General information
Indira Priyadarshini Nehru
Was born at the 19th November 1917 in Allahabad
Parents: Jawaharlal and Kamala Nehru
Family had a big influence to the policy
Political opinion: liberal/ against communism
Childhood
Very hard childhood
didn`t get with the blanking by her father
Indira moved with her parents to Europe
Moved from one city to another
Mother died -> Indira fell ill
Indira had to go to a Sanatorium
Life from 1941
1941: marries Feroze Gandhi
They got two sons: Rajiv (1944) Sanjay (1946)
1947: Feroze wanted the divorce
She moved back to her father
Feroze and Indira lived more and more apart from each
other
1959: Feroze had a heart attack
1960: Feroze died
1964: her father died
Nehrus secretary/ Leader of the
Congress Party
Learned a lot
Influenced her father in many cases
Organises a lot of things for the party and India
Example: Kerala-crisis
Minister for information and
broadcasting
Language crisis: government wanted to change the official language from English to Hindi
January 1966:
She became chairman of the Congress Party
She became Prime Minister
Austerity of food
Indira broke up the “Food Zones“
Asked the USA for help
Tried to get as much from the land as possible -> “Green
Revolution“
The third war between India and
Pakistan
Indira tried to get the east of Pakistan to make it free
->international policy
December: India brought troups to the border to Pakistan
One day later: Pakistan opened the war -> India won!
“National Emergency“
26. June 1975
Her popularity minimised itself
The people were displeased
Indira called the “National Emergency“ out
She was not able to say, what the base for it was
India was ordered again
1977: The Congress party lost the elections
The Shah Commission
Shah wanted to find things against Indira to arrest her ->
failed!
Indira tried to come back to the policy
1980: The Congress Party won the election again and
Indira Gandhi was again the Prime Minister of India
The death of Indira Gandhi
The “Sikhs“ (Akali Dal) wanted Punjab to be an independent state
1982: The Akali Dal occupied the “Golden temple“
1982: “Operation Blue Star“
Indira did not want to fire her bodyguards (Sikhs) -> They shot her on the way to an interview
