Gulzarilal Nanda, Indian politician who twice served briefly as interimprime minister, in 1964 following the death of Jawaharlal Nehru and in 1966 upon the death of Lal Bahadur Shastri (b.…
Morarji Desai, in full Morarji Ranchhodji Desai, (born Feb. 29, 1896, Bhadeli, Gujarat province, India—died April 10, 1995, Bombay [now Mumbai]), prime minister of India (1977–79), first leader of sovereign India not to represent…
Charan Singh, in full Chaudhuri Charan Singh, (born Dec. 23, 1902, Noorpur, Uttar Pradesh, India—died May 29, 1987, New Delhi), Indian politician who served briefly as prime…
Rajiv Gandhi, in full Rajiv Ratna Gandhi, (born August 20, 1944, Bombay [now Mumbai], India—died May 21, 1991, Sriperumbudur, near Madras [now Chennai]), Indian politician and government official who rose to become…
V.P. Singh, in full Vishwanath Pratap Singh, (born June 25, 1931, Allahabad, India—died November 27, 2008, New Delhi), politician and government official who was prime minister of India in 1989–90. Singh…
Chandra Shekhar, (born July 1, 1927, Ibrahimpatti, India—died July 8, 2007, New Delhi), politician and legislator, who served as prime minister of India from November 1990 to June 1991.…
P.V. Narasimha Rao, in full Pamulaparti Venkata Narasimha Rao, (born June 28, 1921, near Karimnagar, India—died December 23, 2004, New Delhi), leader of the Congress (I) Party faction…
Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Bihari also spelled Behari, (born December 25, 1924, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India—died August 16, 2018, New Delhi, Delhi), leader of the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and twice prime minister of India (1996; 1998–2004).TOP…
In the 1996 general elections, the Congress party headed by P. V. Narasimha Rao lost decisively but no other party won enough seats to form a government. When…
Lal Bahadur Shastri, (born Oct. 2, 1904, Mughalsarai, India—died Jan. 11, 1966, Tashkent, Uzbekistan, U.S.S.R.), Indian statesman, prime minister of India (1964–66) after Jawaharlal Nehru. A member of Mahatma Gandhi’s noncooperation movement against British government…
Prime Minister Gujral continued in the office for over 11 months, including 3 months as caretaker Prime Minister. During this time, he attempted to improve…
Manmohan Singh, (born September 26, 1932, Gah, West Punjab, India [now in Pakistan]), Indian economist and politician, who served as prime minister of India from 2004 to 2014. A Sikh,…
Narendra Modi, in full Narendra Damodardas Modi, (born September 17, 1950, Vadnagar, India), Indian politician and government official who rose to become a senior leader of…
India’s head of state is the president, whose powers are largely nominal and ceremonial. Effective executive power rests with the Council of Ministers, headed by…