Indira Gandhi

Indira Gandhi became Prime Minister on Lal Bahadur Shastri's death. Morarji Desai was initially finance minister and deputy prime minister under Indira Gandhi.

Nationalization of banks, 1969

She was responsible for the nationalization of banks, fired Desai as finance minister because he opposed the nationalization.

Congress split

The election of a new President led to a split in the Congress when Mrs Gandhi did not support the official Congress candidate and instead supported an independent. Eventually, she was expelled from the Congress for "indiscipline".

Congress was split into two: Congress(O) and Congress(R). (old and reform) / (organization and requisitionist).

Eventually, Congress (R) won the general elections in 1971 with a huge majority (352 of 518 seats).

Indo Pakistani war, 1971

Indira was PM during the war in 1971, a major figure in the creation of Bangladesh.

Emergency, 1975

Indira is most well-known for declaring an emergency, due to "internal disturbances". This was followed by more authoritarian practises like putting dissenters in jail, press censorship, and extreme implementation of policies like forced sterilization.

The emergency was eventually lifted 19 months later in 1977.


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