Third Prime Minister of India and a central figure
of the Indian National Congress party
Date-wise events / Works
June 09, 1964: She became
the Minister of Information and Broadcasting.
January 23, 1966: She
retired as the Minister of Information and Broadcasting.
January 24, 1966: She was sworn in as 3rd Prime
Minister of India.
March 24, 1977: Sheremained as the Prime Minister in her first term
till this date.
January 14, 1980: Her second term as Prime Minister
of India started on this day.
October 31, 1984: On
this day, when she was assassinated by her own guards, she
competed her second term as the Prime Minister of India. Her
assassination gave rise to riots in New Delhi in the
subsequent couple of days, resulting into numerous killings
of innocent people.
June 25, 1975: She imposed the state of emergency
in India with effect from this day, whereafter she ruled by
decree and made lasting changes in the Indian constitution.
March 21, 1977: The state
of emergency was lifted on this day.
1999: She was also named "Woman of the Millennium"
in a poll organised by the BBC in 1999.
2001: She was voted the greatest
Indian Prime Minister in a poll organised by India
Today.
2011: The Bangladesh Freedom Honour
(Bangladesh Swadhinata Sammanona ), Bangladesh's highest
civilian award, was posthumously conferred on Indira Gandhi for
her outstanding contributions to Bangladesh's Liberation War.
June 12, 1975: The High Court of
Allahabad declared Indira Gandhi's election to the Lok Sabha
void on grounds of electoral rigging and malpractice.
June 23, 1980: Her son Sanjay Gandhi died instantly from head wounds in an air
crash on this day near Safdarjung
Airport in New Delhi.
October 30, 1984: The day before her death,
she visited Orissa where she gave her last speech:
I am alive today, I may not be there tomorrow...I shall
continue to serve until my last breath and when I die, I can
say, that every drop of my blood will invigorate India and
strengthen it. "Even if I died in the service of the nation,
I would be proud of it. Every drop of my blood... will
contribute to the growth of this nation and to make it
strong and dynamic."
November 03, 1984: Gandhi was cremated on
this day
near Raj Ghat. The site where she was cremated is today
known as Shakti Sthala.
January 06, 1989: The two
accused in her assassination case, viz. Satwant Singh and
Kehar Singh, were hanged on this day.
July 03, 2017: Her name
from the scheme Indira Priyadarshini Puruskar Yojana, given
to meritorious girls of Class 10 and 12 from Rajasthan
Board, has been removed. So now, it will be called
'Padmakshi Puruskar Yojana', based on the name of Goddess
'Saraswati'.
Special Achievements
/ Events
The only woman to hold this office
office in India thus far.
The only child of the first Indian Prime
Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
Elected Congress President in 1959, she was offered the
premiership in succession to her father. But she
refused and instead chose to become a cabinet
minister in the government.
She finally consented to become Prime Minister in
succession to Lal Bahadur Shastri in 1966.
As Prime Minister, she became known for her
political ruthlessness and unprecedented centralisation
of power.
She went to war with Pakistan in support of the
independence movement and war of independence in
East Pakistan, which resulted in an Indian victory
and the creation of Bangladesh.
Awards &
Accolades
After leading India to victory against Pakistan in the
Bangladesh liberation war in 1971, President V. V. Giri awarded
Mrs. Gandhi India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat
Ratna.
