Indira Gandhi | The comeback
Indira Gandhi bided her time as the Janata leaders squabbled. She stormed back in 1980 before the bloody end of her remarkable career
PICTURE PERFECT: Indira Gandhi rides an elephant in Belchi, Bihar, to visit victims of caste atrocities, Aug. 13, 1977. (Photo: KM Kishan)
ISSUE DATE: Jan 12, 2026 | UPDATED: Jan 3, 2026 19:20 IST
Mrs Gandhi would not live to see the end of the tempestuous decade that unfolded since her declaration of Emergency in 1975. Yet the close of this chapter bore the stamp of her personality as surely as its beginning. Which is remarkable, given that by March 1977, Mrs G was in a spiral of disgrace and defeat, her party reduced to 154 seats and relegated to the sidelines. Her return from that nadir was a dramatic, Humayun-esque comeback, and similarly destined to end in tragedy.
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