The Government Of Indira Gandhi: The Strengths And Weaknesses (Essay Sample)

Student’s Name Professor Course Date The Government of Indira Gandhi Question 2. Discuss the government of Indira Gandhi, the strengths and weaknesses. Indira Gandhi was an Indian political and a central figure in the national congress. She was the only daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru who was an Indian prime minister (Gandhi et al. 12-15). She rose to the position of a prime minister in 1966 after getting strong support from the agriculturally based communities because of her food production policies and succeeding in the Pakistani war. The victory in the war saw the creation of Bangladeshi in early 1971 (Frank 43-45). A profound analysis of her policies during her reign reveals a number of strengths and weaknesses. One of the biggest strengths was her ability to effectively connect with the common people especially the grass-root workers of the party. She also had a great passion for ensuring that the national security was guaranteed. The Indian army successfully crushed the West Bengals’ communist militants through the declaration of the state of emergency. Gandhi underscored the importance of the north-eastern regions and suppressed any revolts like the Mizo uprising that was overrun by the Indian army (Goswami 579-582). Indira Gandhi also pushed for social reforms with the central agenda of guaranteeing equal pay for both men and women. The idea of equal pay came into being under her administration, and she continued to push for the equal rights of all citizens, arguing that inequality was behind the revenue deficit that the government was incurring (Goswami 581). Her ideas seem to be one of the earliest by prime ministers in the push for feminism. Gandhi believed that if women were given the opportunity to develop, they would be financially independent and contribute positively to the economic growth. Despite the strengths she possessed as a leader, her weaknesses made her voted out of office particularly because of the increasing authoritarian policies being enacted. She was behind the 21 months’ state of emergency that greatly infringed on the constitutional rights of the Indians (Kaviraj 1698-1703). Gandhi also made a big mistake in offering an indirect support to Zarnail Bhindrawala and failed to control him as he grew powerful and influential (Goswami 582). The results of this decision made her suffer in the Operation Blue Star that cost her life. She was assassinated by two of her bodyguards and her son, Rajiv, rose to power sparking anti-Sikh protests all over the country. Besides, it is worth noting that her dictatorial form of leadership that saw her arrest all members of the opposition, pretending to be guided by the code IPC 109 of arresting people who roamed at night (Kaviraj 1707-1708). Conclusively. Indira Gandhi is a ce...