general elections in 1980 in which Indira Gandhi was again elected to power. At that time the country was facing many problems including the Pubjab problem, regarding which she had to take some hard measures. The sudden and tragic and came to her on 31st October, 1984 when like Mahatma Gandhi, she suffered an assassin’s bullets which plunged the country in an abyss of grief and sorrow.

Indira Gandhi is one of those leaders who will be ever remembered for her courage, determination and remarkable qualities of leadership.