i am sassa

One of the words I commonly came across while learning about Indira Gandhi was Underestimated. Daring and Radical came up quite a bit, too.

Indira Gandhi was the second longest running Prime Minister of India, and its first and only female Prime Minister. She served four terms, three of which were consecutive. She created a more self-reliant India, helping transform a chronic food shortage with new economic policies and agricultural exports. Her leadership during India’s war with Pakistan led to the creation of Bangladesh, for which she was posthumously given the Bangladesh Freedom Honour.

Indira was one of the most controversial political leaders of all time. She made some hotly debated decisions during The Emergency, a 21 month period in which she declared a state of emergency across the country. She was nevertheless re-elected afterward, further stirring the pot with Operation Blue Star, a military action that ultimately resulted in her assassination. Indira was killed on Halloween in 1984 by her own bodyguards.

Despite all her controversy, she was overall very well loved. Khalid Ahmed said of her, “She was a true feminist to the core, a woman of substance who helped the country through a testing phase, possessed all the virtues of a woman and fought valiantly for women's rights in a man's world." She was voted the Greatest Woman of the Past 1,000 years in a BBC poll in 1999, which sounds like the coolest award bestowed upon all the badass women I’ve painted so far.

At the risk of being shallow, I would be remiss if I ignored the fact that, in addition to all these great deeds, she also looked like some kind of seriously badass Bride of Frankenstein. I am a sucker for interesting hair.

Thank you, Indira Gandhi.