October 31, 2004
Anniversary of Indira Gandhi's deathPolitics
Indians flocked to former PM Indira Gandhi's bungalow in Delhi today on the 20th anniversary of her assassination (thanks, Sapna):
Indira Gandhi lived in the 1,300-sq-ft bungalow on the leafy and wide Safdarjung Road for nearly 20 years... "Till 1971, this must have been the smallest house of any prime minister in the world," says the memorial's curator Vijay Puri Goswami.On display is Mrs Gandhi's blood stained and bullet pocked sari, bringing back memories of her violent end. Two bodyguards pumped 16 bullets into her when she was crossing a leafy pathway from her residence to the office for an interview with Peter Ustinov. The grassy pathway has now been covered in marble and covered with crystal. A sheet of clear glass marks the place where she fell to her assassin's bullets...
Visitors also flock to see her wedding sari, which was woven from yarn spun by her father Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of independent India... There are gifts from international leaders: a silver and onyx lacquer plate from Ho Chi Minh, a crystal memento from Yasser Arafat.
India: always on the right side of history. A new report on the anti-Sikh riots has been pushed back by two months:
Some of those responsible for the violence had been, and still were, members of the governing Congress Party... Seven government-appointed commissions which had investigated the massacres were either whitewashes, or had met with official obstruction... Up to 1,000 people are thought to have died in riots which erupted across India in the days following her murder, as Hindus took their revenge on Sikhs who were blamed for the assassination.
Despite the tyranny of Gandhi's rule, it's a macabre memory for a ghoulish day.
manish on October 31, 2004 07:55 AM in Politics · T·r·a·c·k·b·a·c·k address · Direct link · Email post
Hello,
It is sad to see and wonderful women like Indira Gandhi to die.
We miss a very strong and bold leader like Indira Gandhi in India now.
Never forget the dark side of her personality. She murdered thousands of Sikhs in the state of Punjab. This cold-blooded political wisdom finally resulted in her assasination. She even caused massacre of thousands of innocent Sikhs in India even after her death.
life is like that, everything must pass away logically or illogically. She was a little bit good and a little bit bad. And the magnitude of the position which one holds, determines the magnitude of events that come because of ones being a little bit bad and a little bit good. We are all the same, but we dont hold such magnanimous positions that our being little bit bad and good brings that much change and effect on the world. In the end life is always reasonable.
She was a dynamic leader and very corageous lady. We must not forget her support for the nation. Today is her death anniversary, we should recall all her good memories.
She was a deranged meglomaniac, whose hands are stained with the blood of thousands....direcly responsible for the catalyst behind kashmir(rigging elections) and the punjab situation(playing communal politics) as well as the emergency(imposition of dictatorial goverment,censorship of the press,imprisonment of political opponents,suspension of constitution,forced sterilisation,state tyranny against the poor)...oh yeah real good memories!!
Also you state here that up to 1,000 people were killed across india in the anti Sikh pogroms? Well the goverments own figures are 2,700 for delhi alone!! Most civil rights groups start their estimate for delhi only at 4,000. Certainly we do know fron official figures that more than 800 Sikhs were killed on the national rail network alone(passengers travelling,rail workers) the combined total for the whole of india for the three days may be anywhere between 8-10,000