Why is indira gandhi important

It was an arranged marriage, and Gandhi had Today, with about million followers, Hinduism is the third-largest religion behind Christianity and Islam. Every year around October and November, Hindus around the world celebrate Diwali, or Deepavali—a festival of lights that stretches back more than 2, years. Diwali occurs on Thursday, November 4. In India, the five-day celebration traditionally marks the biggest holiday of Live TV. This Day In History. History Vault. Recommended for you.

As a journalist, I was also witnessed those poisonous moments. Today, when we remember Indira Gandhi, it seems as if she was one of the few makers of modern India. Those were the days of socialist utopias and dreams, as soon as she took over the government, she made hasty populist decisions, one after another. Whether it was the abolition of the privy purse of royals and maharajas or the nationalization of banks, there were many such decisions that were labelled as socioeconomic reforms.

Please do not compare the decisions taken at that time with today. The needs of that time were different. In a democracy, people sitting on the lowest rungs of society had high hopes for such decisions. She had an amazing ability to communicate and captivate the weaker sections. Poverty could not be eradicated, but the poor turned up at polling booths in large numbers and voted for her. We should also remember, two years before she came to power, India fought a fierce war with Pakistan.

Wars always prove to be heavy on the pockets of the common man. The India of that time seemed to be staggering slowly. There was not enough money in the treasury to feed the huge population and there was nothing to feed the large population except red wheat provided by the US.

Johnson used to threaten India in various ways. It is also said that once the US stopped a ship laden with wheat at a port for some reason. It seemed like we had no choice but to live on US mercy. This was the time when Indira Gandhi, on the advice of experts, chalked out new experiments and improvements in the field of agriculture.

The historic green revolution was the product of that. For long, Indira has been viewed as being either a realist or an aggressor, decisive or authoritarian, pragmatic or opportunistic and politically astute or insecure.

The all-pervasive binary of invoking her imagery as 's courageous war leader , the veritable image of goddess Durga or the 's projection of her as the authoritarian hegemon squandering democracy only suits the agenda of political appropriation or vilification. But if we have to really do justice to the legacy of this colossal figure of Indian politics who has left an indelible mark on probably every facet of the nation's politico-socio-economic discourse, we need to go beyond frenzied veneration or mindless slander.

Indian contemporary political firmament is besieged in a volatile situation with a majoritarian and dominant national ruling party led by a charismatic leader. In addition to this is a beleaguered opposition consisting of a heavily atrophied national Opposition party , Indian National Congress, struggling to rejuvenate itself without a cogent roadmap and a motley assortment of regional parties struggling to fight BJP in their respective regional turfs. It is against this backdrop that reading Indira's legacy would be interesting but nevertheless equally intriguing.

In all fairness, two of the highest points of Indira's career — the Bangladesh liberation war and her spectacular comeback by ending the interregnum in the aftermath of the Emergency — must be pointed out right at the outset.

First, the war demonstrated the prime minister's personal courage and diplomatic finesse in combating the genocide in East Pakistan and supporting the clamour for freedom of the East Pakistanis in the face of tremendous hostility.

This carries not only a message of heroic courage in international diplomacy but also of empathy and humanity. The present political dispensation, which is presiding over a much more powerful India than in Indira's times, must do well to safeguard India's diplomatic and strategic interests from the ever-growing Chinese threat, Pakistan's belligerence and ambivalent American politics by drawing from Indira's political grit.

Apart from bold international positioning, today's India must reclaim its image as a paragon of humanitarian virtue that Indira had once shown the world by extending a helping hand to the persecuted East Pakistanis. In , a nation that proudly calls itself a responsible and rising world power cannot afford to turn a deaf ear to the persecuted minority of Myanmar in the garb of security concerns.

We must take a leaf out of Indira's book to learn a lesson on humanitarian responsibility and position India as a powerful yet responsible and peace-making nation. Second, Indira's unflinching will power and her resilience should be a perennial source of inspiration for any descendant political force in the country. Unfortunately, though the pair had two sons together, the marriage was not a great success.

Feroze had extramarital liaisons, while much of Indira's time was spent with her father after he became India's prime minister in The marriage ended with Feroze's death in In , Indira faced a crisis when troops from West Pakistan went into Bengali East Pakistan to crush its independence movement.

She spoke out against the horrific violence on March 31, but harsh treatment continued and millions of refugees began to stream into neighboring India. Taking care of these refugees stretched India's resources; tensions also mounted because India offered support to independence fighters. Making the situation even more complicated were geopolitical considerations — President Richard Nixon wanted the United States to stand by Pakistan and China was arming Pakistan, while India had signed a "treaty of peace, friendship and cooperation" with the Soviet Union.

The situation didn't improve when Indira visited the United States in November — Oval Office recordings from the time reveal that Nixon told Henry Kissinger the prime minister was an "old witch. Photo: Robert L. Knudsen [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. War began when Pakistan's air force bombed Indian bases on December 3; Indira recognized the independence of Bangladesh formerly East Pakistan on December 6.

On December 9, Nixon directed a U. The war's conclusion was a triumph for India and Indira and, of course, for Bangladesh. After the conflict had ended, Indira declared in an interview, "I am not a person to be pressured — by anybody or any nation. In June , Indira was found guilty of electoral malpractice. When rivals began advocating for her removal as prime minister, she opted to declare a state of emergency.

Emergency rule would be a dark moment for India's democracy, with opponents imprisoned and press freedoms limited. Perhaps most shockingly, millions of people were sterilized — some against their will — during this period.

At the time, population control was seen as necessary in order for India to prosper Indira's favored son and confidant, Sanjay, became particularly focused on reducing the birth rate. During the Emergency, the government directed its energies toward sterilization, with a focus on the simpler procedure of vasectomies. To encourage men to undergo the operation, incentives such as cooking oil and cash were offered.

Then government workers began to be required to meet sterilization quotas to get paid. Reports came out that vasectomies had been performed on boys, and that men were being arrested, then sent to be sterilized.