Today in 1966: Indira Gandhi becomes Prime Minister

On this day, in 1966, Indira Gandhi became the prime minister, and, in course of time, also one of the most controversial figures to hold the office in the history of India.

Daughter of India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, she was India's first (and so far, only) woman prime minister. She served for 15 years as India's prime minister, from 1966 to 77 (three terms consecutively) and between 1980 and 1984, when she was assassinated. This makes her the second longest serving prime minister after Nehru.

Coming from a family of leaders and prominent figures in the freedom struggle, Gandhi joined the Indian National Congress in 1938. She became part of the party's working committee in 1955, during her father's tenure as prime minister. She also served as the party president from 1959 onwards.

In 1964, when Lal Bahadur Shastri became prime minister, she was a Rajya Sabha member, and also the information and broadcasting minister.

On January 11, 1966, Shastri died of an alleged heart attack in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, where he had signed the Tashkent Agreement the day before.

In the ensuing chaos at the Parliament, the party--both the left and right wings—decided to name Gandhi the party leader. She was sworn in as the prime minister a few days later. The decision was challenged especially by Morarji Desai and the right wing. Desai later became the deputy prime minister.

But by 1971, Gandhi had garnered enough support that led to her victory and took over as the uncontested leader of the country. This was also the year that she called for the invasion of Pakistan, pushing for the secession of Bangladesh from Pakistan.

The rest of her tenure as prime minister was marked by several controversial decisions, including the declaration of Emergency in 1975 (in response to being charged with fraud during the previous election) and sterilisation programmes, among others. She lost her place as the leading party leader in the 1977 elections, and was even imprisoned in 1978 for a short while.

Owing to a failing Janata Party, Gandhi took back her place as prime minister in 1980 with a sweeping victory. In her last term, with the Sikh secessionist movement strong, Punjab faced terrorism and endless violence. In 1984, following Operation Blue Star at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, her own bodyguards assassinated her on October 31.

Rajiv Gandhi took over as the prime minister after her death. Sanjay Gandhi, her eldest son, had died in an airplane crash in 1980.