Prime Minister — Set 5

Correct Answer: B. Indira Gandhi

• **Indira Gandhi** = first and only female Prime Minister of India; served three terms (1966–77 and 1980–84). • **1966 appointment** — Indira Gandhi succeeded Lal Bahadur Shastri after his death; she was elected PM by the Congress Parliamentary Party; at the time she was a Rajya Sabha member. • 💡 Option A (Sushma Swaraj) is wrong — Sushma Swaraj was External Affairs Minister (2014–19), not PM. Option C (Sarojini Naidu) is wrong — Sarojini Naidu was the first female Governor of a state (UP, 1947), not PM. Option D (Pratibha Patil) is wrong — Pratibha Patil was the first female President of India (2007–12), not PM.

Correct Answer: D. Jawaharlal Nehru

• **Jawaharlal Nehru** = first PM to die in office on 27 May 1964, after which Gulzarilal Nanda served as acting PM for the first time in India's history. • **Acting PM precedent** — Nanda served for 13 days after Nehru's death; this set the convention for caretaker/acting PM when a PM dies or resigns unexpectedly. • 💡 Option A (Lal Bahadur Shastri) is wrong — Shastri also died in office (1966 in Tashkent), but he was the second PM to die in office, not the first. Option B (Rajiv Gandhi) is wrong — Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in 1991 while campaigning, after he had already left office. Option C (Indira Gandhi) is wrong — Indira Gandhi was assassinated in October 1984 while in office, but Nehru's death in 1964 came first.

Correct Answer: A. Gulzarilal Nanda

• **Gulzarilal Nanda** = served as acting PM twice — for 13 days in 1964 (after Nehru's death) and 13 days in 1966 (after Shastri's death in Tashkent). • **Caretaker role** — Nanda was Labour Minister under both Nehru and Shastri; he was never PM in his own right, only as a caretaker until a new PM was elected by the Congress party. • 💡 Option B (Morarji Desai) is wrong — Desai was Deputy PM under Indira Gandhi (1967–69) and then PM (1977–79); he never served as acting PM. Option C (Y.B. Chavan) is wrong — Chavan was Finance and Home Minister but never served as acting PM. Option D (Charan Singh) is wrong — Charan Singh was PM (1979–80) in his own right; he was never an acting PM.

Correct Answer: B. Narendra Modi

• **Narendra Modi** = first PM born after Indian Independence; born on 17 September 1950 in Vadnagar, Gujarat. • **Generational shift** — all previous PMs (Nehru, Shastri, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, etc.) were born during the British colonial period before 1947; Modi marks a post-independence generation taking over. • 💡 Option A (Rajiv Gandhi) is wrong — Rajiv Gandhi was born on 20 August 1944, before Independence. Option C (V.P. Singh) is wrong — V.P. Singh was born on 25 June 1931, well before Independence. Option D (Manmohan Singh) is wrong — Manmohan Singh was born on 26 September 1932, also before Independence.

Correct Answer: A. Atal Bihari Vajpayee

• **Atal Bihari Vajpayee** = shortest single-term tenure — only 13 days as PM (16–28 May 1996); resigned before a confidence vote, as he could not muster a majority. • **Three terms total** — Vajpayee served as PM thrice: 13 days (1996), then 11 months (1998–99), then a full 5-year term (1999–2004) at the head of the coalition. • 💡 Option B (I.K. Gujral) is wrong — Gujral served about 11 months (April 1997 – March 1998), not the shortest single term. Option C (Charan Singh) is wrong — Charan Singh served about 170 days; his tenure was longer than 13 days. Option D (Chandra Shekhar) is wrong — Chandra Shekhar served about 7 months (November 1990 – June 1991), longer than 13 days.

Correct Answer: C. Indira Gandhi

• **Indira Gandhi** = PM during the National Emergency proclaimed on 25 June 1975 and lifted on 21 March 1977. • **Article 352** — the Emergency was proclaimed under Article 352 (internal disturbance ground); civil liberties were suspended, press was censored, and political opponents were jailed under MISA. • 💡 Option A (Rajiv Gandhi) is wrong — Rajiv Gandhi became PM only in 1984, after Indira Gandhi's assassination; he had no connection to the 1975 Emergency. Option B (Lal Bahadur Shastri) is wrong — Shastri died in 1966; the Emergency occurred in 1975 under Indira Gandhi. Option D (Morarji Desai) is wrong — Morarji Desai was a political prisoner during the Emergency; he became PM only after the Emergency ended in 1977.

Correct Answer: A. Lal Bahadur Shastri

• **Lal Bahadur Shastri** = the only Indian PM to die outside India; died on 11 January 1966 in Tashkent (now in Uzbekistan). • **Tashkent Declaration** — Shastri signed the Tashkent Declaration with Pakistan's President Ayub Khan on 10 January 1966, ending the 1965 war; he died of a suspected heart attack the next morning. • 💡 Option B (Indira Gandhi) is wrong — Indira Gandhi was assassinated in New Delhi on 31 October 1984 by her own bodyguards. Option C (Jawaharlal Nehru) is wrong — Nehru died in New Delhi on 27 May 1964. Option D (Rajiv Gandhi) is wrong — Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu, India, in May 1991.

Correct Answer: D. P.V. Narasimha Rao

• **P.V. Narasimha Rao** = widely regarded as the 'Father of Economic Reforms' in India, initiating the LPG (Liberalisation, Privatisation, Globalisation) policy in 1991. • **1991 balance of payments crisis** — India's foreign exchange reserves had fallen to just 2 weeks' worth of imports; Rao with Finance Minister Manmohan Singh devalued the rupee and dismantled the Licence Raj. • 💡 Option A (Rajiv Gandhi) is wrong — Rajiv Gandhi introduced some liberalisation seeds (computer policy, telecom) but the major 1991 reforms were Rao's initiative. Option B (Manmohan Singh) is wrong — Singh was the Finance Minister who implemented the reforms; Rao was the PM who took the political decision. Option C (Atal Bihari Vajpayee) is wrong — Vajpayee furthered reforms with infrastructure (Golden Quadrilateral) and disinvestment policy, but was not the initiator of 1991 reforms.

Correct Answer: C. Morarji Desai

• **Morarji Desai** = oldest person to become PM of India; took office in 1977 at the age of 81 years; also the first non-Congress PM. • **First non-Congress PM** — Desai led the Janata Party government (1977–79), the first time Congress lost power since Independence; his government also passed the 44th Amendment to restore civil liberties. • 💡 Option A (Atal Bihari Vajpayee) is wrong — Vajpayee became PM at about 71 years in 1996, younger than Desai's 81 years. Option B (P.V. Narasimha Rao) is wrong — Rao became PM at 70 years in 1991, also younger than Desai. Option D (Charan Singh) is wrong — Charan Singh became PM at about 76 years in 1979, younger than Desai's 81.

Correct Answer: A. Narendra Modi

• **Narendra Modi** = served as Chief Minister of Gujarat from October 2001 to May 2014, before becoming Prime Minister — the longest serving Gujarat CM. • **Gujarat CM tenure** — Modi served approximately 12.5 years as Gujarat CM, overseeing the 'Gujarat Model' of development focused on infrastructure and industry. • 💡 Option B (H.D. Deve Gowda) is wrong — Deve Gowda was Chief Minister of Karnataka (1994–96), not Gujarat. Option C (Morarji Desai) is wrong — Desai was CM of Bombay State (1952–56), which was bifurcated into Maharashtra and Gujarat only in 1960, after his tenure ended. Option D (V.P. Singh) is wrong — V.P. Singh was CM of Uttar Pradesh (1980–82), not Gujarat.