Indira Gandhi ( India's first women prime minister ) | Early life and career.

Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) served as the Prime Minister of India for three consecutive terms from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 until her assassination in 1984. She was India's first female Prime Minister.

Early Life and Career

Indira was born on 19 November 1917 into the politically influential Nehru family. Her father was Jawaharlal Nehru and her mother was Kamala Nehru. She had no blood or marital relation with Mahatma Gandhi. Her father, Jawaharlal Nehru, was a key figure in the Indian independence movement and became the first Prime Minister of independent India.

After completing her schooling in 1934-35, Indira enrolled at Visva-Bharati University, established by Rabindranath Tagore at Shantiniketan. Rabindranath Tagore himself gave her the name "Priyadarshini". She then went to England and took the entrance examination for Oxford University, but failed. After spending a few months at Badminton School in Bristol, she gained admission to Somerville College, Oxford, after passing the examination in 1937. During this time, she frequently met Feroze Gandhi. They were married on 16 March 1942 in a private Arya Samaj-Vedic ceremony at Anand Bhawan in Allahabad.

After returning to India from Oxford in 1941, she joined the Indian independence movement. In the 1950s, she informally served as her father's personal assistant during his tenure as the first Prime Minister of India. After her father's death in 1964, she was appointed as a member of the Rajya Sabha. Later, she became the Minister of Information and Broadcasting in Lal Bahadur Shastri's cabinet.

After the sudden death of Lal Bahadur Shastri, the then Congress Party president, K. Kamaraj played a crucial role in bringing Indira Gandhi to power as Prime Minister. Gandhi quickly demonstrated that she could win elections and dominate her opponents based on her popularity. She implemented more left-leaning economic policies and promoted agricultural productivity. Following the decisive victory in the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War, during a period of instability, she imposed a state of emergency in 1975.  She and the Congress Party suffered their first electoral defeat in the 1977 general elections. After returning to power in 1980, she faced an escalating conflict with Sikh separatists, primarily in Punjab, which ultimately culminated in her assassination by her own bodyguards in 1984.

Early Life

Indira was born on November 19, 1917, to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and his wife, Kamla Nehru. She was their only child. The Nehru family had roots in Brahmin families of Jammu and Kashmir and Delhi. Her maternal grandfather, Motilal Nehru, was a wealthy barrister from Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh. Jawaharlal Nehru was a prominent member of the Indian National Congress. Her father, Motilal Nehru, was a popular leader of the Indian independence movement. At the time of Indira's birth, Jawaharlal Nehru had joined the independence movement under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi.

Growing up under the care of her mother, who was mostly occupied with household chores due to poor health, Indira developed a sense of security and a somewhat reserved personality. Her grandfather and father's constant involvement in national politics made it difficult for her to socialize with friends. She had disagreements with her aunts (her father's sisters), including Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, which continued into the political arena.

Indira formed an organization for children called the 'Monkey Brigade,' which made a small but significant contribution to the Indian independence movement by helping Congress leaders distribute sensitive publications and prohibited materials, and by participating in protests and flag marches. A frequently told story is that in the early 1930s, she secretly carried a crucial document about a major revolutionary plan from her father's house, which was under police surveillance, in her school bag.

In 1936, her mother, Kamla Nehru, passed away after a long illness with tuberculosis. Indira was 18 at the time, so she never experienced a stable family life during her childhood. She studied at prominent Indian, European, and British schools such as Shantiniketan, Badminton School, and Oxford. In the late 1930s, while studying at Somerville College, Oxford University in England, she became a member of the London-based Indian League, a pro-independence organization. While living in Europe and Britain, she met Parsi Congress activist Feroze Gandhi, and on March 16, 1942, just before the Quit India Movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi and the Congress Party, they married in a private Arya Samaj-Vedic ceremony at Anand Bhawan, Allahabad. In September 1942, the British authorities arrested her and imprisoned her without any charges. After more than 243 days in jail, she was released on May 13, 1943. In 1944, Indira and Feroze Gandhi's first child, Rajiv Gandhi, was born, and two years later, Sanjay Gandhi.

At the time of the Partition of India in 1947, she helped organize refugee camps and provide medical aid to the millions of refugees who had fled from Pakistan. This was her first major step into public service.

The Gandhi family later settled in Allahabad, where Feroze worked for a Congress Party newspaper and an insurance company. Their marriage was initially happy, but later, when Indira moved to New Delhi to live with her father, who was living alone and under great stress at 3 Motilal Nehru Marg (later renamed Teen Murti Marg) as Prime Minister, she became his trusted secretary and nurse. Her sons lived with her, but she eventually separated from Feroze, although they remained legally married.

When India's first general election came in 1951, Indira campaigned for both her father and her husband, who was contesting the Rae Bareli seat. Feroze had not consulted Nehru about contesting the election, and although he won, he decided to live separately in Delhi. Feroze established himself as a leader against political corruption by exposing a major scandal in government insurance companies, forcing Nehru's close associate, the Finance Minister, to resign.

At the height of their marital difficulties, Indira separated from her husband. However, her relationship with Feroze improved after his heart attack in 1958, shortly after a by-election. They grew closer during Feroze's recovery in Kashmir, where Indira cared for him. However, on September 8, 1960, while Indira was on a foreign trip with her father, Feroze passed away.