When was indira gandhi assassinated

She was the second-longest-serving Prime Minister of the country, serving from January to March , as well as January to October She nationalised 14 banks during her tenure and worked towards poverty reduction and conservation of the environment. She imposed Emergency in the year , when she was convicted of an election offence by the Allahabad High Court and barred from politics for a period of six years. In , after she was barred from politics for six years due to being convicted of an election offence, she imposed Emergency in the country.

After the fall of the Janata government, Gandhi was re-elected in In the year , she was criticised for ordering the storming of the Harmandir Sahib under Operation Blue Star, to counter the Punjab insurgency. She was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards on 31 October. Few outside India know about the events leading up to her death. And fewer still know about the thousands who died in the following 72 hours.

I was there. I was a young trainee surgeon from a middle class Delhi background, interested in rock and roll, beer and cricket. Punjab to the north was fractured by violence between Sikh militants and government forces. People like me, who argued that both sides were committing atrocities, were shouted down by a polarised society.

I was frustrated and distressed, but life in Delhi carried on. All that changed at 9. Indira Gandhi has been shot by her Sikh bodyguards. Our hospital served the poor, the dispossessed and those without political or economic clout.

People spoke in hushed whispers, the crowd swarmed anxiously, senior government figures arrived with blaring alarms, police and security guards were everywhere. There was an ominous foreboding in the humid air. The gates were blocked by teeming crowds. My turban came off. Clutching my turban and crouching, I forced my way through as more blows rained down upon my back.

I managed to stumble into an auto-rickshaw, pleading with the driver to take me away. The blows I received were a manifestation of grief turned into anger, and mourning expressed as assault. The killings started late that evening. The Wikipedia entry for the riots states that the first Sikh was killed on 1 November I know of an elderly Sikh man who was killed on 31 October around 9 pm.

Truth is hard to establish in a state of total anarchy. Rumour was rife; trains were arriving from Punjab with the Hindu passengers having all been killed by the Sikhs onboard; Sikhs were celebrating and distributing sweets; Sikhs had poisoned the water supply of Delhi. State mourning will be observed throughout the country for 12 days upto Nov.

During the period of mourning, the national flag will be flown at half-mast throughout the country, and there will be no official entertainments. A black-bordered extraordinary gazette notification was issued this evening announcing the sad demise of the Prime Minister.

Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi, who would have been 67 on Nov. She was getting ready for a session with an Irish Television team led by the renowned British actor, Peter Ustinov.

Mr Ustinov, who had accompanied Mrs Gandhi on her tour of Orisa from where she returned last night, told a news agency that the TV camera could take shots of the Prime Minister when she lay in a pool of blood. Around 9 a. Near the gate that led to the Akbar Road bungalow, the two assailants shot at her.

There were no family members with the Prime Minister. As she slumped on the lawns, other security guards fired at the assailants. Sharada Prasad, Information Adviser to the Prime Minister, who was waiting with the television team, told newsmen he heard the shots and ran towards the direction from where the sound came.

The Akbar Road bungalow presented a direct view, and as he reached the spot he found the Prime Minister being attended to by the security staff. Mrs Sonia Gandhi with some relatives rushed out of her house amidst a loud shriek. Dhawan, and Mr D. A team of doctors headed by Prof Venugopal attended on her. The entire hospital complex was cordoned off and security tightened.

A security ring was also placed around the 1, Safdarjang Road bungalow. Many others who rushed to Delhi on hearing about the assassination attempt on Mrs Gandhi were, however, prevented from entering the AIIMS by the security staff. Many among them were heard claiming that some foreign radio stations had pronounced her dead around 12 noon. According to official sources, sub-inspector Beant Singh had endeared himself as a household member.