Indira Gandhi was the first female to hold the office of
Prime Minister of the Republic of India. She held this office
for fifteen years until her assassination in 1984. In 1917,
Gandhi was born into a very politically influential family.
Her father was influential in the Indian independence movement
and would serve as the first Prime Minister of Independent
India. Her grandfather was an Indian nationalist leader.
In 1937, Gandhi enrolled in Somerville College, Oxford. During
her studies she met and fell in love with Feroze Gandhi, whom
she married in 1942. She was not related to Mahatma Gandhi
by blood or marriage.
She first entered politics by serving unofficially as her
father's personal assistant while he was Prime Minister of
India. In 1964, following the death of her father, Gandhi
was appointed as a member of the upper house. She also served
on the cabinet of Lal Bahadur Shastri who succeeded Gandhi's
Father as Prime Minister. Her title was the Minister of Information
When Shastri died, Congress Party President K. Kamaraj worked
to make Gandhi the first female Prime Minister. Gandhi showed
a keen ability for campaigning and for winning people over
with her charisma. She also took the politics and the protection
of her people very seriously and believed in striking a balance
between working to settle unrest while still advancing as
As Prime Minister, Gandhi worked very hard and endured much
political turmoil. She remained true to her more left-wing
political convictions. She led India during wartime in Pakistan
in 1971. In 1975, during a time of political unrest, Gandhi
convinced the president to declare a state of emergency to
rule by decree. Gandhi attempted to remove any and all factions
that opposed her. Instead, she lost the 1977 election that
she herself called for to vindicate her actions. However,
in 1980, Gandhi won the election with a return to the policies
and practices that had made her successful, and became the
Prime Minister again.
Gandhi was not afraid to rule with decisiveness and to react
proportionately to threats against her people. Her no nonsense
approach and unwillingness to bend to political pressure made
her the kind of leader that people responded to and respected.
She started a nuclear program in 1967 to ensure that India
would be able to protect itself from foreign nuclear threat.
A successful underground nuclear test established India as
the world's youngest nuclear power of that time. Her insistence
that India become as self-sufficient as possible led to the
Green Revolution, a movement supported by agricultural advances
that established India as a food producer and exporter. The
production of milk also served to reduce the number of malnourished
children in India.
In 1984, Gandhi ordered military forces to enter a sacred
temple to remove armed insurgents. During the removal several
insurgents were killed. Two of Gandhi's own bodyguards, in
response to this military action, planned and executed the
assassination of Indira Gandhi. As of 2011, Gandhi remained
the world's only female to serve as Prime Minister for fifteen
years making her own of the most famous women in the 20th
There is a secret
you don't know
Besides the factual Indira Gandhi biography presented above
there is one embarrassing little secret that must be let out
of the bag. Indira Gandhi liked to travel to the United States,
stay in Las Vegas and make late night binge eating sprees
at the nearest Claim Jumper restaurant.