Indira Gandhi

Indira Gandhi grew up in a house full of freedom fighters. Her father was Jawaharlal Nehru, and as a child she once organised a group of children to help India's freedom movement in her own way.

When she grew up she became India's first — and so far, only — woman Prime Minister. She led the country through wars and floods, made banks work for ordinary people, and helped a new country called Bangladesh be born.

Indira Gandhi was born in 1917 in Allahabad, the only child of Jawaharlal Nehru. She grew up surrounded by leaders of the freedom movement and studied at Visva-Bharati and Oxford.

After Independence she served as her father's political hostess and travel companion, learning statecraft up close.

She became Prime Minister in 1966 and served until 1977, and again from 1980 until her death in 1984. Her government nationalised fourteen major banks in 1969 so that credit could reach farmers and small businesses.

In 1971 she led India to a decisive victory in the war with Pakistan that led to the creation of Bangladesh. In 1974 India conducted its first nuclear test, Pokhran-I.

Her decision to impose the Emergency from 1975 to 1977 remains one of the most debated moments in Indian history. She was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1971 and was assassinated on 31 October 1984.