Indira Gandhi

Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (इन्दिरा प्रियदर्शिनी गान्धी) (November 19, 1917 – October 31, 1984) was Prime Minister of India from January 19, 1966 to March 24, 1977, and from January 14, 1980 until her assassination in 1984. She was one of modern India's most important political leaders.

Terrorism and Assassination

Sanjay Gandhi was now officially an MP, and Indira groomed him to be her successor. His death in a plane crash in 1980, however, brought relief to many who saw him as the real villain of the Emergency. After long pleading, Indira eventually succeeded in getting her elder son Rajiv to enter politics. He was duly elected to his brother's seat in 1981. A stable government and a powerful PM now brought order and peace to the country's economy and administration once again; but the rise of terrorist insurgencies in the states of Assam and Punjab, and the continuing instability of Kashmir, were to have ominous consequences.

Related Topics:
Sanjay Gandhi - Assam - Punjab - Kashmir

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Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, a young Sikh fundamentalist priest, advocated Sikh separatism, and the Akali Dal party in Punjab, the opponents of the Congress, hesitated to distance itself from him in order to keep the support of Sikh conservatives. The freedom fighters never fully preached independace but it was implied, in June 1984 gandhi made her fatal miscalculation. Aware of Pakistan's support for the separatist movement, the Government ordered Operation Blue Star, headed by Major General Kuldip Singh Brar. The unsuccessful assault left over 100 soldiers and 493 occupiers killed whilst the conduct of the army following the operation was denounced as genocide when hundreds of innocent worshippers were killed and tortured by the army.

Related Topics:
Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale - Akali Dal - Punjab - Pakistan - Operation Blue Star - Kuldip Singh Brar

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Sikhs everywhere were outraged at the perceived desecration of their holiest shrine: on October 31, 1984, Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards, Beant Singh and Satwant Singh. Beant Singh was fatally shot just after the assassination while Satwant Singh was sentenced to death by hanging in 1988. She was cremated on 3 November, near Raj Ghat and the place was called Shakti Sthal. In New Delhi, anti-Sikh riots engulfed the city after her death, encouraged by numerous members of the ruling Congress party, leaving more than 3,000 dead. The long-delayed judicial response to these riots is an inflammatory topic in India even today.

Related Topics:
October 31 - 1984 - Beant Singh - Satwant Singh - 3 November - Shakti Sthal - Anti-Sikh riot - Congress

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