Frail-looking but fiercely independent, Indira Gandhi remains one of the most polarising figures in modern Indian history. She inherited not just a legacy of independence but also the weight of responsibilities that would test her to the extreme. She served as India’s prime minister from 1966 to 1977, and again from 1980 until her assassination in 1984. Her long tenure reshaped India’s political, economic and social landscape.
She was not a mere sum-total of the triumphs of the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, the Garibi Hatao campaign, and the lows of the 1975-77 Emergency and Operation Blue Star in 1984. There were multifaceted dimensions of her statesmanship. Indira was a pragmatist who navigated a nascent democracy through economic fragility, regional insurgencies and Cold War intrigues. Which she often did at the cost of institutional norms. Her legacy is not just a ledger of victories and defeats but a testament to the complexities of leading a diverse post-colonial giant, which India is.
The Persona: Iron Lady or Enigmatic Matriarch?
Indira Gandhi’s personal charisma was as potent as her policies. She blended vulnerability with unyielding authority. She was often dubbed the Iron Lady by foreign observers during the tense U.S.–India negotiations in the 1970s.
Although reserved by nature she cultivated a public image of Durga-like invincibility — especially after the 1971 war when opposition leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee hailed her as “the goddess of power”. Beneath this façade, however, lay a woman shaped by personal tragedy: the early death of her mother in 1936, the passing of her husband Feroze Gandhi in 1960 from a heart attack, and her son Sanjay Gandhi’s fatal plane crash in 1980. These losses forged her into a fiercely protective figure, viewing politics as an extension of familial duty.
Unlike her father’s intellectualism and institutional bent, she favoured direct engagement with the masses. As Congress president, she travelled to remote villages in the 1950s, engaged with women on child-health and crafts, and developed a bond with rural women who saw her as a “Mother India” figure. She rejected explicit feminism — insisting she was “not a feminist” but believed in equal opportunities — a stance that symbolised women’s potential without challenging patriarchal structures.
Dismissed as a goongi gudiya or dumb doll by the likes of Lohiya and Congress bosses, she quietly dismantled their influence and asserted control. She was a tender matriarch to the poor and a ruthless strategist to rivals. This made her magnetic yet divisive — her cult of personality (encapsulated in the slogan “Indira is India”) permeated the Indian psyche. Her style influenced successors, embedding personalisation in Indian leadership. It also sowed seeds of nepotism, as seen in grooming Sanjay and later Rajiv Gandhi for politics.
Indira’s persona reflected cultural syncretism. Although she drew inspiration from figures like Joan of Arc for defiance and Mahatma Gandhi for non-violence, her decisions often veered toward realpolitik. In private correspondence and speeches she revealed insecurities about her English-education conflicting with India’s multilingual ethos. This fed policies like the 1967 decision on Hindi-English bilingualism.
Politics: From Syndicate Puppet to Congress Supremo
Indira’s political journey was a masterclass in adaptation. She transformed from a reluctant heir to an unchallenged supreme leader. In the 1950s she entered politics, first as Congress President, which was a largely ceremonial post, and then through more active roles. She had little patience with democratic processes. This became evident in 1959, when she engineered the dismissal of Kerala’s Communist government.
After Nehru’s death in 1964, she joined Lal Bahadur Shastri’s cabinet as Information Minister and gained administrative training during the 1965 Indo-Pak war. Her elevation to Prime Minister in 1966 was a compromise arranged by the Congress “Syndicate” of senior regional leaders. However, she rapidly moved to shake off their influence. In 1969 she nationalised the banks in a dramatic move — without consultation — thus provoking a split in the Congress into Congress (R) backing her and Congress (O) backing the old guard. This was partly sparked by her support for V. V. Giri’s presidential campaign and her determination to “stand with the people”.
Her Congress (R) won 352 of 518 Lok Sabha seats during the 1971 general elections. This validated her populist strategy of aligning with regional outfits like the DMK in Tamil Nadu and using anti-establishment rhetoric. She blended Nehruvian socialism with Gandhian populism. But she had no qualms while eroding federalism by imposing President’s Rule in nine states by 1977 to install loyalists.
After the Emergency, which spanned 1975-77, she was defeated by the Janata Party, but made a dramatic comeback in 1980. She secured 353 seats in the Lok Sabha. Her electoral genius lay in micro-mobilisation like anti-poverty schemes. She bypassed upper-caste intermediaries and empowered OBCs and Dalits in the Hindi heartland.
Yet this political style came at a cost: ordinances bypassed Parliament; a “kitchen cabinet” of aides such as P. N. Haksar sidestepped formal institutions; inner-party democracy eroded. She reshaped the Congress into a centralised machine, influencing India’s shift from consensus politics to majoritarian democracy — at the expense of institutional autonomy.
