<P> Gandhi served as her father's personal assistant and hostess during his tenure as Prime Minister between 1947 and 1964 . She was elected Congress President in 1959 . Upon her father's death in 1964 she was appointed as a member of the Rajya Sabha (upper house) and became a member of Lal Bahadur Shastri's cabinet as Minister of Information and Broadcasting . In the Congress Party's parliamentary leadership election held in early 1966 (upon the death of Shastri) she defeated her rival, Morarji Desai, to become leader, and thus succeeded Shastri as Prime Minister of India . </P> <P> As Prime Minister, Gandhi was known for her political ruthlessness and unprecedented centralisation of power . She went to war with Pakistan in support of the independence movement and war of independence in East Pakistan, which resulted in an Indian victory and the creation of Bangladesh, as well as increasing India's influence to the point where it became the regional hegemon of South Asia . Citing fissiparous tendencies and in response to a call for revolution, Gandhi instituted a state of emergency from 1975 to 1977 where basic civil liberties were suspended and press was censored . Widespread atrocities were carried out during the emergency . In 1980, she returned to power after free and fair elections. She was assassinated by her own bodyguards and Sikh nationalists in 1984 . The assassins, Beant Singh and Satwant Singh, were both shot by other security guards . Satwant Singh recovered from his injuries and was executed after being convicted of murder . </P> <P> In 1999, Indira Gandhi was named "Woman of the Millennium" in an online poll organised by the BBC . </P> <P> Indira Gandhi was born as Indira Nehru in a Kashmiri Pandit family on 19 November 1917 in Allahabad . Her father, Jawaharlal Nehru, was a leading figure in India's political struggle for independence from British rule, and became the first Prime Minister of the Dominion (and later Republic) of India . She was the only child (a younger brother was born, but died young), and grew up with her mother, Kamala Nehru, at the Anand Bhavan; a large family estate in Allahabad . She had a lonely and unhappy childhood . Her father was often away, directing political activities or incarcerated, while her mother was frequently bed - ridden with illness, and later suffered an early death from tuberculosis . She had limited contact with her father, mostly through letters . </P>

Who is the author of indra gandhi a life in nature