assassination of Indira Gandhi

Operation Blue Star was a large Indian military operation carried out between 1 and 8 June 1984, ordered by Indira Gandhi to remove leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his militant Sikh followers from the buildings of the Harmandir Sahib complex in Amritsar, Punjab.{{cite news |title=RAW chief consulted MI6 in the build-up to Operation Bluestar |url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/raw-chief-consulted-mi6-in-buildup-to-operation-bluestar/article5579516.ece |newspaper=The Hindu |date=16 January 2014 |location=Chennai, India |first=Praveen |last=Swami}} This attack killed around 5,000 innocent pilgrims, men, women and children, many of whom were Sikhs, and the Indian Army suffered around 700 deaths with most of 80-200 militants dying as well.{{cite book |author=Chima |first=Jugdep S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sxpBDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT114 |title=The Sikh Separatist Insurgency in India: Political Leadership and Ethnonationalist Movements |date=2008 |publisher=Sage Publishing India |isbn=978-9351509530 |pages=114–}}{{cite book |last1=Karim |first1=Afsir |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QoqwQb38SQEC |title=Counter Terrorism, the Pakistan Factor |date=1991 |publisher=Lancer Publishers |isbn=978-8170621270 |pages=33–36}}{{rp|35}}{{cite book |last1=Kumar |first1=Ram Narayan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bVTMqlezIrwC |title=Reduced to Ashes: The Insurgency and Human Rights in Punjab : Final Report |last2=Singh |first2=Amrik |last3=Agrwaal |first3=Ashok |publisher=South Asia Forum for Human RIghts |year=2003 |isbn=978-9993353577 |page=36}}{{cite book |last1=Tarkunde |first1=V. M. |last2=Fernandes |first2=George |last3=Rao |first3=Amiya |last4=Ghose |first4=Aurbindo |last5=Bhattacharya |first5=Sunil |last6=Ahuja |first6=Tejinder |last7=Pancholi |first7=N. D. |title=Oppression in Punjab: A Citizens for Democracy Report to the Nation |date=1985 |publisher=Citizens for Human Rights and Civil Liberties |location=New Delhi |isbn=978-0934839020 |page=65}}{{cite book |last1=Jaijee |first1=Inderjit Singh |title=Politics of Genocide: Punjab, 1984–1998 |date=1999 |publisher=Ajanta Publications |isbn=978-8120204157 |oclc=42752917 |language=English}}{{cite book |last1=Grewal |first1=J. S. |url=https://archive.org/details/sikhsofpunjab0000grew |title=The Sikhs of the Punjab (The New Cambridge History of India II.3) |date=1998 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1316025338 |edition=Revised |location=Cambridge |pages=205–241 |author1-link=J. S. Grewal |access-date=16 April 2020}}{{sfn|Karim|1991|p=35}}{{cite web |date=6 June 2018 |title=What happened during 1984 Operation Blue Star? |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/fyi/story/1984-operation-blue-star-amritsar-1251681-2018-06-06 |access-date=9 February 2021 |website=India Today |language=en |quote=Official reports put the number of deaths among the Indian army at 83 and the number of civilian deaths at 492, though independent estimates ran much higher.}}{{rp|151}} The Operation also caused serious damage to two of holiest Sikh shrines the Golden Temple and Akal Takht. The military action resulted in the death of many pilgrims as well as damage to the Akal Takht and the destruction of the Sikh Reference Library.{{cite book |last1=Kiss |first1=Peter A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uIY6AwAAQBAJ&q=khalistani+currency+bhindranwale&pg=PA100 |title=Winning Wars amongst the People: Case Studies in Asymmetric Conflict |date=2014 |publisher=Potomac Books |isbn=9781612347004 |edition=Illustrated |page=100 |quote=In operation Bluestar a force of several battalions occupied the holy precincts in a battle lasting several hours. Bhindranwale and man of his associates were killed – but there was a very large number of civilian casualties as well. |access-date=15 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180715235735/https://books.google.com/books?id=uIY6AwAAQBAJ&lpg=PA100&dq=khalistani%20currency%20bhindranwale&pg=PA100#v=onepage&q=khalistani%20currency%20bhindranwale&f=false |archive-date=15 July 2018 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all}}

