This Day in History: Former PM Indira Gandhi Assassinated

October 31 marks the 31st death anniversary of the Iron Lady of India, former PM Indira Gandhi.

File photo of Indira Gandhi with Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi. (Photo Courtesy: Indira Gandhi Technical University)

Indira Gandhi, the only child of the first Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, served as the Chief of Staff of her father’s administration between 1947 and 1964. Elected President of the Congress party in 1959, she refused party leadership following her father’s death, choosing to become a cabinet minister in the Lal Bahadur Shastri government instead. She defeated Morarji Desai in 1966 to succeed Shastri as the Prime Minister of India.

As the Prime Minister, Gandhi came to be known for her political ruthlessness and for centralising power in an unprecedented manner. She presided over the controversial state of emergency from 1975-1977. She was assassinated in 1984 by her Sikh bodyguards a few months after she gave the order for the storming of the Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar to counter the Punjab insurgency.

(Photo: The Quint)