Spouse of the Prime Minister of India

The spouse of the Prime Minister of India is the wife or husband of the prime minister of India. The prime minister's spouse does not have an officially defined role. According to protocol, they attend social functions and gatherings at home and overseas, but have no participatory role.[1]

To date there have been 10 women and one man who have been married to prime ministers whilst in office. India has also had one bachelor, one estranged, one widow, and two widower prime ministers.

List

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S. No. Portrait Name Date of birth Date of marriage Prime Minister Tenure began Tenure ended Date of death and age
1   Kamala Nehru[a] 1 August 1899 1916 Jawaharlal Nehru 15 August 1947 27 May 1964 28 February 1936
Acting Lakshmi Nanda Gulzarilal Nanda (acting) 27 May 1964 9 June 1964
11 January 1966 24 January 1966
2   Lalita Shastri 11 January 1910 16 May 1928 Lal Bahadur Shastri 9 June 1964 11 January 1966 13 April 1993
3   Feroze Gandhi[b] 12 September 1912  March 1942 Indira Gandhi 24 January 1966 24 March 1977 8 September 1960
14 January 1980 31 October 1984
4 Gujraben Desai 1911 Morarji Desai 24 March 1977 28 July 1979
5 Gayatri Devi 5 December 1905 Charan Singh 28 July 1979 14 January 1980 10 May 2002
6   Sonia Gandhi (1946-12-09)9 December 1946 1968 Rajiv Gandhi 31 October 1984 2 December 1989
7 Sita Kumari Singh V. P. Singh 2 December 1989 10 November 1990
8 Duja Devi Chandra Shekhar 10 November 1990 21 June 1991 22 August 1997
9 Satyamma Rao[c] P. V. Narasimha Rao 21 June 1991 16 May 1996 1 July 1970
Unmarried[d] Atal Bihari Vajpayee 16 May 1996 1 June 1996
19 March 1998 19 May 2004
10 Chennamma Deve Gowda 1954 H. D. Deve Gowda 1 June 1996 21 April 1997
11   Sheila Gujral 24 January 1924 26 May 1945 Inder Kumar Gujral 21 April 1997 19 March 1998 11 July 2011[2]
12   Gursharan Kaur 13 September 1937 1958 Manmohan Singh 22 May 2004 26 May 2014
13   Jashodaben Modi (separated) 1951 1968 Narendra Modi 26 May 2014 Incumbent

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Kamala Nehru, wife of Jawaharlal Nehru, died in 1936. Nehru's daughter Indira Gandhi served as a hostess during his tenure.[1]
  2. ^ Feroze Gandhi, husband of Indira Gandhi, died in 1960. Her younger son, Sanjay Gandhi, served as host during her tenure.
  3. ^ Satyamma Rao, the wife of P. V. Narasimha Rao, died in 1970. No known hostess has served during Rao's term.
  4. ^ Vajpayee's adopted daughter Namita Kaul Bhattacharya served as the hostess during official functions.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Doval, Nikita (21 August 2015). "India's missing first spouses". Live Mint. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  2. ^ "Sheila Gujral passes away". The Hindu. PTI. 12 July 2011. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 10 November 2019.