![<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indira Gandhi</span> 3rd Prime Minister of India (1966–1977, 1980–1984)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9a/IndiraGandhi.png/320px-IndiraGandhi.png)
Indira Gandhi was an Indian politician who served as the third Prime Minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 until her assassination in 1984. She was India's first and, to date, only female prime minister, and a central figure in Indian politics as the leader of the Indian National Congress (INC). She was the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India, and the mother of Rajiv Gandhi, who succeeded her in office as the country's sixth prime minister. Furthermore, Gandhi's cumulative tenure of 15 years and 350 days makes her the second-longest-serving Indian prime minister after her father. Henry Kissinger described her as an "Iron Lady", a nickname that became associated with her tough personality.
![<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jawaharlal Nehru</span> 1st Prime Minister of India from 1947 to 1964](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5f/Jnehru.jpg/320px-Jnehru.jpg)
Jawaharlal Nehru was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, statesman, secular humanist, social democrat, and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a principal leader of the Indian nationalist movement in the 1930s and 1940s. Upon India's independence in 1947, he served as the country's first prime minister for 16 years. Nehru promoted parliamentary democracy, secularism, and science and technology during the 1950s, powerfully influencing India's arc as a modern nation. In international affairs, he steered India clear of the two blocs of the Cold War. A well-regarded author, his books written in prison, such as Letters from a Father to His Daughter (1929), An Autobiography (1936) and The Discovery of India (1946), have been read around the world.
![<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prime Minister of India</span> Head of the executive branch of the Government of India](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d1/PMO_India_Logo.svg/320px-PMO_India_Logo.svg.png)
The prime minister of India is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and his chosen Council of Ministers, despite the president of India being the nominal head of the executive. The prime minister has to be a member of one of the houses of bicameral Parliament of India, alongside heading the respective house. The prime minister and his cabinet are at all times responsible to the Lok Sabha.
![<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rajiv Gandhi</span> 6th Prime Minister of India from 1984 to 1989](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d0/Rajiv_Gandhi%2C_the_6th_PM_of_India.jpg/320px-Rajiv_Gandhi%2C_the_6th_PM_of_India.jpg)
Rajiv Gandhi was an Indian politician who served as the 6th Prime Minister of India from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the assassination of his mother, then–prime minister Indira Gandhi, to become at the age of 40 the youngest Indian prime minister. He served until his defeat at the 1989 election, and then became Leader of the Opposition, Lok Sabha, resigning in December 1990, six months before his own assassination.
![<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vallabhbhai Patel</span> Indian barrister and politician (1875–1950)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f2/Sardar_patel_%28cropped%29.jpg/320px-Sardar_patel_%28cropped%29.jpg)
Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel, commonly known as Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, was an Indian independence activist and barrister who served as the first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister of India from 1947 to 1950. He was a senior leader of the Indian National Congress, who played a significant role in the Indian independence movement and India's political integration. In India and elsewhere, he was often called Sardar, meaning "Chief" in Hindi, Urdu, Bengali and Persian. He acted as the Home Minister during the political integration of India and the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947.
![<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atal Bihari Vajpayee</span> 10th Prime Minister of India in 1996 and from 1998–2004](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/be/Atal_Bihari_Vajpayee_%28crop_2%29.jpg/320px-Atal_Bihari_Vajpayee_%28crop_2%29.jpg)
Atal Bihari Vajpayee was an Indian politician and poet who served three terms as the 10th Prime Minister of India, first for a term of 13 days in 1996, then for a period of 13 months from 1998 to 1999, followed by a full term from 1999 to 2004. He was the first non-Congress prime minister to serve a full term in the office. Vajpayee was one of the co-founders and a senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He was a member of the RSS, a Hindu nationalist volunteer organisation. He was also a Hindi poet and a writer.
![<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bharatiya Janata Party</span> Indian political party](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1e/Bharatiya_Janata_Party_logo.svg/320px-Bharatiya_Janata_Party_logo.svg.png)
The Bharatiya Janata Party is a political party in India and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under the incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The BJP is aligned with right-wing politics and has close ideological and organisational links to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) volunteer paramilitary organisation. Its policies adhere to Hindutva, a Hindu nationalist ideology. As of January 2024, it is the country's biggest political party in terms of representation in the Parliament of India as well as state legislatures.
