The Inspiring Journey of the Iron Woman of India – Indira Gandhi

19 Jun The Inspiring Journey of the Iron Woman of India – Indira Gandhi

Indira Gandhi / Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi was the first and the only female Prime Minister of the country, who was also known for her political skills and prudence. He led the country as Prime Minister at a time when women were not allowed to leave the house. {tocify} $title={Table of Contents}

Facing all the challenges, she not only occupied the post of PM of the country but with her political talent, she took many important decisions for the country. Bangladesh was formed during the reign of Indira Gandhi.

So let us know about the important things related to the life of Indira Gandhi, known for her political ruthlessness and perseverance-

Biography of Indira Gandhi at a Glance
Name – Indira Feroze Gandhi

Birthday – November 19, 1917,

Birth Place – Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh

Died – 31 October 1984 (aged 66) New Delhi, India

Cause of death – Assassination

Political party – Indian National Congress

Spouse(s) – Feroze Gandhi (m. 1942; died 1960)

Children – Rajiv Gandhi, Sanjay Gandhi

Parents – Jawaharlal Nehru (Father), Kamala Nehru (Mother)
Awards – Bharat Ratna (1971) and Bangladesh Freedom Honour (2011)
Indira Gandhi was born on 19 November 1917 in Allahabad city of Uttar Pradesh as Priyadarshini to the country’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Kamla Nehru.

Indira Gandhi belonged to an economically prosperous, well-known political family in the country and a patriotic family, her grandfather Motilal Nehru and her father Jawaharlal Nehru both played an important role in the country’s freedom struggle.

At the same time, seeing her family, the feeling of patriotism inside Indira Gandhi came from childhood. Indira Gandhiji’s mother’s name was Kamala Nehru. At the same time, when Indira Gandhi was 18 years old, her mother Kamala Nehru died of tuberculosis.

Indira Gandhi Ji did not initially get a favourable environment of education due to the political busyness of her father and the poor health of her mother, due to which she did her early education at home.

His father and the first Prime Minister of the country, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, had arranged teachers at home for her studies.

Shortly thereafter, she did her high school at Pune University and then in the year 1934–35, Indira Gandhi took admitted to Shanti Niketan and where she was named Priyadarshini by Rabindranath Tagore.

She then moved to London where she did her further studies at Somerville College, Oxford University. At the same time, he also met Feroze Gandhi.

Indira Gandhi did not achieve much during her studies, she was a mediocre student. She left her studies in between.

Famous politician Indira Gandhi, known for her amazing political talent, met Feroze Gandhi when she became a member of the National Congress during her school days.

During that time Feroze Gandhi was a journalist as well as a prominent member of the Youth Congress, who was from a Parsi family in Gujarat.

Then the two met turned into love and during the year 1942, she married Feroze Gandhi.

Although her father Jawaharlal Nehru did not agree at all with Indira Gandhi’s decision, she later had to accept their relationship in front of her daughter’s insistence.

At the same time, this marriage was also publicly opposed, because intercaste marriage was not so common at that time. After marriage, Indira Gandhi and Feroze Gandhi had 2 children. First Rajiv Gandhi was born and then about two and a half years later Sanjay Gandhi was born. At the same time, Feroze Gandhi died in the year 1960 after a cardiac arrest.

Indira Gandhi Ji had a sense of patriotism since childhood. Indeed, both her father and grandfather were great freedom fighters in the country.

Being born into a family inspired by patriotism from the beginning had a profound effect on Indira Gandhi. She became a member of the Indian League during her studies and after studying at Oxford University, when she returned to India in the year 1941, she joined the freedom movement.

Not only this, but during the freedom movement, she also had to endure the torture of jail. Indira Gandhi was a patriot. She always said,

“You must learn to remain stable during activity and to be active during rest.”

Meaning that a person should do it with a conscious mind while doing any work. Along with being active in life, relaxation is also necessary so that we can make our minds more active.

Indira Gandhi’s family is one of the most prominent and famous political circles in the country. Indira Gandhi’s interest in politics from the very beginning is also not a surprise.

When her father Jawaharlal Nehru was appointed as the first Prime Minister of independent India. Since then, many big politicians, including the freedom fighter Mahatma Gandhi, had to come and visit her house, which was often hosted by Indira Gandhi.

