| Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi was born in Allahabad (U.P.) on
19th November, 1917 in a prosperous family. She was the only child of Jawaharlal
Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India. Indira Gandhi was educated at
different places-Pune, Shantiniketan, Switzerland, and England. When she
was just 13 years old, Indira organized a ‘Monkey Army’ (Vanar
Sena) comprising of yong teenagers which proved her intention to fight for
the independence of her country. In 1942, she got married to Feroze Gandhi.
Two sons were born to her --- Rajiv Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi. Sanjay Gandhi
died in plane crash in 1980. Rajiv, who became Prime Minister of India after
the tragic death of his election tour in 1991 by the Ltte. After thedeath
of Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gndhi became the third Prime Minister of
India on January 24, 1996 and remained in this post up to 1977. In 1975,
her election to Parliament was declared invalid and she promulgated internal
emergency, which led to her defeat in 1977 elections Indira Gandhi again
returned to power in 1980 with an overwhelming majority. The Prime Ministership
of Indira is credited with great achievements and most noteworthy of these
are nationalization of banks liberation of Bangaladesh, 20 Point Programme
for the upliftment of the poor. |
