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After her studies at Viswa-Bharati University in Bengal and the University of Oxford in England she came back to India. It was the peak time of Indian independence struggles and in 1938 Indira joined in the Indian National Congress, the political organization that was spearheading the fight for Indian independence from British rule. In 1942, she defied social custom by marrying a Parsi, Feroze Gandhi, a lawyer, who was also active in the Congress. He and Indira were imprisoned for civil disobedience shortly after their marriage. Later, they had two sons, Rajiv Gandhi, born in 1944, and Sanjay Gandhi, born in 1946.
India achieved independence in the year 1947 and Jawaharlal Nehru was elected as its first Prime minister. Indira began acting as her father's official hostess and political confidante. She gained political experience during this period. The Congress Party, under the leadership of Nehru, elected Indira to its Working Committee in 1955. She became the party's President in 1959.
Nehru died in 1964, and Lal Bahadur Shastri came in the position of Prime minister. Shastri appointed Gandhi to his cabinet as minister of Information and Broadcasting. When Shastri died suddenly in January 1966, an election was held in parliament to replace him. Most of the Congress leaders supported Indira and with the majority of votes she won the election and became India's third Prime minister.
Her life as a prime minister started with all its worst struggles. But her ability to tackle the problems and the experiences she gained from her father aided Indira to prove herself. In the face of a potentially severe famine caused by the failure of the monsoon rains in 1965, Indira used her international experience to obtain the promise of wheat, loans, and credit from the United States. She visited the United States in 1966, establishing a good relationship with President Lyndon Johnson. She subsequently nationalized banking in India, introduced limited land reform, and ended the large pensions of India's former princely rulers.
In March 1977, she lifted the state of emergency and called a free election, perhaps hoping to demonstrate popular support for her regime. Instead, she lost her seat in parliament, and the Janata Party, an alliance of disparate opponents of her regime, soundly defeated the New Congress Party.
The Janata coalition had difficulty working together, and by 1979 it had fragmented. The government dissolved parliament and held a new election in early 1980. Gandhi and her Congress (I) Party, campaigning on the slogan "Elect a Government that Works," won a major victory, and Gandhi resumed the office of prime minister. Sanjay also captured a seat in parliament; however, later that year he died when the private airplane he was piloting over New Delhi crashed.
Domestically, her greatest problem was with Sikh nationalists. Many people were killed in riots there during the state elections. In 1984 Indira ordered an attack on Sikh nationalists. In response to this attack, she was assassinated by one of her own guards, a Sikh, on October 31, 1984. As a leader of a nation nothing can belittle her. Now also she is in the highest position in the world's most populous democracy was especially significant for Indian women, who had traditionally been subservient to men. In addition, she was also an inspiration to whole women community itself.
In early 1971 she faced a severe foreign crisis as East and West Pakistan became locked in a struggle over East Pakistan's demand for greater autonomy. Indira appealed for international help but no intervention was undertaken. And finally, in December Indira Gandhi ordered an Indian invasion of East Pakistan. Less than two weeks later, the Pakistani army surrendered to Indian forces.
Although Indira was highly popular after the war, food shortages, inflation, and regional political grievances led to growing civil unrest in India during the first half of the 1970s. She suppressed some of these disturbances harshly, and she centralized control of the government.She could mesmerise masses with her aggressive oratory. Above all she commanded respect from the rank and file besides other Congress leaders. Within the cabinet she was often mentioned as the 'only man amongst all women'. None dared to challenge her supremacy as a party leader and Prime Minister. So much so that even usually hostile RSS Parivar declared her 'Durga' after the victory in Bangladesh in 1971. No wonder she deserved bouquets from within and outside. Her only faux pas was declaration of emergency in 1975 which cost her the Delhi throne at the husting. But she had the indomitable spirit and courage to stage massive come back within two years.After her assassination she was been described as "Indira,A Great Leader the world will never see again" by various leaders of the world .Till today Nehru-Gandhi family has a unique name and respect nationally and internationally. 10Janpath can be considered the white house of India!No one has the slightest fit to criticise their family.Nehru-Gandhi dynasty continues.. Rare Gallery Of IndiraGandhi.