From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Indira Gandhi
(19 November 1917 ? 31 October 1984) was an
Indian
politician
. She was The
Prime Minister
of
India
from 1966 to 1977. She was the daughter of
Jawaharlal Nehru
, who was also The Prime Minister of India. Her son,
Rajiv Gandhi
, later became The Prime Minister of India. She married
Feroze Gandhi
, who was in fact, not related to the
civil rights
leader,
Mahatma Gandhi
.
Indira Gandhi was the first woman prime minister of India. In 1938, Indira joined the
Indian National Congress Party
. After the death of
Lal Bahadur Shastri
in 1966, Indira Gandhi served as prime minister until India held the next
election
. She won that election in 1967 and became one of the first women elected to lead a
democracy
.
Indira Gandhi was Prime Minister of India twice. She served the first time between 1966 and 1977 and the second time between 1980 and 1984.
[1]
She also studied at the
University of Oxford
.
On October 31, 1984, Gandhi was shot to death by her bodyguards, both of whom were Sikh nationalists seeking retribution for the events at the temple.
Gandhi's body was taken in a gun carriage through Delhi roads on the morning of 1 November to Teen Murti Bhavan, where her father stayed and where she lay in state. She was cremated with full state honors on 3 November near Raj Ghat, a memorial to Mahatma Gandhi, at an area named Shakti Sthal. Her eldest son and successor,
Rajiv
, lit the pyre.
