Indira Gandhi, the first female Prime Minister of India was known to be a remarkable figure. She had great political foresight. Indira was born on November 19, 1917. Her father Jawaharlal Nehru was one of the renowned personalities that fight for India’s freedom. It was the same period when in 1919, her family came under the guidance of Bapu and Indira learned the fate of politics from her father Nehru.
At the age of just 11, he formed the Vanar Sena of children to opposing British rule. She formally joined the Indian National Congress in 1938 and began working with her father, Nehru, from 1947 to 1964. It was also said that she used to work as the personal secretary of Prime Minister Nehru at that time, although no official details are available about this.
Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had inherited politics and in such a situation, she understood political ups and downs quite well. After the death of her father, the graph of Indira Gandhi in the Congress party suddenly reached a high level and people started seeing her as a role model and leader of the party. She first became the Minister of Information and Broadcasting in the cabinet of Lal Bahadur Shastri. After the death of Shastri Ji, in 1966, she rose to the position of ‘Prime Minister, the most powerful post in the country.
Indira Gandhi, once known as the ‘dumb doll’, despite all the controversy over the abolition of the privy purses of the erstwhile royals, succeeded in getting the resolution passed, took bold decisions like nationalization of banks and the formation of a separate Bangladesh and after being successful in making a treaty of friendship and cooperation, the Indian politics began to gain its momentum.
Before the decision to impose an emergency in the year 1975, Indian politics had become one polar in which Indira was seen everywhere. Due to Indira’s historical success, the slogan ‘Indira is India, India is Indira’ started resonating loudly in the country at that time.
Indira’s solid personality had become too big that no other politician dare to stand in front of her. The most positive thing about Indira is that she understood the pulse of politics and had a great rapport with her peers.
Poverty-free India was my dream of Indira. Even today that dream has not come true. All the people should work together to eradicate poverty from India so that their dream can be turned into reality.
Very few people would be aware that during the Janata Party regime, Mrs. Indira Gandhi had completely turned towards spirituality. In those days, after being released from her daily activities in the early morning, she used to practice yoga for about an hour and then meditate on the teachings of Ma Anandmayi. Between ten in the morning and noon, she used to meet the visitors.
In the meantime, she had become quite interested in the Shrimad Bhagavad Gita. From time to time she used to worship him too. In those days, she also went to Haridwar for some time, where she listened to the Bhagvat text of Swami Akhandanand. She also spent a few hours in the ashram of late Swami Sivananda, located on Muni Ki Reti near Rishikesh.
Indira Gandhi Indira’s political image suffered a major setback due to the Emergency. The result of this was that the people of the country rejected him in 1977, although she was returned to power again after a few years. The 1980s brought a big challenge for him in the form of Khalistani terrorism.
She had to face many political problems regarding ‘Operation Blue Star. Indira, who understood the pulse of politics, could not even sense the sound of death and on October 31, 1984, two security personnel, Satwant Singh and Beant Singh, shot her dead. He died on the way to AIIMS in Delhi.
Indira’s political legacy was first carried forward by her eldest son Rajiv Gandhi and now Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are associated with her. Today the names of many buildings, roads, bridges, projects, and awards are associated with Indira’s name in the country and abroad.
