Gandhi, Indira

Gandhi, Indira (b. 19 Nov. 1917, d. 31 Oct. 1984). Prime Minister of India 1966–77, 1980–4 The only child of Jawaharlal Nehru, she was educated in India and in non-British schools in Europe. In 1939 she joined the Indian National Congress. In 1942, she married a member of the Congress Party, Feroze Gandhi (no relation to Mohandas Gandhi), which many objected to on the grounds that it was an intercommunal marriage. She was imprisoned shortly afterwards for her wartime activities, but was released within a year. She became her father's principal aide, serving as president of Congress 1959–60, and was devastated when he died in 1964 (her husband had died in 1960). She became Minister for Broadcasting and Information in 1964 in Shastri's Cabinet. Although conciliatory at first, she became involved in a major confrontation with the rest of the party establishment after the bad performance of Congress in the 1967 elections. This led to the 1969 split of the party, in which her followers took on the name of New Congress, or Congress (I) for Congress Indira.

She rapidly gained popularity through her nationalism, which led to the third Indo-Pakistan War in 1970, and her populism, which led her to promise the scientific eradication of poverty in India. Re-elected in 1971 with an overwhelming majority, her programme was badly shaken by the 1973 oil-price shock. Under mounting criticism, she became increasingly authoritarian, and in 1975 was convicted of electoral fraud. In response, she gaoled many of her opponents under the Emergency provisions of the constitution. Her controversial and unorthodox policies at this time included a forced sterilization campaign to reduce the country's birth-rate. Despite the continuation of the Emergency until 1977, the opposition parties of the Janata Alliance gained enough strength to win the 1977 elections.

She was re-elected in 1980, when she was faced with yet another international economic crisis. Devastated by the death of her son and designated successor, Sanjay (b. 1946, d. 1980), she prepared her only other son, Rajiv Gandhi, for her succession. Her good relations with Moscow cooled markedly during this period, owing to the Soviet Union's invasion of neighbouring Afghanistan. The main problem of her second term in office, however, was widespread separatist violence in the seven tribal states (e.g. Assam). It was her order to storm the Golden Temple against Sikh extremists in Amritsar that provoked her assassination by Sikh terrorists.