19 November: Indira Gandhi

Indira Gandhi was born on 19 November 1917. Here are some things you might not know about her.

1. Who was she? She was India's first, and to date only, female prime minister. She was sworn in on 24 January 1966.
2. She came from a political family. Her father was Jawaharlal Nehru, a leader of India's fight for independence from Britain. She was his only child.
3. She wasn't, however, related to Mahatma Gandhi. She took the name when she married Feroze Gandhi, who was no relation to Mahatma Gandhi either.
4. When Indira was five years old, she burned her favourite doll, because she found out it had been made in England.
5. By the age of 12, she'd already become a leader. She was part of a children's initiative for independence called the Vanar Sena (which means "Monkey Brigade"). This group eventually grew to 60,000 young people who made flags, put up posters and helped with mailings.
6. Her husband Feroze was Parsi, she was Hindu. They met while campaigning for India's independence. Their love match wasn't well received by the general public because of the difference in faith, and there was a lot of opposition. One person who did support the couple was Mahatma Gandhi, who wrote a public statement in support of their marriage.
7. She was good friends with Margaret Thatcher - no doubt they bonded over the fact that they were both female world leaders, still a rare thing in those days. They stayed in touch even when Indira Gandhi lost an election and wasn't in power for three years. Mrs Thatcher attended Mrs Gandhi's funeral, despite being warned of death threats. Mrs Thatcher described her as "not just a great statesman but a warm and caring person." Mrs Gandhi wasn't as popular with US president Richard Nixon, however. He was caught on tape describing her as "an old witch".
8. The nation of Bangladesh was created during her tenure, after the war with Pakistan in 1971, which India won decisively. Mrs Gandhi was the first world leader to recognise the new country.
9. Her career didn't always go smoothly. In 1971, she was charged with violating electoral law, and in 1975, the Indian High Court ruled that she should lose her seat and be banned from politics for six years. Her response was to declare a state of emergency which allowed her to put her opponents in prison and enact unpopular policies limiting personal freedom. One of the things she tried to do was control the birth rate in India by offering rewards to men who agreed to be sterilised. It also led to young men being sterilised against their will. In 1977, the emergency rule ended and their was an election. She lost. She formed a new party, however, and returned to power in a landslide victory in 1980.
10. In spite of that, there were still people who opposed her, particularly among the Sikhs after she ordered the Indian army to enter a Sikh temple and remove a Sikh terrorist who had taken refuge there. It was this which led to her assassination. Two of her bodyguards, who were Sikhs, shot her with their service weapons, in her garden, on 31 October 1984 as an act of revenge.

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