Short biography of Smt Indira Gandhi

Indira Gandhi was born on November 19, 1917, in Allahabad, India , she grew up in an intensely political atmosphere. Despite the same last name, she was of no relation to the statesman Mohandas Gandhi. Her grandfather, Motilal Nehru, was a prominent Indian nationalist leader. Her father, Jawaharlal Nehru, was a pivotal figure in the Indian independence movement and the first Prime Minister of Independent India. She was brought up in an environment with great exposure to the political figures of the day, and was particularly influenced by her father.  Gandhi served three consecutive terms as prime minister, between 1966 and 1977, and another term beginning in 1980. In 1984, Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards.

In 1937, she passed the Oxford entrance exam and studied at Somerville College, Oxford. At university she was often subject to ill health, and returned to India without completing her degree – though later she was conferred an honorary degree by Oxford.

Smt. Indira Gandhi was the first lady Prime Minister of our country. She became Prime Minister after the death of Sri Lai Bahadur Shastri and she took active part in the freedom struggle. She was President of the Congress party. She was married to Sri Feroz Gandhi and had two sons- Rajiv and Sanjay. Sri Firoz Gandhi died in 1960. Sanjay Gandhi used to help her in her work but he died in a plane crash in 1980. Then Rajiv Gandhi started helping her and after her death on 31st October, 1984 he became the Prime Minister of India.

During her Prime Minister ship, India won the Bangladesh war in 1971. She was a great social worker and had introduced several schemes for the country. She was a great patriot. We are proud of her.

In 1999, she was voted the greatest woman of the past thousand years in a poll carried by BBC news, ahead of other notable women such as Queen Elizabeth I of England, Marie Curie andMother Teresa.

However, she was returned to office in 1980. But, in this period, she became increasingly involved in an escalating conflict with Sikh separatists in Punjab.

On October 31, 1984, a trusted bodyguard, who was a Sikh, pulled out a .38 revolver and shot her point-blank. Another bodyguard, also a Sikh, then took out an automatic weapon and shot 30 rounds into her body. Gandhi died on the way to the hospital.