![<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indian National Congress</span> Indian political party](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6c/Indian_National_Congress_hand_logo.svg/320px-Indian_National_Congress_hand_logo.svg.png)
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party or simply the Congress, is a political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Empire in Asia and Africa. From the late 19th century, and especially after 1920, under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, the Congress became the principal leader of the Indian independence movement. The Congress led India to independence from the United Kingdom, and significantly influenced other anti-colonial nationalist movements in the British Empire.
![<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rahul Gandhi</span> Indian politician (born 1970)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/91/Rahul_Gandhi.png/320px-Rahul_Gandhi.png)
Rahul Rajiv Gandhi is an Indian politician. A member of the Indian National Congress (INC), he is a member of the Indian Parliament, representing the constituency of Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh since 2024 in the Lok Sabha. He previously represented the constituency of Wayanad, Kerala, from 2019 to 2024, and Amethi, Uttar Pradesh, from 2004 to 2019. Gandhi served as the party president of the INC from December 2017 to July 2019 and is the chairperson of the Indian Youth Congress, the National Students Union of India, and a trustee of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust. He is a member of the Nehru–Gandhi political family.
![<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morarji Desai</span> 4th Prime Minister of India from 1977 to 1979](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8c/Morarji_Desai_During_his_visit_to_the_United_States_of_America_.jpg/320px-Morarji_Desai_During_his_visit_to_the_United_States_of_America_.jpg)
Morarji Ranchhodji Desai was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as the 4th Prime Minister of India between 1977 and 1979 leading the government formed by the Janata Party. During his long career in politics, he held many important posts in government such as Chief Minister of Bombay State, Home Minister, Finance Minister and 2nd Deputy Prime Minister of India.
![<span class="mw-page-title-main">Syama Prasad Mukherjee</span> Indian politician, barrister and academician (1901-1953)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7f/Shyama_Prasad_Mukherjee_portrait_in_Parliament.jpg/320px-Shyama_Prasad_Mukherjee_portrait_in_Parliament.jpg)
Syama Prasad Mookerjee was an Indian politician, barrister and academician, who served as India's first Minister for Industry and Supply in Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's cabinet. After falling out with Nehru, protesting against the Liaquat–Nehru Pact, Mukherjee resigned from Nehru's cabinet. With the help of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, he founded the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the predecessor to the Bharatiya Janata Party, in 1951.
![<span class="mw-page-title-main">Narendra Modi</span> 14th Prime Minister of India since 2014](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/44/Shri_Narendra_Modi%2C_Prime_Minister_of_India.jpg/320px-Shri_Narendra_Modi%2C_Prime_Minister_of_India.jpg)
Narendra Damodardas Modi is an Indian politician who has served as the 14th Prime Minister of India since 26 May 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Varanasi. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a right wing Hindu nationalist paramilitary volunteer organisation. He is the longest-serving prime minister outside the Indian National Congress.
![<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mufti Mohammad Sayeed</span> Indian politician](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/60/Mufti_Muhammad_Sayeed.jpg/320px-Mufti_Muhammad_Sayeed.jpg)
Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was an Indian politician who served twice as the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, during November 2002–November 2005 and March 2015–January 2016. He was also Minister of Tourism in Rajiv Gandhi's cabinet and Home Minister of India in V. P. Singh's cabinet. He started in the wing of the National Conference led by G. M. Sadiq, which later merged into the Indian National Congress. He switched to Janata Dal in 1987, eventually founding his own regional party, People's Democratic Party (PDP). The PDP continues to be a political force in Jammu and Kashmir, currently led by his daughter Mehbooba Mufti.
![<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manmohan Singh</span> 13th Prime Minister of India from 2004 to 2014](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ea/Official_Portrait_of_the_Prime_Minister_Dr._Manmohan_Singh_%281%29.jpg/320px-Official_Portrait_of_the_Prime_Minister_Dr._Manmohan_Singh_%281%29.jpg)
Manmohan Singh is an Indian retired politician, economist, academician and bureaucrat who served as the 13th Prime Minister of India from 2004 to 2014. He is the fourth longest-serving prime minister after Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Narendra Modi. A member of the Indian National Congress, Singh was the first Sikh prime minister of India. He was also the first prime minister since Jawaharlal Nehru to be re-elected after completing a full five-year term. Singh is also regarded as the most educated and influential prime ministers of India.
