Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was born on November 19, 1917. She was assassinated by Sikh nationalists in 1984. (Express archive) Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was born on November 19, 1917. She was assassinated by Sikh nationalists in 1984. (Express archive)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday paid tributes to former prime minister Indira Gandhi on her birth centenary. Indira Gandhi, the country’s first and only lady to serve as prime minister till date, was born in 1917 to Jawaharlal Nehru and Kamala Nehru.

“Tributes to former PM Mrs Indira Gandhi on her birthday anniversary,” PM Modi said in a tweet.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and former prime minister Manmohan Singh were among other leaders who paid their tributes. Born on November 19, 1917, to Jawaharlal Nehru — India’s first and longest-serving prime minister — Indira served as PM from January 1966 to March 1977 and from 1980 till her assassination on October 31, 1984. She was the second-longest serving prime minister of India and till date the only woman to hold the position.

Gandhi briefly was a student at Visva Bharati University in Santiniketan and continued her education at University of Oxford in the UK. After her mother Kamala Nehru passed away, she joined the Badminton school, and then the Somerville College in 1937 where she studied history.

Indira was mentored by Jawaharlal Nehru himself. She worked as his personal assistant and hostess while Nehru was prime minister from 1947 to 1964. After gaining substantial political experience and crucial knowledge about the workings of the party and the government, she was elected president of the Congress party in 1959. After Nehru’s demise in 1964, Indira was appointed to Rajya Sabha and joined the Cabinet of then prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri as Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting.

In 1966, after the death of Shastri, the party held parliamentary party election. Indira trumped Morarji Desai to take the position as chief of parliamentary party. She also succeeded Shastri to the position of prime minister.

Indira gained notoriety for several reasons, especially for imposing the emergency in 1975. She had an iron grip on power and was ruthless in dismantling her political opponents.

The manner in which she went to war with Pakistan, helped liberate Bangladesh and the Pokhran project displayed her strong leadership qualities. However, her crackdown on the Khalistan movement in Punjab and the subsequent Operation Bluestar had resulted in her assassination.

Indira was accorded with several honours including India’s highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna, post India’s victory against Pakistan in the 1971 war.

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