In this article, you will read an essay on Indira Gandhi for students and children in 1000 words. Also, their early life, education, political career, death, and personal life.
Essay on Indira Gandhi for Students and Children in 1000 Words
Indira Gandhi was one of the most influential individuals in Indian political history. He was the first and till now the only female Prime Minister of India.
She was a prime face of the party called the Indian National Congress. She was the daughter of India’s first Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.
Initially, Indira Gandhi served as the assistant and hostess of her father. She was also elected as President of Congress and Member of Rajya Sabha. She was in the ministry cabinet of Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri.
Her one of the most mentionable action was the war against Pakistan, which helped Bangladesh to gain freedom. She also imposed Emergency Rule in India, which was described as the reason for her downfall.
Indira Gandhi was one of the most powerful characters in Indian Politics.
Early Life and Education
Indira Gandhi was born on November 19th, 1917. She was the only daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, who was a chief figure in India’s struggle for freedom. And known initially as Indira Nehru. Her grandfather, Motilal Nehru, was also a pioneer of India’s freedom movement.
She was very lonely in her childhood. Her father was always away from her, and her mother was bed-ridden because of illness and finally suffered from an early death from tuberculosis. Indira Gandhi was mostly taught by private tutors and often went to school.
Indira Gandhi started her education at Modern School in Delhi, St. Cecilia and St Mary’s Convent schools, the international school of Geneva and Pupils’ school in Poona and Bombay. She moved to Belur Math and studied under Swami Vivekananda. She studied at Shantiniketan University in Bolpur, West Bengal.
In 1938, Indira Gandhi went to Oxford University in London for higher studies. She was married to Feroze Gandhi at 25 and succeeded with two children named Sanjay and Rajiv.
Political Career and Major Works
After Congress came to power after independence, she became the personal assistant of her father. She became a member of the Congress working committee in the year of 1955, and then her career flourished further after she became the honorary President of the Indian National Congress.
She was made the Member of Parliament upper house, Rajya Sabha. During the tenure of Lal Bahadur Shastri as the Prime Minister, she was named as the minister of Information and broadcasting ministry.
First term as Prime Minister: In 1966, Indian politics faced a significant blow after the sudden demise of Lal Bahadur Shastri. Under this circumstance, Indira Gandhi was nominated as the Prime Ministerial candidate with a compromise between the party’s left and right wings.
She had Morarji Desai as the Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister. From the very beginning, her political movements were scanned under the microscope. She was considered as the puppet with no political ability. There was very little room for error.
Indira Gandhi faced fierce opposition from the right-wing leader, Morarji Desai. Congress grabbed a slim majority owing to the rising price of commodities, unemployment, economic stagnation, and food crisis.
To revive the economy, she devaluated the money, which made the business much harder. To mitigate the food crisis, she imported wheat from the United States even after having clashed with them. This decision of her was not accepted pleasantly by the party members.
Despite the above, the tension continued to build up inside the party. Indira Gandhi has taken an abrupt decision of the nationalisation of banks without discussion with the Finance Minister. The party was unhappy for her undisciplined actions. She was expelled by the conservative group of the party led by Morarji Desai.
Indira Gandhi built a new form of the party, along with her followers. After that, she started a new campaign named “Garibi Hatao,” which is a principle directed towards the eradication of poverty. This is the first time when the poor of the society had been given importance.
Her campaign got a huge success and riding the same; Indira Gandhi won the electoral contest in Lok Sabha in 1971. She was always to support East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). She strengthened their civil war with military help to defeat Pakistan.
Indira Gandhi was the first to recognise Bangladesh as a free country. But even in this wave of success, the party was criticised because of the high inflation rate. The main protest was in Gujarat and Bihar. The popular leader, Jaynarayan Prakash, resigned his post and led the protest.
National Emergency in India and Indira Gandhi
In 1972, ridden on her success against Pakistan in the war, her party New Congress Party group swept the victory in state legislative election. Although, the opponent party filed a charge sheet against her by accusing Indira Gandhi for violating the elections laws.
In the year 1975, the High Court gave the verdict against Indira Gandhi. Hence, she was deprived of the seat and was instructed to be out of politics for six years. She appealed against the decision in the Supreme Court. But there, the decision went against Indira Gandhi.
She couldn’t accept the decision and imposed the National Emergency. During this period, the freedom of expression for the newspaper was abolished. Indira Gandhi made all the opposition party’s leaders imprisoned.
Many new laws were enacted that limited personal freedoms. She also implemented a lot of infamous rules like large-scale sterilisation as a measure of birth control.
Fall from Power and Return to the Office
Many believed that Indira Gandhi’s decision to imposing the Emergency was the initiation of her downfall. She hugely lost popularity across the country. The people showed an outrage against her out of irritation.
The public opposition was vehement and widespread. In 1977, the Emergency was lifted, and the political leaders were released from jail. The long-postponed parliamentary session was held, and Indira Gandhi’s party was beaten comprehensively. The Bharatiya Janata Party came into power, and Morarji Desai took charge as Prime Minister.
She left the Congress Party and started a new party named Congress (I) – “I” denotes for Indira. She was sent to jail because of charges of official corruption. Even after these setbacks, Indira Gandhi won seats in Lok Sabha, and her party gathered strength.
In the Lok Sabha election in 1980, she swept to victory in a vast number, and her son, Sanjay, became the Chief Advisor. All the legal cases against them were withdrawn.
But after the death of Sanjay in a plane crash, the party was looking for her successor. She groomed Rajiv for the role. She built a close relationship with Russia to get help in the war against Pakistan.
Death of Indira Gandhi
In the early phase of the 1980s, there was building tension regarding the disintegration of India. The other religions, especially Sikhs, were threatening to disturb the unity of the country. They started a huge outcry and moved to the Sun Temple in Amritsar to launch an attack against the Government.
Gandhi ordered a military operation in the temple which resulted in the death of 450 Sikhs. This event shook the entire nation profoundly. As a revenge, she was assassinated in New Delhi inside his garden by her bodyguard on October 31st, 1984.
