Death Anniversary of the Iron Lady of India

Death Anniversary of the Iron Lady of India

Indira Gandhi was known to be the fiercest leader in Indian political history. She was also the longest-serving PM of India from 1966 to 1977 and then from 1980 to 1984 until she was assassinated. She was not only the first female PM of India but she is the only female PM of India till now.

There have been many historic incidents under the leadership of Indira Gandhi which most of us don't know, so here are some major events happen in the life of Indira Gandhi which should be known to all.

Life before Becoming Prime Minister

There was a big question that who will be the leader of India after Nehru? Moraji Desai was the one who should be the next prime minister of India but he was not liked by Nehru and nor by Syndicate (a powerful group of the then congress).

So, after Nehru, they decided that Shastri will be the next PM of India. Lal Bahadur Shastri was the one who introduced Indira Gandhi to the Union Cabinet.

As time went by, Shastri was getting uncomfortable with Indira Gandhi as she was doing things without his approval.

Before going to Tashkent, he was clear to drop Indira from the cabinet as she was considered as a puny leader with a huge legacy behind her. She was once booed in the Parliament when she was the minister.

Indira Gandhi the First Female PM

In 1966 due to her early political career, Indira was frustrated and decided to move London for a couple of years but then came the news of sudden death of Lal Bahadur Shastri. This changed her plans and she made her move to be on the good side of Syndicate.

There were again two options for Syndicate in the form of Moraji Desai and Indira Gandhi.

There was a buzz that Desai could be the next PM but the group decided to make Indira Gandhi the PM of India as she was considered as weak and submissive so she could be easily controllable.

Syndicate supported Indira Gandhi in the 1966 elections and she beat Desai by 355-169 votes to be the first-ever and till date the only female PM of India.

Indira Got Better of Syndicate 

In her early days as a PM, she was a little nervous and scared as she was not able to present the Union budget properly and even fumbled in her speeches. She was given a nick-name of "Goongi Gudiya (Dumb Doll)" by Ram Manohar Lohia.

Being fed up of taunting oppositions and dominating Syndicate group, she decided to test her leadership by interacting directly with the public. She travelled the country and gave her famous slogan of "Garibi Hatao (Remove Poverty)".

In 1969, she started a campaigned against Privy Purse and also nationalised 14 huge banks which was opposed by both Desai and Syndicate.

Rise of the Iron Lady of India

After taking the above-mentioned steps she was dismissed by the party and in response to this, she created her own Congress. Indira Gandhi was a changed leader now and after the war between India- Pakistan in 1971 she became the biggest political leader in India. With this, the group of Syndicate was destroyed.

Her quick decision-making and involvement in the clever planning of 1971 war forced Pakistan to get on their knees and begged for their land. This was a complete win as Pakistan never tried to get involved in a full-fledged was with India until the Kargil war in 1999.

This was a massive success for her as the PM of India and was referred to as the Iron Lady of India by western media

Operation Blue Star

This was a codename for the action taken by the Indian military to remove militant religious leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his followers from Golden Temple on 1st to 8th June in 1984.

Due to this decision PM, Indira Gandhi was assassinated on 31st October 1984 by her bodyguards Beant Singh and Satwant Singh. This marks the end of a regal leader of India.