Indira Gandhi: Biography Of This Historic Indian Politician
The surname Gandhi is instinctively associated with India, but not only because of Mahatma, but also because of the politician Indira Gandhi.
We will dedicate these lines to better understand the life of this important personality through a biography of Indira Gandhi We will learn what his most important achievements were and the contributions that were made during his mandate in the country where he governed for more than a decade, in addition to holding other positions.
Indira Gandhi was born in Allahabad, in 1917, with the name Indira Priyadarshini Nehru He came from a family of Kashmiri Pandit tradition. His father, Jawaharlal Nehru, was an activist in circles that promoted the independence of India from the British crown and thanks to this work he reached the front line of politics, becoming the country’s Prime Minister.
In fact, even today, He holds the record of the longest serving Prime Minister in India, having served almost 17 years, first while the country was under British rule and later when it was established as an independent republic. All this activity caused Indira Gandhi to spend little time with her father, so she lived almost all of her childhood only in the company of her mother, Kamala Nehru.
But the mother’s situation was not easy at all, since she suffered from very delicate health and in fact would die from tuberculosis, while Indira Gandhi was still very young, in 1936. Contact with her father was practically nil, and with his mother practically bedridden due to the conditions she suffered, his education was carried out through tutors He attended different institutions until completing primary and secondary education.
He then enrolled at the Santiniketan institution, which later gave rise to the Visva-Bharati University. But his mother’s constant illnesses made him abandon his studies shortly after. After the death of his mother, he resumed his training, this time at the University of Oxford, in the discipline of history. This period in Europe was marked by health problems. He frequently traveled to Switzerland for treatments.
In 1941, during the Second World War, Indira Gandhi was forced to return to India, even without having been able to complete his degree. Although it is true that Oxford awarded him an honorary degree some time later. Her years in England, in addition to her own training, allowed her to meet Feroze Gandhi, who would become her husband. Despite her notable surname, she was not related to the Mahatma. Two children, Rajiv and Sanjay, would be born from this marriage in the coming years.
Once in India, Indira Gandhi regained contact with her father, who at that time already held the position of Prime Minister, and began working as a collaborator in his cabinet. This allowed her to fully approach the world of top-level politics, which would be the field in which she would develop her professional activity ever since. A few years later, she reached the position of president of Congress.
Indira’s father died in 1964, and by then, she was elected to the Council of States, the Rajya Sabha, under Lal Bahadur, Shastri, the Prime Minister. Under that government, she also held the position of Minister of Information and Broadcasting. Upon the death of the party leader, Indira Gandhi was the successor to lead the party.
Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister
It was in 1966 when Indira Gandhi reached the highest level of power in India, as Prime Minister Although some party leaders expected her to behave as a weak figure due to the prejudices that existed at the time due to the fact that she was a woman, Indira soon demonstrated that she had the necessary skills to carry out her position without being carried away by those who wanted her. exert influence on it.
Throughout this first term he had to make really tough decisions. Some involved the fragmentation of his own party, but others went far beyond him, as he had to lead the liberation of Bangladesh, which meant starting an armed conflict with Pakistan. These events changed any previous opinion that might have been had about her, and she was now considered an absolutely established leader.
For the next term, in 1971, Indira Gandhi the elimination of poverty in India was proposed, a problem that plagued the nation. This policy gained the support of large groups of the population who lived in disadvantaged situations. During this term the war against Pakistan mentioned above also took place. The victory over it gave him great popularity.
But it was a difficult economic time for India. Inflation increased more and more and in 1973 the oil crisis arrived, which aggravated the situation even more. This gave wings to the opposition, which was becoming stronger.
Scandal and state of emergency
In 1975, a ruling concluded that Indira Gandhi had committed malpractice in some actions during her government to benefit in electoral campaigns. This led to her dismissal from the seat that she held, but she did not abandon the position of Prime Minister, since being part of the Rajya Sabha, she could continue holding said position, according to the Constitution of India.
This decision was controversial and protests were generated in the street where many citizens expressed their discomfort about it, generating a wave of riots. Indira Gandhi’s decision to face the situation was to declare a state of emergency. A campaign of mass arrests began on violent protesters
The situation worsened and curfews began, restrictions on freedoms and even a censorship procedure on certain publications that did not correspond to the interests of the government. At the same time, Indira Gandhi reshuffled her government to ensure that her cabinet was made up only of people loyal to her. The law was also modified so as not to need Parliament to legislate.
Added to this accumulation of powers was the presence of his son, Sanjay Ghandi, as a prominent figure in the government, without having a specific position within it. The fact that her own son, without an elected position, held so much power was another reason that aggravated Indira Gandhi’s growing unpopularity.
Elections and exit from the government
In 1977, Indira Gandhi decided to call elections. The scandal in which she had been involved, added to the declaration of the state of emergency, extended for almost two years, had left her image very weakened. However, she considered that she still had enough support to revalidate her position.
In his own party there were divisions over the drift that was taking power in India due to Indira Gandhi’s way of governing. When the elections came, her party suffered a resounding defeat, causing even Indira herself to lose her seat. She had to be through another constituency, and in 1978, when she returned to the chamber.
She was embroiled in a new scandal in which she was accused of having conspired to assassinate opposition leaders while the state of emergency lasted. She was expelled from Congress. But the ruling party, the Janata Union, began to crack over a series of internal disputes between coalition members. A new government was formed thanks to Gandhi’s support, in exchange for the dropping of charges against her and her son
Return to power and assassination
In the 1980 elections, Indira Gandhi managed to return to power, once again becoming Prime Minister of India. Her son Sanjay died shortly after during a plane crash. This fact caused Indira to convince her other son, Rajiv, to enter her cabinet, since she only wanted people of her most absolute confidence, and no one better than her own children.
During this legislature, Indira Gandhi’s politics were marked by the problems arising from the demands of the Sikh people, which sought the independence of the Punjab region to achieve a confessional State. Indira’s response was one of repression, culminating in the so-called Operation Blue Star, which was a military raid on a Sikh temple.
All resistance was ruthlessly crushed, killing many civilians in the process. The operation was very controversial, and many accused Indira Gandhi of using it in order to promote herself politically for the next term.
On October 30, 1984, Gandhi gave a speech in which she literally said that she would be proud to die serving her country. Just one day later, two of her bodyguards, of Sikh confession, assassinated Indira Gandhi, in retaliation for Operation Blue Star He was shot 31 times.
