POLITICS
Of Indira Gandhi
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Selected as prime minister by party bosses ("the Syndicate") within the Congress Party, Mrs. Gandhi was at first quite pliable and compromising. However, after the Congress suffered unprecedented defeats in the 1967 national elections, hard on the heels of a devaluation of the rupee that adversely affected the poorer segments of the Indian population, she became dramatically assertive and opted for a series of choices that pitted her directly against the Congress Party high command, which had previously been built up by her father. As a consequence of her backing V. V. Giri for the presidency of India in 1969 and her activities in subsequent election campaigns, Mrs. Gandhi caused a major split in the Congress Party, resulting in the eventual acceptance by the Election Commission of the official name Congress Party-Indira (or Congress-I) to describe the party led by Mrs. Gandhi.
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