Today is India's first and only woman Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's 105th birth anniversary. Gandhi was born on this day in 1917. Indira Gandhi was the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of independent India. Her mother, Kamala Nehru was a freedom fighter and leader of the Indian National Congress. She was born on November 19, 1917 in Allahabad.
Indira Gandhi studied at the Modern School in Delhi, St. Cecilia's, and St. Mary's Convent in Allahabad. She also studied at the International School of Geneva, the Ecole Nouvelle at Beaux, and the People's Own School at Pune and Bombay.
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Indira Gandhi enlisted at Oxford University in England to pursue higher education, but could not finish her course and returned to India. She was later married to Feroze Gandhi in 1942. They had two sons, Rajiv Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi.
Today, on Indira Gandhi's 105th birth anniversary, let us tell you some interesting facts about the 'Iron Lady of India'
Indira Gandhi was the first and the only prime minister of India. She served as PM from January 1966 to March 1977 and from January 1980 until her assassination in October 1984.
During Indira Gandhi's first term as PM, she nationalised 14 banks. She served as the longest-serving PM after her father.
Indira Gandhi had called for war with Pakistan, supporting the Independence Movement that had led to the formation of Bangladesh.
Indira Gandhi was appointed Congress party president in the year 1959.
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Indira Gandhi was an only child. She was born to former Indian PM Jawaharlal Nehru and Kamala Nehru.
Indira Gandhi also studied at Shantiniketan in West Bengal, where the legendary writer and poet Rabindranath Tagore named her Priyadarshini.
Indira Gandhi was among the first Indians whose wax statue is at Madame Tussauds, London.
On October 31, 1984, Indira Gandhi was shot and killed by two of her bodyguards. Her bodyguards fired 31 bullets at her. It was in retaliation to her 'Operation Blue Star', a military operation against Sikh militants in Harmandir Sahib Complex (Golden Temple) in Amritsar.
