Indira Gandhi Birth Anniversary: Some lesser-known facts about India's first female Prime Minister

New Delhi | science academy Desk: Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi, more commonly known as Indira Gandhi was the second-longest-serving Prime Minister of India and was also the only women till date to have held the post. Indira Gandhi is known as the Iron Lady of India and is considered as one of the most powerful Prime Ministers in Indian history.

Indira Gandhi, born on November 19, 1917, to India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, held the position of the Prime Minister for 15 long years and was the supreme and central figure of the Indian National Congress during her tenure. Many people remember her for her step to impose the Emergency in the country in 1975, which changed the dynamics of Indian politics forever.The Iron Lady, ironically, was assassinated by her trustworthy Sikh bodyguard at her residence on October 31 in 1984, marking an end to an era. The assassination came after Gandhi launched 'Operation Bluestar' and ordered the Indian Army to confront Sikh separatists who had taken shelter at the Amritsar’s Golden Temple.

So to mark the 103rd birth anniversary of Indira Gandhi, here are some lesser-known facts about India's own Iron Lady:

Indira Gandhi served as India's PM for two terms. Her first term lasted for 11 years from January 1966 to March 1977, while her second term lasted for four years from January 1980 until her assassination in October 1984, making her the second-longest-serving PM of the country.

She was the only child of Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister, and was born on November 19, 1917.

During Nehru’s tenure as Prime Minister from 1947 to 1964, Gandhi was considered a key assistant and accompanied him on his numerous foreign trips.

In 1959, Indira Gandhi was elected as the president of the Indian National Congress.

Upon her father’s death in 1964, she was appointed as a member of the Rajya Sabha (upper house) and became a member of Lal Bahadur Shastri’s cabinet as Minister of Information and Broadcasting.

Indira Gandhi was awarded India’s highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna after leading India to victory against Pakistan in the Bangladesh liberation war in 1971.

In 1975, after she was convicted of an election offence and barred from politics for 6 years, she imposed an Emergency.

She went to war with Pakistan in support of the independence movement and war of independence in East Pakistan, which resulted in an Indian victory and the creation of Bangladesh.

In 1999, Indira Gandhi was named “Woman of the Millennium” in an online poll organised by the BBC.

Recently, she was named by Time magazine among the world’s 100 powerful women who defined the last century.