Indira Gandhi - H.Y. Sharara Prasad

Indira Gandhi Prime Minister of India for over 16 years was a brave freedom fighter and a passionate patriot deeply committed to the Honour and integrity of India.  She was also a devoted mother and grandmother who was great fun to be with she loved books, nature, arts, sports and puzzles. Indira Gandhi by H.Y. Sharara Prasad was 67th of 2020

Born into the illustrious Nehru family in Allahabad Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi was educated at Shantiniketan,  Geneva and Oxford and was determined since childhood to serve the people of India. This biography with the forward by Rajiv Gandhi and illustrated with photographs portrays very simply the Life Of 'The Iron Lady of India' from her birth on 19th November 1917 to her assassination on 31st October 1984.

One of her favourite statements was that "a person who was interested become interesting".

She identified herself with the Joan of Arc because she too was a girl who had stood against British domination.  Though she was still very young she took the pleasure of Independence which declared "the British government in India has not only deprived the Indian people of the freedom but has based itself on the exploitation of the masses and has ruined India economically, politically, culturally and spiritually. We believe  therefore  that India must Sever the British connection.

The advice Jawaharlal Nehru gave her on 13th birthday was " it is no easy matter to decide what is right and what is not. One little test I shall ask you to apply whenever you are in doubt never do anything in secret or anything that you would wish to hide for the desire to hide anything means that you are afraid and fear is a bad thing and unworthy of you. Be brave and all the rest follows.

Indira and Feroze were married on 26 March 1942 at Anand Bhavan the old Hindu wedding ritual of going round the sacred fire 7 times although Firoz was not a Hindu. On 20th August 1944 their first son Rajiv was born. On Motherhood she said "to bring a new being into this world to see its tiny perfection and to dream of its future greatness is the most moving of all experiences."

In September 1960 heroes died of heart attack within four years Jawaharlal Nehru was also did he had been Prime Minister of India for 17 years. Indira hoped that she could now retire to the high mountains. Shastri had taken over as the Prime Minister of India but his stay in office was shot as he died unexpectedly in January 1966 soon after Indira became the Prime Minister of India. In 1975 she placed the country under a state of emergency arresting a large number of opposition leaders and workers and introduced censorship of the press.  21 months later in March 1977 Indira Gandhi called for an election but she lost but soon the sympathy of the people of India brought her to power.  In the January 1980 polls for the Lok Sabha Indira Gandhi was swept back to power within 6 months tragedy struck her Sanjay was killed while flying an aircraft. Indira board the blow with great come despite her popularity Indira Gandhi like all political leaders had Harshad of enemies on the morning of 31st October 1984 as Indira came out onto the launch of a house she was shot dead just 19 days short of her 67th birthday.

Indira Gandhi died as she would have wanted to active until the last minute.  She a fond of saying that the was a watch store of within everyone but people fail to recognise and develop it. The evening before her death she said:

"I am here today but I may not be here tomorrow. Nobody knows how many attempts have been made to shoot me. I do not care whether I live or die I have enjoyed a long life and I am proud that I spend the whole of it in the service of my people I shall continue to serve till my last breath and when I die I can say that every drop of my blood will invigorate India and strengthen it"