The perceived threat to Gandhi's life increased after the operation.{{cite web|url=http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-operation-blue-star-india-s-first-tryst-with-militant-extremism-2270293|title=Operation Blue Star: India's first tryst with militant extremism |date=5 November 2016|website=Dnaindia.com|access-date=29 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171103012225/http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-operation-blue-star-india-s-first-tryst-with-militant-extremism-2270293|archive-date=3 November 2017|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}} Accordingly, Sikhs were removed from her personal bodyguard detail by the Intelligence Bureau for fear of assassination. Gandhi feared that this would reinforce her anti-Sikh image among the public, however, and she ordered the Delhi Police to reinstate her Sikh bodyguards,{{cite web |url=https://www.readersdigest.in/culturescape/story-the-death-of-indira-gandhi-sagarika-ghose-124682|title=She Handpicked Him, He Shot Her Dead|last=Ghose |first=Sagarika |publisher=Reader's Digest |date=December 28, 2018 |website=readersdigest.in |access-date=June 17, 2020}} including Beant Singh, who was reported to be her personal favourite.{{cite news |last=Smith |first=William E. |title=Indira Gandhi's assassination sparks a fearful round of sectarian violence |url=http://www.sikhtimes.com/bios_111284a.html |access-date=19 January 2013 |newspaper=Time |date=12 November 1984 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121103043002/http://www.sikhtimes.com/bios_111284a.html |archive-date=3 November 2012 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}

At about 9:20 a.m. Indian Standard Time on 31 October 1984, Gandhi was on her way to be interviewed by British actor Peter Ustinov, who was filming a documentary for Irish television. She was accompanied by Constable Narayan Singh, personal security officer Rameshwar Dayal and Gandhi's personal secretary, R. K. Dhawan.{{Cite web|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/the-last-day-of-indira-gandhi-1379440-2018-10-31|title=The last day of Indira Gandhi|first1=Prabhash K. |last1=Dutta |date=31 October 2018|website=India Today}} She was walking through the garden of the Prime Minister's Residence at No. 1 Safdarjung Road in New Delhi towards the neighboring 1 Akbar Road office.{{cite web |title=25 years after Indira Gandhi's assassination |url=http://ibnlive.in.com/news/india-and-indira-25-years-after-a-pms-assassination/104183-37.html |date=30 October 2009 |publisher=CNN-IBN |access-date=5 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111104180327/http://ibnlive.in.com/news/india-and-indira-25-years-after-a-pms-assassination/104183-37.html |archive-date=4 November 2011 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }} Gandhi was not wearing her bulletproof vest that day, which she had been advised to wear at all times after Operation Blue Star.{{Cite web |title=The last walk: Indira Gandhi's last morning as the PM |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/mail-today/story/the-last-walk-indira-gandhis-last-morning-as-the-pm-179393-2014-02-02 |access-date=2023-10-24 |website=India Today |date=2 February 2014 |language=en}}

Gandhi passed a wicket gate guarded by Constable Satwant and Sub-Inspector Beant Singh, and the two men opened fire.{{cite news |date=31 October 1984 |title=1984: Assassination and revenge |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/witness/october/31/newsid_3961000/3961851.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090215211511/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/witness/october/31/newsid_3961000/3961851.stm |archive-date=15 February 2009 |access-date=23 January 2009 |work=BBC News}} Beant fired three rounds into her abdomen from his .38 ({{convert|0.38|inch|mm|disp=out}}) revolver; then Satwant fired 30 rounds from his Sterling sub-machine gun after she had fallen to the ground. Both men then threw down their weapons and Beant said, "I have done what I had to do. You do what you want to do." In the next six minutes, Border Police officers Tarsem Singh Jamwal and Ram Saran captured and killed Beant, while Satwant was arrested by Gandhi's other bodyguards along with an accomplice trying to escape; he was seriously wounded.{{cite news |title=Questions still surround Gandhi assassination |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=w1seAAAAIBAJ&pg=1354,5824409&dq=assassination+of+indira+gandhi&hl=en |access-date=19 January 2013 |newspaper=Times Daily |date=24 November 1984 |agency=AP |location=New Delhi}} Satwant Singh was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death for killing Gandhi. He was hanged in 1989, along with accomplice Kehar Singh.Dr. Sangat Kr. Singh, The Sikhs in History, p. 393

Salma Sultan gave the first news of the assassination of Gandhi on Doordarshan's evening news on 31 October 1984, more than ten hours after she was killed.{{cite web |url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/the-riots-that-could-not-be-televised/536471/ |title=The riots that could not be televised |publisher=Indianexpress.com |date=3 November 2009 |access-date=31 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091205154910/http://www.indianexpress.com/news/the-riots-that-could-not-be-televised/536471/ |archive-date=5 December 2009 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}{{cite web |url=http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/We+the+eyeballs/1/1328.html |title=We the eyeballs : Cover Story – India Today |date=24 September 2007 |publisher=Indiatoday.intoday.in |access-date=31 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141215111034/http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/We+the+eyeballs/1/1328.html |archive-date=15 December 2014 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }} It is alleged by the Indian government that Gandhi's secretary R. K. Dhawan overruled intelligence and security officials who had ordered the removal of policemen as a security threat, including her assassins.{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/28/world/india-releases-stinging-report-on-gandhi-s-death.html | work=The New York Times | first=Sanjoy | last=Hazarika | title=India Releases Stinging Report on Gandhi's Death | date=28 March 1989 | access-date=5 February 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107062316/http://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/28/world/india-releases-stinging-report-on-gandhi-s-death.html | archive-date=7 November 2017 | url-status=live | df=dmy-all }}

