Today in Asian History - Indira Gandhi Assassinated
On October 31, 1984, Indian Prime Minister Indira Nehru Gandhi was assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards.
The attack likely was retaliation for Gandhi's order for the Indian Army to attack the Sikh's holiest site, the Harmandir or "Golden Temple," in September of 1981. At the time, Gandhi was trying to suppress a separatist movement in the Punjab region.
In the attack on the Golden Temple, as many as 3,000 people were killed.
Indira Gandhi was the first, and so far only, female prime minister in Indian history. She was the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister.
Contrary to popular belief, her husband, Feroze Gandhi, was not related to the Mahatma Gandhi. She did know the Mahatma from childhood, however.
Photo from the U.S. Department of Defense via Wikipedia.
Comments
Violence always begets violence. Had she tried to negotiate?
You know, in this case it really was mostly a religious issue. When India was partitioned in 1947, the Muslims got Pakistan and the Hindus got India proper, but the Sikhs didn’t get a country of their own. The former princedom of Punjab was divided between India and Pakistan.
Some militant Sikhs wanted their own country, which would be called Khalistan (like the name!). These separatist militants took shelter in the Golden Temple in 1984, and the Indian Army went in with all guns blazing. Most of the dead were Sikh pilgrims.
The violence turned public opinion in the Punjab against the separatist movement, and it had faded away, for the most part, by the 1990s.
This is crazy!!!!!!!!!!! Where is the rest of the History of India?????? Someone has been slacking!!!!!! WHEN AN INDIAN LIKE ME LOOKS AT THIS, THEY WOULD LIKE TO SEE A BIT MORE THAN THIS !!