![<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sheikh Abdullah</span> Indian politician in Jammu and Kashmir (1905–1982)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fc/Sheikh_Abdullah_1988_stamp_of_India.jpg/320px-Sheikh_Abdullah_1988_stamp_of_India.jpg)
Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah was an Indian politician who played a central role in the politics of Jammu and Kashmir. Abdullah was the founding leader of the All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference and the 1st elected Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir after its accession to India. He agitated against the rule of the Maharaja Hari Singh and urged self-rule for Kashmir.
![<span class="mw-page-title-main">Independence Day (India)</span> Public holiday celebrated on 15 August](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/29/A_still_of_Red_Fort%2C_during_the_62nd_Independence_Day_celebrations%2C_in_Delhi_on_August_15%2C_2008.jpg/320px-A_still_of_Red_Fort%2C_during_the_62nd_Independence_Day_celebrations%2C_in_Delhi_on_August_15%2C_2008.jpg)
Independence Day is celebrated annually on 15 August as a public holiday in India commemorating the nation's independence from the United Kingdom on 15 August 1947, the day when the provisions of the Indian Independence Act, which transferred legislative sovereignty to the Indian Constituent Assembly, came into effect. India retained King George VI as head of state until its transition to a republic, when the Constitution of India came into effect on 26 January 1950 and replaced the dominion prefix, Dominion of India, with the enactment of the sovereign law Constitution of India. India attained independence following the independence movement noted for largely non-violent resistance and civil disobedience led by Indian National Congress under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi who adopted these values from one of the early movements in India led by Ram Singh Kuka.
![<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dominion of India</span> 1947–1950 dominion in South Asia](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/41/Flag_of_India.svg/320px-Flag_of_India.svg.png)
The Dominion of India, officially the Union of India, was an independent dominion in the British Commonwealth of Nations existing between 15 August 1947 and 26 January 1950. Until its independence, India had been ruled as an informal empire by the United Kingdom. The empire, also called the British Raj and sometimes the British Indian Empire, consisted of regions, collectively called British India, that were directly administered by the British government, and regions, called the princely states, that were ruled by Indian rulers under a system of paramountcy. The Dominion of India was formalised by the passage of the Indian Independence Act 1947, which also formalised an independent Dominion of Pakistan—comprising the regions of British India that are today Pakistan and Bangladesh. The Dominion of India remained "India" in common parlance but was geographically reduced. Under the Act, the British government relinquished all responsibility for administering its former territories. The government also revoked its treaty rights with the rulers of the princely states and advised them to join in a political union with India or Pakistan. Accordingly, the British monarch's regnal title, "Emperor of India," was abandoned.
![<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Indian National Congress</span>](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/77/Indian_National_Congress_Flag.svg/320px-Indian_National_Congress_Flag.svg.png)
The Indian National Congress was established when 72 representatives from all over the country met at Bombay in 1885. Prominent delegates included Dadabhai Naoroji, Surendranath Banerjee, Badruddin Tyabji, Pherozeshah Mehta, W. C. Banerjee, S. Ramaswami Mudaliar, S. Subramania Iyer, and Romesh Chunder Dutt. The Englishman Allan Octavian Hume, a former British civil servant, was one of the founding members of the Indian National Congress.
![<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karan Singh</span> Indian politician](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4f/Pranab_Mukherjee_receiving_the_first_copy_of_the_book_entitled_%22VB-Raju-The_Visionary_Leader%22_from_the_President_of_ICCR%2C_Dr._Karan_Singh%2C_at_Rashtrapati_Bhavan_%28cropped%29.jpg/320px-thumbnail.jpg)
Karan Singh is an Indian politician and philosopher. He is the titular Maharaja of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. From 1952 to 1965 he was the Sadr-i-Riyasat (President) of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. He is the chairperson trustee of the Dharmarth Trust of Jammu and Kashmir which maintains 175 temples in north India and works in other areas such as historical preservation.