Indira Gandhi death anniversary: 10 powerful quotes by the ‘Iron lady of India’

Indira Gandhi. File Pic

October 31 marks former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's death anniversary. She was assassinated on October 31, 1984, by two of her security guards in retaliation to her Operation Blue Star in Amritsar. Operation Blue Star was a military action ordered by Indira Gandhi to flush out Sikh militants holed up in Harmandir Sahib Complex (Golden Temple) in Amritsar.

Indira Gandhi served as the first and only woman prime minister of India from January 1966 to March 1977 and again from January 1980 until her assassination in October 1984.

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The only female prime minister of the country, Gandhi was known for the reforms she introduced such as the nationalisation of banks and the abolition of privy purses of the royal families. Indira Gandhi, popularly referred to as the "Iron lady of India", was one of the most influential and powerful leaders of India.

On her death anniversary, here are 10 powerful quotes by the first woman prime minister of India:

• "The environmental problems of developing countries are not the side effects of excessive industrialisation but reflect the inadequacy of development."
• "Opportunities are not offered. They must be wrested and worked for. And this calls for perseverance... and courage."
• "A nation' s strength ultimately consists in what it can do on its own, and not in what it can borrow from others."
• "People tend to forget their duties but remember their rights."
• "Have a bias toward action - let's see something happen now. You can break that big plan into small steps and take the first step right away."
• "All the people who fought for freedom were my heroes. I mean, that was the sort of story I liked reading about freedom struggles and so on."
• "This is why we feel that democracy is important: because democracy allows you to have small explosions and therefore avoid the bigger explosions."
• "If I die a violent death, as some fear and a few are plotting, I know that the violence will be in the thought and the action of the assassins, not in my dying."
• "Even if I died in the service of the nation, I would be proud of it. Every drop of my blood will contribute to the growth of this nation and to make it strong and dynamic."