Whenever the most powerful woman in the history of India will be remembered, the name of Indira Gandhi will definitely be included in it. Although Indira Gandhi is a woman associated with politics, her actions, decisions did not allow her to remain just a woman but made her the Iron Lady of India. Indira Gandhi's birth anniversary is on 19 November. On this day in the year 1917, a daughter was born to Jawaharlal Nehru, who became the most powerful woman of independent India.
Indira Gandhi is the only woman in the history of independent India who became the Prime Minister. Since then, to date, no woman has ever got a chance to come to this post. Indira Gandhi not only became the Prime Minister but she took such strong decisions which can never be forgotten. Her decisions were questioned. There was a protest, went to power but Indira did not budge.
Today banks are getting merged but there were very few banks in independent India. In 1966, there were only 500 bank branches in the country. Due to more population and less number of banks, only the rich class could take advantage of it, but Indira Gandhi nationalized the banks during her power. The common man also started depositing money in the bank. Indira's decision was criticized during that period. It was called arbitrariness of power but today almost every person has a bank account.
When Indira Gandhi was made the Prime Minister, the Congress leaders thought of her as a mute doll. But as soon as Indira came to power, She understood that it was not for her to stop this woman. The Congress syndicate started preparing to remove Indira from the post but Indira played the opposite game and defeated Congress's presidential candidate Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, supporting VV Giri of the Left parties. When the Syndicate expelled Indira from the party, Indira split the party. This decision of Indira also became the most domineering and Hitler's decision of the era of politics.
After the separation from India, the occupation policy of Pakistan started. Due to which a large number of Bengali refugees started coming to India. Indira warned Pakistan. America was supporting Pakistan at that time but Indira was neither afraid of Pakistan nor of America. She attacked East Pakistan and liberated that area and created Bangladesh. America also became mute in front of this clout of Indira.
The emergency decision was the biggest and most controversial during Indira's rule. In 1971, when allegations of misuse of government machinery were made against her in the elections, the Allahabad High Court canceled the 1975 Lok Sabha elections. At the same time, She was banned for election boy for 6 years. Taking advantage of the opportunity, the opposition demanded Indira's resignation. Started protesting. On the contrary, Indira declared an emergency. Press freedom was curtailed. Many major changes took place. Angered by this, the public defeated him in the 1977 elections.
Another decision of Indira Gandhi that the whole country remembers to date is Operation Blue Star. During that period the demand for Khalistan arose from Punjab. Janrail Singh Bhindranwale became the leader of Khalistan. The supporters of Khalistan made the Golden Temple their home. Sikh terrorists started coming here. Indira Gandhi ordered the arrest of Bhindranwale. After which the army killed Bhindranwale while running an operation in 1984. In this operation of the army, there was a lot of damage to the Golden Temple. Hundreds died. The Sikh community was hurt. This was also the reason for Indira's assassination when her own Sikh security forces killed Indira.
She did a great job in it. She is the voice of thousands of women across the country. While the government's illegal and unethical stand has been severely criticized the world over and Indira Gandhi, her son, Sanjay, and her sycophants who supported the Gandhis castigated, there are not many encouraging things to be said about the print media either. It was independent of government control at the time of the proclamation of Emergency but did precious little to maintain its journalistic standards and preserve its moral ground. She always stood with the nation, and that's why she is called an iron lady and will always be remembered.
