Presenting the bold and beautiful world of influential women in politics and government – powerful ladies who have dared to be different, redefining boundaries and impacting the world in their own irresistible way.
In this edition we feature Indira Gandhi, Indian politician and stateswoman who also served as the third Prime Minister of India. Her formidable intellect, determination, and political acumen propelled her to become one of the most influential figures in Indian and global politics.
First published in Passions, Vol. 56, this article has been repurposed for the digital world – exclusive only on VOICE OF ASIA.
The world’s largest democracy, India has a population of 1.23 billion people (and growing), comprising 2,000 ethnic groups, all the major religions in the world, and different castes and sub-castes. It is probably the most difficult and complicated country in the world to govern.
But one woman did manage – not just to govern India, but drag it by the scruff of its neck into the modern era. When Indira Gandhi became Prime Minister for the first time in 1966, India – then a country of 500 million people – had just undergone a food crisis, resulting in it having to import grain to feed its citizens, while poverty was rife.
By the time her first tenure ended in 1977, India was a country on the verge of transformation. Agrarian reforms – known as the ‘Green Revolution’ – had resulted in surpluses of wheat, rice, cotton and milk, as food production rose by 25%. Nationalisation of industries, particularly banks, led to the stabilisation of a financial system in which previously, institutions were prone to collapse, while social welfare programmes were implemented to reduce the number of hardcore poor in the country. At the same time, her focus on education led to an increase in literacy by 30% and set the ball rolling for India to become a hub for scientific and technological studies.
On the international front, a stunning victory over perennial rival Pakistan in 1971, not only led to the independence of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), but also cemented India’s dominance of the sub-continent. That same year, it also joined the space race when it launched a satellite and then a few years later came the mushroom cloud ‘seen around the world’ when Indira’s India detonated a nuclear device.
From ‘Gungi Gudiya’ to ‘Indira Amma’
Ironically, she was brought into power to be manipulated, on account of her being a woman. The elders of the ruling Congress Party saw in her the perfect puppet – the daughter of Independence hero and first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Gandhi had the right bloodline to secure support from the electorate.
They called her “Gungi Gudiya” (the Dumb Doll).
They expected her to be the stereotypical Indian woman – submissive and ready to comply with what the men tell her to do.
They severely underestimated the strength of will and determination of a woman who said, “All my games were political games; I was, like Joan of Arc, perpetually being burned at the stake.”
Indira Gandhi defied the Congress elders and introduced a series of socialist economic reforms, much to the chagrin of the conservatives in the party. For her though, it was more a matter of expediency rather than ideology, as she realised that something had to be done about India’s crippling poverty rate and that only a strong central government could bring about the reforms needed to transform the country.“A nation’s strength ultimately consist in what it can do on its own and not in what it can borrow from other,” she claimed and went on to set India firmly on its own two feet.
In 1971, she led her new party – the Indian National Congress (Ruling) – to a landslide victory. An astute political operator, she campaigned on the platform of Garibi Hatao (Eradicate Poverty), promising economic and social reforms that attracted the support of the Indian underclass.
Her bank nationalisation programme removed control of the banks from a well-connected few who were looking out for their own interests, and expanded banking networks throughout the country, enabling many people in rural areas to open accounts.
Under her leadership, equal pay for equal work for men and women was introduced and enforced, (“My theory is that men are no more liberated than women,” she famously said) while the deficit-inducing Privy Purse – from which the former Rajas and their descendents drew an allowance – was abolished. The outdated feudalistic system was replaced by houses for landless workers, bonded labour was abolished and debts incurred by the poor were suspended. Through these measures, the poverty rate in India dropped from 65% to 45% of the population.
Education for the masses was emphasised. “Education is a liberating force, and in our age it is also a democratising force, cutting across the barriers of caste and class, smoothing out inequalities imposed by birth and other circumstances,” she exhorted, and with her oratory skills, tireless work, personal charisma and nurturing charm, she became a darling of the masses.
And so, Indira Gandhi went from the Gungi Gudiya (Dumb Doll) of her party elders to Indira Amma (Mother Indira) for an entire nation. And she did it her way.
“Only clear vision, iron will and the strictest discipline can remove poverty”
Indira Gandhi kept to these words in order to see her programme succeed. When accused of electoral malpractice, Indira persuaded the country’s President to declare a state of emergency, giving her the power to rule by decree.
The media was muzzled, opposition leaders imprisoned and unfriendly state Chief Ministers removed from their posts. At the same time though, it introduced discipline into the economy and trimmed down the bureaucracy.
For Indira Gandhi, right or wrong, the Emergency was a necessity. She did what she felt she had to do in order to secure India’s future. It was bitter pill, especially for a nation that prides itself on being a democracy, but the fact is that India had never been more stable economically and socially as it was during that time.
