Indira Gandhi

Prime minister of India (1966-1977, 1980-1984)

• Born: November 19, 1917
• Birthplace: Allahabad, India
• Died: October 31, 1984
• Place of death: New Delhi, India

By serving as prime minister of India for almost two decades, Gandhi carried on a family tradition of political leadership, maintained her country’s nonaligned status, and attempted to enact social reforms to eliminate poverty and hunger in her developing world democracy.

Early Life

Indira Gandhi (ihn-DIHR-ah GAHN-dee) was born to Jawaharlal Nehru and Kamala Nehru in Allahabad, India. As she grew up in her grandfather Nehru’s home, Indira Gandhi enjoyed the privileges of the Brahman class, but the home was periodically invaded by police and her parents and grandparents arrested for their involvement in the Nationalist movement against British colonial power. Such a disruptive childhood probably explains the reserve and aloofness Indira exhibited throughout her life. It certainly explains the sporadic nature of her early education. Indira’s father attempted to supplement that education by writing her letters from prison, later published as Glimpses of World History (1934-1935). Combined with knowledge gleaned from the conversations of relatives and their political friends such as Mahatma Gandhi, these history lessons served as the foundation for Indira’s work.

After the death of her mother, whom she admired greatly, in 1936, Indira continued to study in England for a time. She believed that her father needed her at home, however, since he had been elected president of the Congress Party and was moving rapidly to the forefront of the Indian independence movement alongside Mahatma Gandhi. Indira left Somerville College of Oxford without completing a degree and returned to India in 1941. While she had been away, she had fallen in love with Feroze Gandhi, a young, lower-class Indian Nationalist. At first Nehru objected to the union but eventually accepted it, partially because Mahatma Gandhi, though not related to Feroze, had given the couple his blessing.

Indira Nehru became a Gandhi on March 26, 1942. Before the end of the year, she and her husband were imprisoned for their defiance of British rule. When Indira was released early because of ill health, she returned to her father’s home. Feroze joined her there, and soon their first son, Rajiv, was born. Two years later they had another son, Sanjay.

Like her mother, Indira did not allow her domestic duties to impede her political support for a free India. When Nehru became prime minister, she decided her duty to her country and to her father were one and the same. Since her husband and father seemed incompatible, Indira chose to remain with her father as his hostess, while Feroze left to pursue his own political career. The couple did not divorce and appear to have been reconciled years later.

Life’s Work

From August, 1947, when India gained its independence, to 1964, Gandhi learned from her father how to be a successful politician in a democracy. She traveled abroad with him and met the world’s leaders. As Nehru’s daughter, she commanded respect that, in turn, gave her confidence in her own abilities. She became active in the Congress Party and served as president in 1959-1960.

When Nehru died in 1964, more important to Gandhi than her own tragic loss was the fate of Indian democracy, which seemed threatened by corruption and party dissension. Although Nehru had not intended for his daughter to succeed him, the new prime minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri, recognized her popularity and appointed her to the cabinet as minister of information and broadcasting. When Shastri died suddenly, Gandhi was asked to enter the contest for Congress Party leadership and thus the office of prime minister. Her subsequent election in 1966 portended several things: the continuation of a family tradition of leadership, world recognition of women’s abilities, and the beginning of a new era in Indian politics.

When Gandhi took office, she did so with firmness and resolve. Although the party leadership expected to manipulate her, they could not. Those who questioned her leadership lost their political offices as she consolidated her power, primarily by projecting herself as “Mother Indira.” As she explained in 1967,

[S]cores of my family members are poverty-stricken and I have to look after them. Since they belong to different castes and creeds, they sometimes fight among themselves, and I have to intervene, especially to look after the weaker members of my family, so that the stronger ones do not take advantage of them.

This statement is the core of Gandhi’s political philosophy. In Indian politics, a multitude of parties, including extremists on the Left and Right, compete for power. The dissension between Hindus and Muslims and the communalism of many Indians adds to the volatility of Indian democracy. Gandhi saw herself and the Congress Party whose ideals were secularism, socialism, and nonviolent, constitutional reform as the center. Therefore, her political aim was what she called balance.

Maintaining political balance and thereby retaining democracy in a heterogeneous society was a difficult challenge that Gandhi accepted as a personal one. In 1969, when members of her own party leaned to the right, simultaneously accusing her of leftist tendencies, she consolidated her political authority, won the backing of the masses, and effectively split her own party. When the right wing became more solidified in 1971 and adopted a campaign to “Remove Indira,” she countered with the slogan “Remove Poverty,” which became the reform program that gave her the greatest popular election mandate of her reign.

In the same year, she cautiously, briefly departed from the international corollary to her domestic policy India’s nonalignment position. Balance in foreign affairs meant neutrality. Yet when Pakistan made war against Bangladesh and millions of refugees poured into India, she shifted her priorities. Once the sympathies of the Indian people and most of the world favored the Bengali, she made her swift, decisive attack one of the most substantial victories of her career.

The spell of victory faded, however, as the country woke to a devastating drought, spiraling poverty and hunger, and escalating corruption in business and political administration, including her own. Gandhi’s quest for balance in the political arena and for a better life for her large, diverse family was failing. She tried to implement more economic reforms, but working-class strikes and violence grew. Gandhi’s abhorrence of violence to achieve change ironically led in 1975 to a proclamation of a state of emergency, under which she accrued dictatorial powers. However, she initially acted within the Indian constitutional system and with the support of the majority of Congress and capitalists at home and abroad. Nevertheless, charges against her mounted: thwarting her party’s interests, repressing criticism, damaging the structure of the federal judiciary and bureaucracy, politicizing the army, trying to establish a family dynasty, and failing to solve the country’s economic problems despite her broad powers.