During this time, she also listened carefully to the conversations being held by her father and political visitors for the development and better future of the country, due to which slowly her mind also started turning towards politics.

At the same time, during the Lok Sabha elections held between 1951 and 1952, Indira Gandhi assumed the responsibility of organizing several election rallies and meetings with her husband Feroze Gandhi.

After this, in the year 1955, Indira Gandhiji was included as the executive of the Congress Party. Not only this, while examining the political understanding of Indira Gandhi Ji, Nehru Ji not only took political advice from her daughter Indira on many important issues but also used them.

After this, Indira Gandhi was appointed as the President of the Congress in the year 1959.

Then after the death of her father and the country’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1964, he was made the Minister of Information and Broadcasting during the time of Lal Bahadur Shastriji’s government.

The responsibility of this post was also well done by Indira Gandhi and promoted the programs of All India Radio. During the Indo-Pakistan War in 1965, AIR contributed a vital role in strengthening the spirit of nationalism.

Apart from this, during this war, she led safely and also encouraged the soldiers of the Indian Army by going to the borders.

Indira Gandhi has also been an important example of women’s empowerment.

As the Prime Minister, she led the country 4 times efficiently and contributed significantly to the development of the country. From the year 1966 to 1977, she served as the Prime Minister 3 consecutive times for 11 years.

Then from the year 1980 to 1984, he had the distinction of becoming the Prime Minister of the country for the fourth time.

Let me tell you that after the sudden death of the second Prime Minister of the country, Lal Bahadur Shastri in 1966, Congress President K.K. Kamarajji advised Indira Gandhi to become the Prime Minister of the country.

However, during this time Morarji Desai, a well-known and powerful leader of the Congress Party, himself wanted to become the Prime Minister, then after the party’s voting, Indira Gandhi was appointed as the first woman Prime Minister of the country.

In this way, on 24 January 1966, Indira Gandhi was sworn in as the Prime Minister of the country. Then about a year later, in the Lok Sabha elections held in 1967, Indira Gandhi again stood as PM candidate.

She could not win a majority in this election but was successful in winning the election and again she got a chance to assume the responsibility of the post of Prime Minister of the country. However, during this time there were many differences within the Congress Party regarding Morarji Desai and Indira Gandhiji.

In fact, while some big leaders of the party were supporting Indira Gandhi, some wanted Morarji Desai as the Prime Minister, due to which in 1969, the Congress Party split into two separate fractions.

During her tenure as Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi did many important things for the development of the country. He played an important role in nationalizing the 14 largest banks in India in 1969.

Declaration of mid-term election by Indira Gandhi in 1971 – 1971 Election

In the year 1971, Indira Gandhi gave a big shock to the opposition by announcing the mid-term election to further strengthen its position in the country.

Known for her political prowess, Indira Gandhi entered this election with the slogan “Remove poverty from the country” and succeeded in forming her government by winning 352 out of 518 seats in the country.

After this election, Indira Gandhi’s position in the country had become very strong.

During Indira Gandhi’s tenure as Prime Minister, when the India-Pakistan war broke out on the issue of Bangladesh in 1971, there was a lot of tension in the country and Indira Gandhi also had to face a big crisis.

However, during this time, he led the country safely, acting wisely and wisely. Let me tell you that during the war when the situation became even more serious when the US President started supporting Pakistan and China was already supporting Pakistan by supplying arms to it.

Subsequently, Indira Gandhi’s leadership signed a “Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation” with the Soviet Union.

During this time, a large number of refugees from East Pakistan started entering India.

During this time, Indira Gandhi not only gave shelter to millions of refugees in India but also provided military support to fight West Pakistan.

During this, Indira Gandhi, realizing the importance of Bangladesh’s independence, announced support for the creation of Bangladesh. At the same time, on 16 December, West Pakistan surrendered, due to which Bangladesh was created.

The victory of India in this war made Indira Gandhi’s image as a popular politician and her position became so strong in the country that she was also able to take independent decisions.

At the same time, after this war, Indira Gandhi devoted herself completely to the service and development of the country.

He also drew the attention of the public by nationalizing the insurance and coal industry in the year 1972 and as an active and efficient politician, he did many reforms for social welfare, and land reform including the economy.

