Madras anti Hindi agitation

When he was assigned as a Prime Minister of the India after the death of the former Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru on 27th of May in 1964, he retained various earlier members from the Council of Jawaharlal Nehru such as Yashwantrao Chavan as a Defence Minister of India, Swaran Singh as an External Affairs Minister, Indira Gandhi as a Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Gulzarilal Nanda as a Minister of Home Affairs of India, T. T. Krishnamachari as a Finance Minister of India and etc.

He also has involved in solving the Madras anti Hindi agitation in the year 1965. As Indian mother tongue (sole national language) is Hindi, it was opposed by some of the Indian states talking non Hindi language like English. In order to handle that situation, he decided in his meeting with Indira Gandhi to continue the English as an official language by the non Hindi speaking states of the India. After his positive assurance the riots was settled to calm.