In 1977, Gandhi decided to end the emergency and hold elections in which she confidently expected to receive a mandate to continue her reforms. Instead, the people revealed that they were unwilling to follow anyone even Mother Indira blindly and that democracy would prevail. The Congress Party was ousted from power along with Gandhi and her son Sanjay. For anyone but Gandhi that humiliating defeat would have meant the end of her career, but Gandhi could not abandon her family and her life’s work. When the opposition proved to be corrupt and incompetent, Gandhi regained a seat in Parliament and ultimately was restored to the office of prime minister in 1980.

Gandhi’s India was beset by more crises in 1980 than she had ever faced. Added to the persistent economic and political exigencies was a strong religious movement of the far Right. In 1982, Sikh fundamentalists occupied the Golden Temple, a Hindu shrine, and used it as a base for terrorist activities. Two years later, when she had amassed the support of the Indian people, Gandhi ordered the Indian army to take the shrine a successful, though costly, assault. In October, 1984, Gandhi was assassinated by her own Sikh security guards, who, like many Indians, placed their religious beliefs above their personal loyalties.

Significance

Gandhi’s accomplishments during her years as India’s prime minister were possible because the majority of the Indian people believed in her. Gandhi possessed two major attributes of effective leadership courage and commitment. In the middle of numerous tragedies the loss of parents, husband, and son Sanjay Gandhi exhibited great personal courage. She courageously faced her enemies whether military or political, and determinedly fought her battles, even those she could not win. Not only Indians but also people all over the world admired this type of fortitude, especially in a woman.

Gandhi’s commitment to India was never questioned, probably because she refused to be a political observer. Her commitment entailed positive action to achieve a better India one without major social problems like poverty and hunger. Most of her fellow citizens believed that Gandhi could accomplish her goals and achieve unity through a balance of political perspectives, policies, and institutions. They viewed her international diplomacy as an overall success. Even when she leaned too far in one direction, they did not entirely lose their faith in her ability to restore balance, as evidenced by her 1980 reelection.

In the minds of the Indian people, despite her flaws, Gandhi was the “mother” of India. Her death did not alter that perception. Her dream for a united, prosperous, and peaceful India lived on in her son Rajiv, who became prime minister after his mother’s assassination. Addressing the country, Rajiv Gandhi remarked, “the foremost need now is to maintain our balance.”

Bibliography

Ali, Tariq. The Nehrus and the Gandhis: An Indian Dynasty. Rev. ed. London: Picador, 2002. This well-written family history begins with Nehru, devotes a significant portion to Gandhi, and includes information on her sons, Rajiv and Sanjay. Its primary flaw is lack of documentation.

Bhatia, Krishan. Indira: A Biography of Prime Minister Gandhi. New York: Praeger, 1974. This is a sympathetic biography for the general reader. The author is an Indian journalist acquainted with the Nehru family since the 1940’s. A bibliography and index are included.

Chandra, Bipan. In the Name of Democracy: JP Movement and the Emergency. New York: Penguin Books, 2003. Chronicles Jayaprakash Narayan’s move to oust Gandhi, which led to the imposition of the state of internal emergency beginning in 1975.

Frank, Katherine. Indira: The Life of Indira Nehru Gandhi. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2002. A balanced and comprehensive biography based on unpublished sources and more than one hundred interviews.

Gandhi, Indira. Indira Gandhi: Letters to an American Friend, 1950-1984. San Diego, Calif.: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1985. Since Gandhi is most often studied as a political figure, these personal letters provide essential insights into the private woman. The letters were selected from correspondence with Dorothy Norman. Includes photographs and commentary.

Gupte, Pranay. Vengeance: India After the Assassination of Indira Gandhi. New York: W. W. Norton, 1985. Written by an Indian journalist, this examination of contemporary India begins with a detailed account of Gandhi’s assassination and the events surrounding her death. It provides firsthand information and analyzes Rajiv’s leadership potential.

Lamb, Beatrice Pitney. The Nehrus of India. New York: Macmillan, 1967. This collective biography explores Gandhi’s early life and her years spent as “First Lady” for her father, during which period she developed her political abilities. It is written for younger readers and has notes and a suggested reading list.

Masani, Zareer. Indira Gandhi: A Biography. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1976. The author’s insight into Gandhi’s life and Indian politics comes from extensive research using primary and secondary sources. The last chapter, written during the state of emergency, predicts Gandhi’s fall from power. Notes and photographs are included.

Moraes, Dom. Indira Gandhi. Boston: Little, Brown, 1980. The strength and weakness of this biography is that it is based primarily on personal interviews and the author’s changing relationship with Gandhi. Although he criticizes her flaws, he remains a sympathetic admirer. Photographs and an index are provided.

Vasudev, Uma. Indira Gandhi: Revolution in Restraint. Delhi, India: Vikas, 1974. This thoroughly researched biography synthesizes the private and public aspects of Gandhi’s life within the context of political history. Unfortunately for readers, it ends with the early 1970’s. Documentation includes notes, an index, a glossary, and fifty-six pages of photographs.