PRIME MINISTER INDIAI cannot understand how anyone can be an Indian and not be proud—the richness and infinite variety of our composite heritage, the magnificence of the people’s spirit, equal to any disaster or burden, firm in their faith, gay spontaneously even in poverty and hardship.
—INDIRA GANDHI
Twelve-year-old Indira sat nervously with her schoolbooks in the backseat of a car. She had just left a secret meeting where the top leaders of India’s National Congress Party were planning the next step in their rebellion against the British. At that time, India was a British colony, and India’s people were struggling to gain their independence.
As Indira’s car reached the tall iron gates, a police inspector ordered her driver to stop. Indira’s heart raced. If the police searched the car, she would be caught and put in jail along with many leaders of the rebellion. The brave girl hid her fear by impatiently demanding that the inspector let her pass; she was late for school and had no time for these delays. The police believed her and let her go. Little did they know that hidden safely in her trunk were all the secret documents of the independence movement!
Indira’s earliest memory was of her family burning clothes and other items made outside India in a nonviolent boycott of European goods. Little Indira threw her own European-made doll in the flames.
As her car passed through the gate, Indira looked out the back window and saw that the police had already surrounded the house. Inside, the leaders watched nervously as Indira’s car escaped. Fearing a raid on their headquarters, the Indian leaders had placed all their most important papers in the trunk of the young girl’s car. It was vital that the British not get their hands on those documents, and thanks to Indira, they were safe. This daring act of bravery was just the beginning of Indira’s career of devotion to her country: the twelve-year-old girl would go on to become the first woman leader of a democracy and one of the most powerful and influential politicians in the world.
Indira Priyadarshini Nehru was born on November 19, 1917, in Allahabad, India. Her country had been ruled by England for over 160 years. The British invaders controlled everything, and Indian citizens had little to no power in their own country. Any Indians who spoke out in favor of Indian independence were thrown in jail. As the only child of Jawaharlal and Kamala Nehru, leaders in India’s struggle for independence, Indira spent a lot of her childhood without her parents. Her mother and father were often in jail. But their work inspired Indira, who, even as a child, loved India with a passion and did all she could to help the revolutionary National Congress Party.
When Indira was twelve, she helped organize more than one thousand Indian children into a group called the Monkey Brigade. They helped the Congress Party in everyday tasks like addressing envelopes, writing announcements, and cooking food. More importantly, Indira’s group spied on the British police. While they pretended to play, the children would eavesdrop on police conversations, listening for news of any upcoming arrests. Then they reported back to the Congress Party. By giving activists time to hide, the Monkey Brigade’s early warnings often prevented arrests. The police never suspected that these innocent-looking kids were actually spies!
In 1937 Indira was accepted into Oxford University in England. While studying in England, Indira got engaged to a childhood friend, Feroze Gandhi, and the two were married in 1942 after they returned to India.
Upon her arrival back in India, Indira found her beloved country in the midst of the bloodiest fighting of the entire rebellion. She immediately dove back into her work in the party, and it wasn’t long before the British learned of her rebellious activities. Indira was thrown in prison for eight months! But she didn’t lose hope. She and the other activists were making great progress. In 1947 the British gave up the fight. After almost two hundred years of colonialism, India finally won its independence!
As the most popular leader in the National Congress Party, Indira’s father became the first prime minister of India after the war. Indira’s mother had died in 1936, so Indira acted as her father’s first lady, adviser, and ambassador to other countries. She was still active in many political organizations, and in 1959 she was elected president of the National Congress Party. This was a post both her father and grandfather had held; it made her the second-highest-ranking politician in India.
England was fighting World War II while Indira studied there. She drove an ambulance to help with the British war effort. But at the same time back in India, the British had put her father in jail again.
When Indira’s father died in 1964, Lal Shastri became prime minister, and he appointed Indira as minister of information and broadcasting. In a country where few people could read, radio and television held great power for bringing news and information to all the people of India, not just the rich and educated. Indira made great progress by doubling the number of radio and television programs and producing inexpensive radios. She was also the first person to open up the airwaves to anyone who wished to speak; even critics of the government were free to voice their ideas. India was becoming a true democracy.
Indira’s hero was Joan of Arc, who also fought for her country’s independence from invaders.
Two years later, Shastri died, and Indira was elected prime minister of India. She was the first woman ever to run a democratic country—and the world’s most populated and diverse democracy at that! Her newly independent country was plagued with problems and threats to its freedom. Many people didn’t think she could handle the responsibility, and even some members of the National Congress Party initially thought she would be easy for them to manipulate. But Indira proved to be a powerful and skillful leader.
During her term, Indira strengthened India’s international influence and kept both the United States and the Soviet Union from exerting their control over her nation. She led India to victory in a bloody war with Pakistan and sent the country’s first satellite into space. At home she launched the Garibi Hatao (Remove Poverty) campaign to help limit population growth and improve the quality of life for India’s poorer citizens. Indira was reelected in 1971, despite some growing opposition.
Throughout Indira’s second term as prime minister, criticism of her policies mounted steadily. She had created voluntary sterilization—a procedure in which people who don’t want to have more children can be made physically unable to do so—to help limit the population and curb poverty, but her enemies claimed it was forced. In 1975 riots and protests against her became so severe that Indira declared a state of emergency. She imprisoned political opponents and censored the press. Though these short-term undemocratic practices were no longer in effect by the 1977 election, Indira was voted out of office. She spent the next two years regaining support and was reelected by a landslide in 1979.
Indira continued her work to improve the country she loved, but she still faced strong opposition. In 1984 Indira ordered a controversial raid on a temple that was held by Sikh separatists. A few months later, Indira was assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards in an act that many view as retaliation.
Indira’s will was found after her assassination. She said:
If I die a violent death as some fear and a few are plotting, I know the violence will be in the thought and action of the assassin, not in my dying—for no hate is dark enough to overshadow the extent of my love for my people and my country.21
Though her time as a leader was full of controversy, Indira helped her nation through the transition from colonial rule to democracy. She ruled during a challenging and trouble-plagued time in India’s history. Through it all, her love of her country and its people was clear, and her intentions to promote the welfare of India prevailed. A strong and confident woman, Indira left her mark as a powerful leader who aspired to advance one of the largest, poorest, and most diverse democracies in the world.