Indira Gandhi implemented many new schemes for the development of the country during her tenure as Prime Minister and got many works done, but during 1975, the problems of inflation, unemployment, economic crisis, and corruption, in the country had increased greatly. In the wake of this many opposition parties and people of the country organized many protests against the Indira Gandhi government.

At the same time, Allahabad High Court while ruling on a case related to the election of Indira Gandhi, cancelled her election and banned her from contesting elections for 6 years.

After this, the political situation of the country became worse and the people got more vengeance against them.

Then on 26 June 1975, Indira Gandhi, instead of resigning from the post of Prime Minister, declared an emergency in the country. He arrested all opposition leaders including Morarji Desai, Jayaprakash Narayan and their political enemies.

Not only this but during the Emergency, the constitutional rights of ordinary citizens were also taken away and media was also banned, radio newspapers and TV were censored.

Then in early 1977, Indira Gandhi announced the election, removing the emergency.

During this time political prisoners were released and the ban was again removed from the media and freedom of political meetings and election campaigns was given along with giving back fundamental rights to the public.

However, during this election, due to the emergency and sterilization campaign, there was a lot of anger against him among the general public.

At the same time, the people did not support Indira Gandhi in exchange for an emergency and sterilization campaign. As a result, the “Janata Party” under the leadership of Morarji Desai and Jayaprakash Narayan emerged as a strong and secured 330 seats in 542 elections, while Indira Gandhi’s camp got only 153 seats.

In 1979, this government fell due to internal infighting within the Janata Party, which benefited Indira Gandhi.

In fact, Janata Party politicians had made many serious allegations against Indira Gandhi Ji with the motive to get Indira Gandhi out of Parliament and Indira Gandhi was also sent to jail on corruption charges.

On the other hand, this strategy of the Janata Party and such attitude toward Indira Gandhi did not appeal to the people and then a large number of people came in support of Indira Gandhi and then during the election of 1980, Congress won 353 seats out of 592 and Indira Gandhi returned to power with a large majority and once again got the opportunity to lead the country as the Prime Minister of the country.

The Indira Gandhi Memorial Museum is named after him in New Delhi.

Apart from this, there are many educational institutes named after Indira Gandhi Ji, Indira Gandhi National Tribal University (Amarkantak), Indira Gandhi Technical University for Women, Indira Gandhi Institute of Technology, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), Indira Gandhi Institute of Dental Science.

Not only this but many roads and squares in many cities of the country are also named after Indira Gandhi.

Apart from this, the International Airport of Delhi, the capital of the country, is also named Indira Gandhi International Airport and Pamban Bridge, the main sea bridge of the country is also named Indira Gandhi Road Bridge.

The first woman Prime Minister of the country, Indira Gandhiji, was awarded the Bharat Ratna, the highest honour in the country, in the year 1971.

In 1972, he was awarded the Mexican Award for liberating Bangladesh.

In 1976, he was awarded the Sahitya Vachaspati Award in Hindi by the Nagari Pracharini Sabha.

In addition, he was also awarded the Mother’s Award and Holland Memorial Prize.

In 1981, a Sikh terrorist group entered the famous Golden Temple and Hariminder Sahib complex in Amritsar demanding a “Khalistan”.

Despite thousands of people on the temple premises, Indira Gandhi allowed army personnel to conduct Operation Blue Star, the main religious site of Sikhs, to deal with these terrorists.

At the same time, thousands of innocent innocent people lost their lives during Operation Blue Star and the religious faith of the Sikh community was greatly hurt.

After this operation, the spirit of rebellion against Indira Gandhi erupted and a situation of communal tension was created in the country, not only that many people of the Sikh community resigned from government posts and protested by returning government awards and titles.

On this site once again, Indira Gandhi’s political image deteriorated and they had to pay the price for their lives.

In fact, Indira Gandhi was shot and killed on 31 October 1984 by Satwant Singh and Bit Singh, two Sikh bodyguards of Indira Gandhi, to avenge the horrific massacre at the Golden Temple.

Conclusion

The journey of Indira Gandhi, the first woman Prime Minister of the country, to become Prime Minister is quite inspiring. Along with this, the way she faced many challenges and made herself recognized as the strongest and strongest woman in the world is commendable.

Not only this, while holding the post of Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi did development work in many areas including economic, industrial, science and agriculture of the country and helped India to emerge as a strong nation.

Indira Gandhi’s contribution to the country can never be forgotten.

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