Indira Gandhi: "First Woman Prime Minister of India"

"My father was a statesman, I'm a political woman," Indira Gandhi once said.

Born in November 19, 1917, in Allahabad, India, the only child of India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, Gandhi's upbringing was privileged. She spoke fluent French, was educated in England and saw Catholic martyr Joan of Arc as a role model.
After studying at Vishva-Bharati University (Bengal) and Oxford University, she joined the National Congress Party in its struggle for independence for India. She married Feroze Gandhi, a fellow member of the party, in 1942. Five years later, Nehru took office as prime minister.
Indira Gandhi joined the executive committee of the Congress Party in 1955, and was elected president of the party in 1959. Lal Bahadur Shastri, who succeeded Nehru as prime minister after the latter’s death in 1964, named her minister of information. When Shastri died unexpectedly less than two years later. Gandhi became the first woman to lead her country. She survived a party split to bring her ruling Congress Party to a landslide victory in 1971.
In late 1971, Gandhi lent India’s full military weight to East Bengal in its successful attempt to secede from Pakistan, leading to the creation of the autonomous nation of Bangladesh.
Her political career was plunged into controversy when, in 1975 at the helm of an increasingly authoritarian administration, Gandhi declared a state of emergency in a bid to stem criticism of her government, suspending civil liberties, jailing thousands of opponents and imposing press censorship.
Gandhi was forced from office in 1977 but made a triumphant political return in 1980, carried by her promises of agricultural development and stronger international relations. A bid to suppress a Sikh insurgency, however, proved fatal. Gandhi ordered government troops to raid the Golden Temple, the Sikhs' holiest shrine, sparking a bloody battle in which some 600 people were killed.
She regained her seat in Parliament in late 1978. After the dissolution of the ruling Janata Party, Gandhi and the Congress (I) Party won the 1980 elections for the Lok Sabha (or lower house of parliament) by a large margin. Gandhi became prime minister again, and her younger son Sanjay (whom she was looking to as her successor) won a seat in the Lok Sabha. Later that year, Sanjay Gandhi died in an airplane crash. After his death, Gandhi began preparing her elder son, Rajiv, for eventual leadership of her party.
In the early 1980s, trouble began brewing within India, as several states began to call for independence from the country’s central government. In June 1984, in response to violence on the part of Sikh extremists in the Punjab, Gandhi ordered the army to attack the Golden Temple of Amritsar, the Sikhs’ holy shrine. More than 450 Sikhs were killed in the attack.
On October 31, 1984, when Indira Gandhi was proceeding to her office, she was gunned down by her own bodyguards. This day has gone down in History as national Unity Day, as a tribute to the memory of a Great lady, leader and statesperson. Her eldest son, Rajiv, succeeded her as prime minister.

Indira will be remembered for her commendable efforts in the development and progress of science, space exploration, irrigation, as well as policies like the nationalisation of banks and the 20-point programme.