Achievements: Architect of Self-Reliance
Indira Gandhi’s achievements went far beyond winning the 1971 war. She introduced major structural changes that strengthened India’s independence and long-term stability.
One of her biggest contributions was ensuring food security. The Green Revolution picked up speed during her tenure. By 1972, India became self-sufficient in food, and by 1975 it even exported grain. In 1974, she authorised India’s first nuclear test, known as “Smiling Buddha,” which marked a bold step toward strategic autonomy. She also oversaw the 1975 merger of Sikkim with India through a referendum, and later, in 1984, launched Operation Meghdoot to secure the Siachen Glacier from Pakistan.
Indira also reshaped India’s financial system. On 19 July 1969, she nationalised 14 major commercial banks that controlled most of the country’s deposits. She said the goal was to support faster growth in agriculture, small industries, exports, and rural development. This move expanded banking access across the country. Bank branches increased from about 8,200 in 1969 to more than 65,000 by 2000, greatly improving credit availability in villages and small towns.
Another major reform was the abolition of privy purses. Through the 26th Constitutional Amendment in 1971, she ended the official recognition and special payments given to former princes. Indira argued that this was essential to uphold equality among all citizens.
Her leadership during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War gave India a decisive victory and significantly raised India’s influence in the region. In foreign policy, she maintained a non-aligned position but developed strong ties with the Soviet Union, securing affordable military support. She supported global causes such as the fight against apartheid, the rights of Palestinians, and regional cooperation through the launch of SAARC in 1983.
Together, these actions helped shift India from an aid-dependent nation to a more confident, self-reliant power. Her welfare messaging, especially the slogan Garibi Hatao in 1971, became a defining part of her political legacy.
Failures: The Cost of Centralisation
Indira Gandhi’s mistakes were as serious as her achievements, and many came from her desire to centralise power.
The biggest and most damaging error was the Emergency from 1975 to 1977. On 25 June 1975, the President declared a national emergency on her advice, citing “internal disturbance.” During this period, citizens lost basic freedoms, opposition leaders were jailed, the press was censored, and several constitutional changes were made to give the government more control. The Emergency ended only after she lost the 1977 election.
This period also saw many authoritarian abuses. A forced sterilisation campaign, driven mainly by her son Sanjay Gandhi, led to millions of men being sterilised. There were widespread misuse of ordinances, harsh demolition drives in Delhi in 1976, and strong action against anyone who criticised the government. These actions left deep marks on India’s democracy, which endure to this day.
Her approach in Punjab brought further trouble. She initially supported Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale to weaken the Akali Dal, but this strategy backfired. In June 1984, she ordered Operation Blue Star, a military action inside the Golden Temple. This angered many Sikhs and led to her assassination on 31 October 1984 by her Sikh bodyguards. The assassination was followed by anti-Sikh riots in which thousands died. The adverse consequences are being felt even now.
There were also economic costs. Although bank nationalisation improved access to credit, it reduced efficiency. The public sector became slow and resistant to innovation. The licence-raj system choked private enterprise, and by the early 1980s India was growing much slower than other Asian countries.
Indira’s long tussles with institutions also weakened democratic checks and balances. She frequently clashed with the judiciary and parliament. The famous 1973 Kesavananda Bharati judgement — which said that constitutional amendments cannot change the “basic structure” of the Constitution — was a direct response to her attempts to expand her power through the 24th and 25th amendments.
Legacy: A Fractured Icon
Indira’s legacy endures as a double-edged sword. She is hailed as a symbol of female empowerment and assertive nationalism. She was voted BBC’s Woman of the Millennium in 1999. But her tenure is a cautionary tale of power unchecked.
Her reforms, like bank nationalisation, rural branch expansion, and abolition of princely privileges, created a welfare-state infrastructure and opened politics to the marginalised OBCs and Dalits. In economic terms, her push for self-reliance laid groundwork for later liberalisation, though delayed. In foreign policy, her assertive Third-World leadership inspired Global South states.
Yet her downsides remain. For example, executive overreach, erosion of civil liberties, and the decline of Congress Party’s inner-party democracy. The influence of her style of personalised leadership and centralisation remains till today. As populism rises globally, her model of charismatic centralisation resonates uneasily and raises questions: how does a democracy balance strong leadership and institutional safeguards?
Indira Gandhi’s story reminds us that greatness often exacts a democratic toll. She was more than her headlines: a visionary who fed a billion and armed a nation, yet also a cautionary tale of power’s perils. Statesmanship in a post-colonial democracy demands both empathy and restraint. She forged India anew, flaws and all. In balancing empathy with expediency, she teaches that the path to greatness may cast long shadows.
Indira Gandhi, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Syndicate, Bangladesh War, Pakistan, United States, Jawaharlal Nehru, Lohia, Bank Nationalisation, Global South
