FRIENDS TODAY [OCT 31 2014], IS INDIRA PRIYADARSHINI GANDHI (19 NOVEMBER 1917 – 31 OCTOBER 1984) MARTYRS DAY, AS SHE WAS ASSASSINATED ON THIS DAY IN 1984 BY HER OWN BODYGUARDS. ME ALONG WITH MY PARTY=AAP, AK1857, & THE WHOLE NATION PAY OUR TRIBUTES TO THE MOST DYNAMIC LADY & PM OF INDIA FROM 1966-1984. INDIRA WAS THE 5TH [2ND GL NANDA AS ACTING PM, 3RD LB SHASTRI, 4TH AGAIN GL NANDA AS ACTING PM] &THE MOST DYNAMIC PRIME MINISTER OF INDIA AND A CENTRAL FIGURE OF THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS PARTY. INDIRA, WHO SERVED FROM 1966 TO 1977 AND THEN AGAIN FROM 1980 UNTIL HER ASSASSINATION IN 1984, IS THE SECOND-LONGEST-SERVING PRIME MINISTER OF INDIA AND THE ONLY WOMAN TO HOLD THE OFFICE. INDIRA GANDHI WAS THE ONLY CHILD OF INDIAN PRIME MINISTER JAWAHARLAL NEHRU. SHE SERVED AS THE CHIEF OF STAFF OF HER FATHERS HIGHLY CENTRALISED ADMINISTRATION BETWEEN 1947 AND 1964 AND CAME TO WIELD CONSIDERABLE UNOFFICIAL INFLUENCE IN GOVERNMENT. ELECTED CONGRESS PRESIDENT IN 1959, SHE WAS OFFERED THE PREMIERSHIP IN SUCCESSION TO HER FATHER. INDIRA REFUSED AND INSTEAD CHOSE TO BECOME A CABINET MINISTER IN THE GOVERNMENT. SHE FINALLY CONSENTED TO BECOME PRIME MINISTER IN SUCCESSION TO LAL BAHADUR SHASTRI IN 1966. AS PRIME MINISTER, GANDHI BECAME KNOWN FOR HER POLITICAL RUTHLESSNESS AND UNPRECEDENTED CENTRALISATION OF POWER. SHE WENT TO WAR WITH PAKISTAN IN SUPPORT OF THE INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT AND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE IN EAST PAKISTAN, WHICH RESULTED IN AN INDIAN VICTORY AND THE CREATION OF BANGLADESH AND AS WELL INCREASING INDIAs INFLUENCE TO THE POINT WHERE IT BECAME THE REGIONAL HEGEMON OF SOUTH ASIA. INDIRA ALSO PRESIDED OVER A STATE OF EMERGENCY FROM 1975 TO 1977 DURING WHICH SHE RULED BY DECREE AND MADE LASTING CHANGES TO THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA. SHE WAS ASSASSINATED IN THE AFTERMATH OF OPERATION BLUE STAR. IN 2001, INDIRA WAS VOTED THE GREATEST INDIAN PRIME MINISTER IN A POLL ORGANIZED BY INDIA TODAY. SHE WAS ALSO NAMED WOMAN OF THE MILLENNIUM IN A POLL ORGANIZED BY THE BBC IN 1999. INDIRA GANDHI: FORMER PRIME MINISTER OF INDIA: 1966-1984 OCT 31: INDIRA PRIYADARSHINI GANDHI WAS THE THIRD PRIME MINISTER OF INDIA AND THE ONLY CENTRAL FIGURE OF THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS PARTY HENCEFORTH. BORN: NOVEMBER 19, 1917, ALLAHABAD. SPOUSE: FEROZE GANDHI (M. 1942–1960) ASSASSINATED: OCTOBER 31, 1984, NEW DELHI PARENTS: JAWAHARLAL NEHRU, KAMALA NEHRU CHILDREN: RAJIV GANDHI, SANJAY GANDHI AWARDS: BHARAT RATNA, JAWAHARLAL NEHRU AWARD FOR INTERNATIONAL UNDERSTANDING LENIN PEACE PRIZE. EARLY LIFE AND CAREER: INDIRA GANDHI WAS BORN INDIRA NEHRU IN A KASHMIRI PANDIT FAMILY ON 19 NOVEMBER 1917 IN ALLAHABAD. HER FATHER, JAWAHARLAL NEHRU, LED INDIAS POLITICAL STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE FROM BRITISH RULE, AND BECAME THE FIRST PRIME MINISTER OF THE UNION (AND LATER REPUBLIC) OF INDIA. SHE WAS AN ONLY CHILD (A YOUNGER BROTHER WAS BORN, BUT DIED YOUNG), AND GREW UP WITH HER MOTHER, KAMALA NEHRU, AT THE ANAND BHAVAN, A LARGE FAMILY ESTATE IN ALLAHABAD. INDIRA HAD A LONELY AND UNHAPPY CHILDHOOD. HER FATHER WAS OFTEN AWAY, DIRECTING POLITICAL ACTIVITIES OR BEING INCARCERATED IN PRISON, WHILE HER MOTHER WAS FREQUENTLY BED-RIDDEN WITH ILLNESS, AND LATER SUFFERED AN EARLY DEATH FROM TUBERCULOSIS. SHE HAD LIMITED CONTACT WITH HER FATHER, MOSTLY THROUGH LETTERS. INDIRA WAS MOSTLY TAUGHT AT HOME BY TUTORS, AND INTERMITTENTLY ATTENDED SCHOOL UNTIL MATRICULATION IN 1934. SHE WENT ON TO STUDY AT THE VISWA BHARATI UNIVERSITY IN SHANTINIKETAN. IT WAS DURING HER INTERVIEW THAT RABINDRANATH TAGORE NAMED HER PRIYADARSHINI, AND SHE CAME TO BE KNOWN AS INDIRA PRIYADARSHINI NEHRU. A YEAR LATER, HOWEVER, SHE HAD TO LEAVE UNIVERSITY TO ATTEND TO HER AILING MOTHER IN EUROPE. WHILE THERE, IT WAS DECIDED THAT INDIRA WOULD CONTINUE HER EDUCATION AT THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD. AFTER HER MOTHER DIED, SHE BRIEFLY ATTENDED THE BADMINTON SCHOOL BEFORE ENROLLING AT SOMERVILLE COLLEGE IN 1937 TO STUDY HISTORY. INDIRA HAD TO TAKE THE ENTRANCE EXAMINATION TWICE, HAVING FAILED AT HER FIRST ATTEMPT, WITH A POOR PERFORMANCE IN LATIN. AT OXFORD, SHE DID WELL IN HISTORY, POLITICAL SCIENCE AND ECONOMICS, BUT HER GRADES IN LATIN, A COMPULSORY SUBJECT REMAINED POOR. YOUNG INDIRA WITH HER FATHERs MENTOR MAHATMA GANDHI DURING HIS FAST IN 1924. INDIRA, WHO NOW DRESSED IN KHADI GARMENT FOLLOWED GANDHIs ADVOCACY THAT KHADI BE WORN BY ALL INDIANS INSTEAD OF BRITISH-MADE TEXTILES. INDIRA NEHRU EARLY 1930’S: DURING HER TIME IN EUROPE, INDIRA WAS PLAGUED WITH ILL-HEALTH AND WAS CONSTANTLY ATTENDED BY DOCTORS. SHE HAD TO MAKE REPEATED TRIPS TO SWITZERLAND TO RECOVER, DISRUPTING HER STUDIES. SHE WAS BEING TREATED BY THE FAMED SWISS DOCTOR AUGUSTE ROLLIER IN 1940, WHEN THE NAZI ARMIES CONQUERED EUROPE. INDIRA TRIED TO RETURN TO ENGLAND THROUGH PORTUGAL BUT WAS LEFT STRANDED FOR NEARLY TWO MONTHS. SHE MANAGED TO ENTER ENGLAND IN EARLY 1941. FROM THERE INDIRA RETURNED TO INDIA WITHOUT COMPLETING HER STUDIES AT OXFORD. THE UNIVERSITY LATER CONFERRED ON HER AN HONORARY DEGREE IN 2010. OXFORD FURTHER HONOURED HER BY SELECTING HER AS ONE OF THE TEN OXASIANS, ILLUSTRIOUS ASIAN GRADUATES FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD. DURING HER STAY IN THE UK, YOUNG INDIRA FREQUENTLY MET HER FUTURE HUSBAND FEROZ GANDHI, WHOM SHE KNEW FROM ALLAHABAD, AND WHO WAS STUDYING AT THE LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS. THE MARRIAGE IN 1950 TOOK PLACE IN ALLAHABAD ACCORDING TO ADI DHARM RITUALS THOUGH FEROZ BELONGED TO A PARSI FAMILY OF GUJARAT. IN 1950, INDIRA, NOW MRS. INDIRA GANDHI AFTER HER MARRIAGE, SERVED HER FATHER UNOFFICIALLY AS A PERSONAL ASSISTANT DURING HIS TENURE AS THE FIRST PRIME MINISTER OF INDIA. AFTER HER FATHERS DEATH IN 1964 SHE WAS APPOINTED AS A MEMBER OF THE RAJYA SABHA (UPPER HOUSE) AND BECAME A MEMBER OF LAL BAHADUR SHASTRIs CABINET AS MINISTER OF INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING. PRIME MINISTER: WHEN INDIRA BECAME PRIME MINISTER IN 1966 THE CONGRESS WAS SPLIT IN TWO FACTIONS: THE SOCIALISTS LED BY GANDHI AS INDIRA CONGRESS. THE CONSERVATIVES LED BY MORARJI DESAI. RAM MANOHAR LOHIA CALLED HER GUNGI-GUDIYA WHICH MEANS A MUTE DOLL. THE INTERNAL PROBLEMS SHOWED IN THE 1967 ELECTION WHERE THE CONGRESS LOST NEARLY 60 SEATS WINNING 297 SEATS IN THE 545-SEAT LOK SABHA. SHE ACCOMMODATED MORARJI DESAI AS DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER OF INDIA AND MINISTER OF FINANCE. IN 1969, AFTER MANY DISAGREEMENTS WITH DESAI, THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS SPLIT. SHE RULED WITH SUPPORT FROM SOCIALIST AND COMMUNIST PARTIES FOR THE NEXT TWO YEARS. IN THE SAME YEAR, IN JULY 1969 SHE NATIONALISED BANKS. INDIRA AS 6th PM OF INDIA WAS IN OFFICE: 14 JANUARY 1980 – 31 OCTOBER 1984. PRESIDENT: NEELAM SANJIVA REDDY & ZAIL SINGH. PRECEDED BY CHARAN SINGH. SUCCEEDED BY RAJIV GANDHI. AS 3RD PM OF INDIA IN OFFICE from 24 JANUARY 1966 – 24 MARCH 1977. PRESIDENT: S. RADHAKRISHNAN, ZAKIR HUSSAIN, VV. GIRI & FAKHRUDDIN ALI AHMED. DEPUTY PM MORARJI DESAI. PRECEDED BY GULZARILAL NANDA (ACTING 2ND TIME). SUCCEEDED BY: MORARJI DESAI. MINISTER OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS IN OFFICE: 9 MARCH 1984 – 31 OCTOBER 1984. PRECEEDED BY PV. NARASIMHA RAO. SUCCEEDED BY RAJIV GANDHI. IN OFFICE 22 AUGUST 1967-14 MARCH 1969. PRECEEDED BY M. C. CHAGLA. SUCCEEDED BY DINESH SINGH. MINISTER OF DEFENCE IN OFFICE: 14 JANUARY 1980-15 JANUARY 1982. PRECEEDED BY CHIDAMBARAM SUBRAMANIAM. SUCCEEDED BY R. VENKATARAMAN. IN OFFICE 30 NOVEMBER 1975-20 DECEMBER 1975. PRECEEDED BY SARDAR SWARAN SINGH. SUCCEEDED BY BANSI LAL. MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS: IN OFFICE FROM 27 JUNE 1970-4 FEBRUARY 1973. PRECEEDED BY YASHWANTRAO CHAVAN. SUCCEEDED BY UMA SHANKAR DIKSHIT. MINISTER OF FINANCE: IN OFFICE FROM 16 JULY 1969-27 JUNE 1970 PRECEEDED BY MORARJI DESAI. SUCCEEDED BY YASHWANTRAO CHAVAN. PERSONAL DETAILS: BORN INDIRA PRIYADARSHINI NEHRU ON 19 NOVEMBER 1917 ALLAHABAD. DIED=ASSASSINATED: 31 OCTOBER 1984 (AGED 66), NEW DELHI, DELHI, INDIA BY HER OWN BODY GUARDS. POLITICAL PARTY INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS [INDIRA]. SPOUSE: FEROZE GANDHI. RELATIONS NEHRU–GANDHI FAMILY. CHILDREN: RAJIV. SANJAY. PARENTS: JAWAHARLAL AND KAMALA NEHRU. RELIGION: HINDUISM.
Posted on: Fri, 31 Oct 2014 04:39:07 +0000
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