Indira Gandhi leads India Following the death of Indian Prime Minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri Indria Gandhi becomes head of the Congress Party and thus Prime Minister of India. She was the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, who led India from independence in 1947 until his death in 1964. In 1967, Gandhi won a narrow election victory and, as a result, had to rule with a deputy prime minister until 1971. In 1975, Gandhi was convicted of a minor election infraction and banned from politics for six years. In response she declared a state of emergency throughout India, and consequently, in 1977, national elections were held in which Gandhi was decisively defeated. However, having formed a new political party she quickly returned to office 1980. Sikh members of her own bodyguard group assassinated her on 31 October 1984. __
