Indira Gandhi

I devalued the rupee amid crisis and foreign pressure; prices rose and the promised export surge did not follow.

Congress lost its dominant majority and control of several states in my first general election as prime minister.

My confrontation with the Congress old guard split the party I had inherited.

Inflation, shortages and unemployment eroded the promise of ‘Garibi Hatao’ and fuelled nationwide unrest.

My government crushed the nationwide railway strike and arrested thousands rather than resolving the confrontation.

The Allahabad High Court invalidated my election after finding electoral malpractice.

I declared the Emergency, suspended civil liberties, censored the press and jailed political opponents.

My government’s Emergency programme enabled coercive sterilisation drives that harmed millions of families.

Emergency-era slum clearances displaced vulnerable communities, with deadly violence at Turkman Gate.

Voters rejected me and Congress after the Emergency; I even lost my own parliamentary seat.

Congress split again, leaving me to rebuild around a new faction bearing my own initial.

My government failed to resolve the Assam agitation before the Nellie massacre killed large numbers of civilians.

Years of political manoeuvring in Punjab ended with militancy entrenched inside the Golden Temple complex.

I ordered Operation Blue Star; the fighting damaged the Golden Temple complex and alienated many Sikhs.