Gandhi, Indira Priyadarshani (1917-1984)

Memorial to Indira Gandhi in Chennai (formerly Madras), Tamil Nadu, India.

Indian politician, prime minister of India 1966-77 and 1980-84, and leader of the Congress Party 1966-77 and subsequently of the Congress (I) party. She was assassinated in 1984 by members of her Sikh bodyguard, resentful of her use of troops to clear malcontents from the Sikh temple at Amritsar.

Her father, Jawaharlal Nehru, was India's first prime minister. She married Feroze Gandhi in 1942 (died 1960, not related to Mahatma Gandhi) and had two sons, Sanjay Gandhi (1946-1980), who died in an aeroplane crash, and Rajiv Gandhi, who was assassinated in 1991. In 1975 the validity of her re-election to parliament was questioned, and she declared a state of emergency. During this time Sanjay Gandhi implemented a social and economic programme (including an unpopular family-planning policy) that led to his mother's defeat in 1977.