Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi was India's third prime minister and the only female to hold this position. She was the only child of Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister and became president of the Indian National Congress in 1959 in a special session held at Delhi. Her bold leadership during the India-Pakistan war of 1971, under which Indira not only vivisected Pakistan but also birthed the new nation named Bangladesh, Mrs Gandhi had since been widely hailed as the 'Iron Lady' of India. However, her charismatic yet controversial style of working has made her the most interesting political leader of independent India. Mrs Gandhi later in her premiership consolidated power and imposed a national emergence, from 1975 to 1977, which attracted widespread criticism and led to her defeat in 1977 general elections to the Indian Parliament. She later swept to power by securing a massive win in 1980 general elections to the Indian Parliament but was assassinated in October 1984 by her Sikh bodyguards.