Remembering Indira Gandhi: 10 interesting facts about the first lady Prime Minister of India

Indira Gandhi. File Pic

Indira Gandhi, India's first and only female Prime Minister and better known as the Iron Lady of India, was born on November 19, 1917. Born, Indira Gandhi in Allahabad (present-day Prayagraj), she was the daughter of the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru. She played a central role in the Indian National Congress, and is credited for ‘political intransigency and unprecedented centralisation of power'.

Indira Gandhi served as the first and only woman Indian Prime Minister from January 1966 to March 1977 and again from January 1980 until her assassination in 1984. The only child of former Indian PM Jawaharlal Nehru and Kamala Nehru, Indira Gandhi started her political career after her father's demise in 1964. She brought in several reforms like the Wildlife Protection Act 1972, the nationalisation of banks and much more. She was assassinated on 31 October 1984 by two of her security guards in retaliation for Operation Blue Star.

Known for her remarkable speeches and strong views on various social and political issues, Indira Gandhi often took the crowd by storm with her extraordinary presence. Outspoken, yet humble, she had much to contribute to the nation.

On Indira Gandhi's birth anniversary, here are 10 interesting facts by the first woman prime minister of India:

• She was educated in Swiss schools and at Somerville college, Oxford.
• Indira Gandhi was elected as the president of the Indian National Congress in 1960.
• After Lal Bahadur Shastri's abrupt death in 1966, she succeeded him as the Prime Minister.
• During her first term as PM, she nationalised 14 banks.
• She is the second longest-serving PM of India, after her father.
• In 1975, after she was convicted of an election offence and barred from politics for 6 years, she imposed Emergency.
• 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.
• In 1984, her Sikh bodyguards assassinated her a few months after she ordered the storming of the Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar to counter the Punjab insurgency.
• Her bodyguards had fired 31 bullets at her, of which 30 had hit; 23 had passed through her body while 7 were trapped inside her.
• Indira Gandhi was an only child. She was born to former Indian PM Jawaharlal Nehru and Kamala Nehru.