Sunday, November 18, 2012

Indira Gandhi - The iron lady of India...


 Mrs. Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India, 1966-77 and 1980-84. She was assassinated in 1984


 Indira Priyadarshini Nehru  was born on November 19, 1917, in Allahabad, India, to Jawaharlal and Kamala Nehru. She was the only child of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of independent India.
                                         Her collections                                                           Her pooja room
Indira Priyadarshini spent part of her childhood in Allahabad, where the Nehrus had their family residence, and part in Switzerland, where her mother Kamla convalesced from her periodic illnesses. She attended primary school in a variety of institutions in India and Europe. Though she enrolled at Somerville College, Oxford for her higher studies ,  returned to India without completing her studies.
Indira Priyadarshini Nehru  chose to marry  Mr Feroze Jehangir Gandhi , who belonged    to a Gujarati Parsi family , in 1942 and became Mrs Indira Gandhi. Feroz Gandhi  was an Indian politician and journalist . They  had two sons, Rajiv Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi .
                                           Indira & Firoz Wedding 
                                               Rajiv Gandhi
In 1964, the year of her father's death, Indira Gandhi got elected to Parliament for the first time. She was Minister of Information and Broadcasting in the government of Lal Bahadur Shastri. Mrs Gandhi served as the 3rd Prime Minister of India for three consecutive terms (1966–77) and a fourth term (1980–84). She was the first woman to become prime minister in India and the 2nd female head of government in the world .  Also , she was  the only Indian Prime Minister to have declared state of emergency in order to 'rule by decree' and the only Indian Prime Minister got imprisoned after holding that office.
 
On 31 October 1984 she was assassinated by her bodyguards , Satwant Singh and Beant Singh in the garden of her residence at 1 Safdarjung Road, New Delhi. The shooting occurred as she was walking past a gate guarded by them. She was to be interviewed by the British actor Peter Ustinov, who was filming a documentary for Irish television.  
                                          She got assasinated here
 
The day before her death, Mrs Indira Gandhi visited Orissa where she gave her last speech: "I am alive today, I may not be there tomorrow. I shall continue to serve till my last breath and when I die every drop of my blood will strengthen India and keep a united India alive.
                                          Sakthi Stala
 
Mrs. Gandhi was cremated on 3 November at  Shakti Sthala, near Raj Ghat , where Mahatma Gandhi is cremated.

                                      Raj Ghat

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