Explained : From 1984: Indira Gandhi, Born to Politics, Left Her Own Imprint on India and Its Impact

This obituary was originally published on Nov. 1, 1984. It is being republished in preparation for a package for Women’s History Month.

Strong-willed, autocratic and determined to govern an almost ungovernable nation that seemed always in strife, Indira Gandhi was Prime Minister four times and the dominant figure in India for almost two decades.

She was born to politics and power, the granddaughter of Motilal Nehru, an early leader of the Indian independence movement, and daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, who led India as Prime Minister in its first 17 years of independence from Britain.

Mrs. Gandhi served as her widowed father’s official hostess, and after she moved into the position he once held, she became, behind her father and Mohandas K. Gandhi, the most commanding figure in modern Indian history. She was often accused of trying to build an Indian dynasty by planning to have her son Sanjay succeed her, and after his death in a plane crash in 1980 she was said to be arranging for her other son, Rajiv, to fill her role.

As Prime Minister, Mrs. Gandhi presided over the world’s most populous democracy, a nation of 700 million people. During her tenure the Government made limited headway against such age-old Indian problems as overpopulation, hunger, caste, inadequate sanitation and chronic religious strife among the majority Hindus, Moslems and other sects.

Her years in power were turbulent, coming to a climax last June in a violent showdown with the minority Sikhs, when Mrs. Gandhi ordered Indian Army troops to attack the Golden Temple, the Sikhs’ holiest place of worship, at Amritsar in the northern state of Punjab.