Indira Gandhi 1917-1984
Liker her father, Indira Gandhi served as Prime Minister of India.
WAS INDIRA GANDHI
RELATED TO MOHANDAS GANDHI?
No, Indira Gandhi was not related to Mohandas Gandhi.
Indira Gandhi was born Indira
Priyadarshini Nehru. Her father was
Jawaharlal Nehru. Her mother
was Kamala Nehru. Indira was their only child.
In 1942, Indira married Feroze Gandhi,
who was not related to Mohandas Gandhi either. Feroze died in 1960.
Indira Gandhi had two sons. Sanjay
Gandhi, who died in a plane crash in 1980, and
Rajiv Ratna Gandhi, who was
blown away on May 21, 1991, by a female Tamil suicide bomber.
INDIRA GANDHI
THE
ASSASSINATION OF INDIRA GANDHI
The Indian government had a beef with the Sikhs in the Punjab state,
who wanted their independence. Terrorist attacks by Sikh extremists
prompted Indira Gandhi to order an attack on Amritsar.
That's the
nutshell version.
The city of Amritsar is located in the
Punjab state. Two of the most holy houses of worship in Sikhism are
in this city, the Golden Temple and Akal Takht. Also
in this city were assembled the leaders of the Punjab autonomy
movement.
The attack, Operation Bluestar,
was executed by the Indian army on June 6, 1984. The fight lasted
for several days and hundreds were killed.
In retaliation, Indira Gandhi was
assassinated on October 31, 1984, in her house in New Delhi.
The must-read book Just 2 Seconds
by Gavin de Becker et al captures the scene.
Gandhi left her
residence and walked across the heavily guarded path to her
office. As she approached security guard Beant Singh, he
pulled a .38 revolver and shot her three times in the abdomen.
As she collapsed,
security guard Satwant Singh opened fire with his Sten
submachine gun, emptying the thirty-round magazine at her.
Gandhi died on the
scene.
Both bodyguards were
tied to Sikh terrorists. Beant was shot and killed, and Satwant
was wounded eight times, but survived. In 1989, he was hanged.
See also
Assassinations in History.
INDIRA GANDHI
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