Author: Pranay Gupte
Publisher: Penguin/Viking
Year: 2009
Language: English
Pages: 597
ISBN/UPC (if available): 9780670084098
Description
Mother India is the fascinating story of independent India’s most complex political figure: Indira Gandhi, the enigmatic and solitary daughter of the country’s first prime minister, who rose to become prime minister herself.
From being the reticent Indu in the Nehru Family, she became one of the great leaders of the twentieth century. Pranay Gupte explores the life and times of Mrs. G’, who at the height of her career was often compared to Bharat Mata---Mother India. Her ‘Garibi Hatao’ call and her efforts at bringing about a Green Revolution endeared her to the electorate, but controversy and criticism, too, marked her years in and out of office.
From the time she engineered a split in the Congress Party to emerge as its undisputed leader in the 1960s, through the triumphal aftermath of the 1971 war, the infamous Emergency, right up to Operation Blue star which led to her brutal assassination on 31 October 1984 Mrs. Gandhi ‘s legacy Is still being determined.
This comprehensive biography, reissued in a revised edition on Indira Gandhi’s twenty –fifth death anniversary, not only explores her career and contradictions as a consummate politician, but also her relationships as daughter wife and mother. Packed with lively anecdotes and cogent insights, this book is both a compelling portrait of Indira Gandhi and trenchant analysis of the politics of twentieth –century India.
Contents
AUTHOR’S NOTE
PROLOGUE: THE FUNERAL OF INDIRA GANDHI
INTRODUCITON: INDIRA’S INDIA
PART I; THE END
1. THE ASSASSINATION
2. THE NEWS
3. THE AFTERMATH
4. THE LEGACY OF INDIRA GANDHI
PART II: THE BEGINNING
5. DAUGHTER OF PRIVILEGE
6. THE EDUCATION OF INDIRA PRIYADARSHINI NEHRU
7. THE DEATH OF KAMALA NEHRU
8. LOVER’S WEDDING
9. MARRIAGE BY FIRE
PART III: THE MIDDLE YEARS
10. THE APPRENTICESHIP
11. INTO HER OWN
12. TOWARDS THE TOP
13. THE PERLIS OF POWER
14. PARTY TIMES
PART IV: TRIUMPH AND TWILIGHT
15. TAKING ON TITANS
16. INDIRA RAJ
17. EMPRESS OF INDIA
18. FRIENDS, NEIGHBOURS AND ENEMIES
19. TRANSFORMING DEMOCRACY
PART V: BEYOND THE DYNASTY
20. DOMESTIC AFFAIRS
21. THE WORLD ACCORDING TO THE NEHRUS AND THE GANDHIS
22. POWER PLAYS
23. INDIA AFTER INDIRA AND RAJIV
EPILOGUE: THE FUNERAL OF RAJIV GANDHI
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX