Political Journey after Independence

After independence, when the Congress party came to power and Jawaharlal Nehru became the country’s prime minister, Indira often acted as her father’s hostess for events and accompanied him on his travels. In the 1951-52 General Elections, Indira Gandhi handled the campaigns of Feroze, who was contesting from Rae Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh. Feroze was elected to the Lok Sabha. But they had differences in personal life and soon separated. Feroze soon became a major spokesman against the corruption in the government. He was instrumental in exposing a scam involving major

insurance companies and the finance minister in Nehru’s cabinet, T.T. Krishnamachari. He died in September 1960.

Indira joined the Congress party’s working committee in 1955, and in 1959 she was elected the party’s president. Following the death of her father in 1964, she became a member of the Rajya Sabha and was inducted into the cabinet by Lal Bahadur Shastri as the information and broadcasting minister.