With a compliant President, Indira could have extended the Emergency indefinitely.
But as she said, “You can’t shake hands with a clenched fist,” and so in 1977, she released the political prisoners and announced general elections. Her allies, including her son (and then successor) Sanjay advised her against doing so. They feared losing, but Indira had to show that she did what she did for the sake of her beloved India, and returned democracy to the largest democracy in the world. The bitter pill had been swallowed, the sickness was better, and so, let the show go on….
In a backlash against Indira’s ‘dictatorship’, the Congress Party lost for the first time in history, and Indira was ousted from her seat. These were her darkest days, but in typical Indira fashion, she shrugged it off with, “The meek may one day inherit the earth, but not the headlines.”
India, however, needed her Mother, and three years later in 1980, Mother Indira took office again.
New Focus, New Reforms
Her second tenure as Prime Minister saw her taking over a country that was an economic basket case, with the economy having shrunk by 5.2% and inflation at a shocking 18.2%. The situation required drastic measures, and Indira took them as she tightened public spending, introduced capital reforms and liberalised the market.
Some might call it a repudiation of her previous stance. For Indira Gandhi though, it was simply the most sensible thing to do was to survive economically, and India took precedence over ideology. The policies worked as inflation was cut down to 5%, while average growth from 1980 to 1985 stood at 5.7%.
Ever The Secularist
However, Indira Gandhi would not see the programme come to its conclusion. In 1982, Sikh militants occupied the Golden Temple in Amristar the holiest shrine in Sikhism. When efforts to dislodge them peacefully had failed, Indira Gandhi took the fateful decision, that if the militants would not move, then they would be made to move.She felt that they were a threat to the nation and had to be eliminated, knowing full well the perceived offence would bring about repercussions to her personally.
And so Operation Blue Star happened in June 1984. Indian military stormed the temple, there was the obvious collateral damage, and, as expected, the Sikh community was outraged.
Indira remained unmoved. She had done what she had to do to protect India.
She was advised to dismiss her Sikh bodyguards as all members of the group were viewed with suspicion. But Indira Gandhi refused to do so. India, she declared, was a secular state, and in a secular state no one should be discriminated against because of their faith.
Death In A Garden
“If I die today, every drop of my blood will invigorate the nation.” Those were the words Indira Gandhi said on the 30th of October 1984. They would prove to be eerily prophetic. The next day, the 31st, she walked – as per her usual practice – from her residence to her office. Along the way she passed a guardhouse manned by two Sikh guards – Beant Singh and Satwant Singh.
As usual, she clasped her hands in front of her face and uttered the greeting “Namaste”. This time though, the guards did not respond in kind. Instead they raised their rifles and open fire. 30 shots pierced her, red blood staining her brown saree. The assassins were soon overpowered, and an ambulance rushed the Indian Prime Minister to hospital. But try as they did, the doctors could do nothing. At 2.20 pm, the news broke out – Mother Indira was dead.
The Legacy of Indira
Indira Gandhi was a leader who did not believe in pigeon-holing herself into a doctrine. She was a woman of action, and a person who constantly questioned the status quo. “The power to question is the basis of all human progress,” she insisted. She was a democrat who introduced independent India’s only period of dictatorship and who then gave up her powers voluntarily. She was a socialist who implemented free market reforms.
However, whatever her decisions, whatever her policies, and plans, Indira Gandhi was driven by two things – India and secularism. This is why she would have been aghast at the anti-Sikh pogroms which broke out in the days following her assassination as thousands of Sikhs were murdered in an orgy of mob violence. For it was she who often said, “Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave.”
And it also why she would also have likely appreciated that in 2004 – nearly 20 years since her assassination – that Dr Manmohan Singh would become India’s first Sikh and non-Hindu Prime Minister. Interestingly, Manmohan was Reserve Bank of India Governor under Gandhi.
And that, along with the continued rise in India’s international standing, is perhaps the greatest tribute that the country can pay to its late Amma. She was a believer in India – in an India where everyone – regardless of gender and creed and faith – has the opportunity to prosper and succeed, and where no one is denied the fruits of the nation.
“My grandfather once told me that there were two kinds of people; those who do the work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the first group; there was much less competition.” Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi certainly lived up to her grandfather’s advice. Strong in mind and will, charismatic, decisive, firm, and uncompromising, she was a force of nature whose actions took her beloved country on the path of becoming an international power.
She was the Original Iron Lady – who faced down the Americans, liberated Bangladesh, and housed, gave financial security and education to hundreds of millions. She was also Indira Amma, Mother Indira – beautiful, assuring, strong, determined, concerned and nurturing. India, her offspring, the superpower of today, owes her mother a huge debt of gratitude for birthing it into the modern era.
“To be liberated, woman must feel free to be herself, not in rivalry to man but in the context of her own capacity and her personality.”
Indira Gandhi
