In the mid-1960s, seasoned party bosses handed India's highest office to a woman they privately mocked as a dumb doll, expecting an easily manipulated puppet. It was a spectacular miscalculation. This deep dive traces the life, psychology, and deeply contested legacy of Indira Gandhi, India's first and only female prime minister, impartially reporting the historical record.

From a lonely childhood in the shadow of the independence movement to splitting the Congress Party and defeating Pakistan to create Bangladesh, Gandhi consolidated unprecedented power. We examine her populist rise, the authoritarian Emergency, her stunning comeback, and the decisions that led to her assassination by her own bodyguards.

• How her isolated upbringing built an impenetrable self-reliance
• Splitting Congress in a political hostile takeover of  ...