INDIRA GANDHI
Politics
Born: November 19, 1917
Allahabad, India
Died: October 31, 1984

"If I die a violent death as some fear and a few are plotting, I know the violence will be in the thought and the action of the assassins, not in my dying."

Indira Gandhi was a child of the Indian revolution. She met and knew most of the leaders of the struggle for independence from Britain, including Mahatma Gandhi to whom she was not related. She was the confidante of her father Jawaharlal Nehru, who was Prime Minister from 1946 until his death in 1964 and followed in his footsteps as Prime Minister in 1966. She was a complex, enigmatic person, who dominated Indian politics for almost two decades.

Mrs. Gandhi acquired a formidable international reputation as a "statesman", and there is no doubt that she was extraordinarily skilled in politics. She was prone, like many other politicians, to thrive on slogans, and one -- Garibi Hatao, "Remove Poverty" -- became the rallying cry for one of her election campaigns. She had an authoritarian streak, and though a cultured woman, rarely tolerated dissent; and she did, in many respects, irreparable harm to Indian democracy.

She was an important figure on the international political scene until she was assassinated by two Sikh members of her special security force in 1984. At her death, her older son, Rajiv Gandhi, was sworn in as head of the Congress party and Prime Minister.