Beant was one of Gandhi's favorite guards, whom she had known for ten years. Because he was a Sikh, he had been taken off her staff after Operation Blue Star; however, Gandhi had made sure that he was reinstated.{{cite web |url=https://www.readersdigest.in/culturescape/story-the-death-of-indira-gandhi-sagarika-ghose-124682|title=She Handpicked Him, He Shot Her Dead|last=Ghose |first=Sagarika |publisher=Reader's Digest |date=December 28, 2018 |website=readersdigest.in |access-date=June 17, 2020}} Satwant was 22 years old at the time of the assassination, and had been assigned to Gandhi's guard just five months previously.

File:IndiraGandhi-SareeAtTimeOfDeath.JPG and her belongings at the time of her assassination, preserved at the Indira Gandhi Memorial Museum in New Delhi.]]

Gandhi was taken to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi at 9:30 a.m. Doctors operated on her. She was declared dead at 2:20 p.m. The postmortem examination was conducted by a team of doctors headed by Tirath Das Dogra, who stated that 30 bullets had struck Gandhi from a Sterling sub-machine gun and a revolver. The assailants had fired 33 bullets at her, of which 30 had hit; 23 had passed through her body, while seven remained inside. Dogra extracted bullets to establish the identity of the weapons and to correlate each weapon with the bullets recovered by ballistic examination. The bullets were matched to the weapons at CFSL Delhi.

The Indian government ordered a national mourning from November 1 to November 12 with flags half-masted and canceled entertainment and cultural events and offices closed for several days.{{Cite web |date=31 October 2021 |title=HT THIS DAY: November 1, 1984 — Prime Minister Indira Gandhi shot dead; 12-day mourning announced |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/htthisday-november-1-1984-prime-minister-indira-gandhi-shot-dead-12-day-mourning-announced-101635688584055.html |website=Hindustan Times}}{{Cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/01/06/world/india-hangs-two-sikhs-convicted-in-assassination-of-indira-gandhi.html | title=India Hangs Two Sikhs Convicted in Assassination of Indira Gandhi | newspaper=The New York Times | date=6 January 1989 | last1=Crossette | first1=Barbara }} Pakistan, Vietnam and Brazil declared three days of mourning.{{cite book |author= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HYU1Exwo4-kC |title=Indochina Chronology |publisher=Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California |year=1982 |location=Texas Tech University. Vietnam Center |page=4 |issn=0897-4519 |issue=v. 1-5}}{{Cite web | url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1984/10/31/Indira-Gandhi-assassinated/9097413288121/ | title=Indira Gandhi assassinated }}{{Cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/11/02/world/assassination-aftermath-olive-branches-neighbors-pakistan-offers-improve-india.html | title=Assassination Aftermath: Olive Branches from Neighbors; Pakistan Offers to Improve India Ties | newspaper=The New York Times | date=2 November 1984 }}[https://www.normasbrasil.com.br/norma/decreto-90394-1984_43628.html] Bulgaria declared a day of national mourning.Указ No. 3904 от 1 ноември 1984 г. Обн. ДВ. бр. 88 от 6 ноември 1984 г.

Gandhi's body was taken in a gun carriage through Delhi roads on the morning of 1 November to Teen Murti Bhavan, where her father stayed and where she lay in state. She was cremated with full state honors on 3 November near Raj Ghat, a memorial to Mahatma Gandhi, at an area named Shakti Sthal. Her elder son and successor, Rajiv Gandhi, lit the pyre.

Among the foreign dignitaries who attended the state funeral were:{{cite web|title=MEA Annual Report 1984-85|url=https://mealib.nic.in/?2513?000|website=Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India|date=1985|accessdate=13 June 2021}}{{cite news |title=The World Leaders At the Gandhi Funeral |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/11/04/world/the-world-leaders-at-the-gandhi-funeral.html |access-date=27 December 2024 |work=The New York Times |date=4 November 1984}}

Over the next four days, 8,000 Sikhs were killed in retaliatory violence.{{cite news|title=Delhi to reopen inquiry in to massacre of Sikhs in 1984 riots|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/10607451/Delhi-to-reopen-inquiry-in-to-massacre-of-Sikhs-in-1984-riots.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/10607451/Delhi-to-reopen-inquiry-in-to-massacre-of-Sikhs-in-1984-riots.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live| first=Dean |last=Nelson |date=2014-01-30 |work=The Telegraph|access-date=3 May 2016 |df=dmy-all}}{{cbignore}}{{cite book |title=Political Violence in South Asia |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2018 |isbn=9781351118200 |editor=Riaz |editor-first=Ali |editor2=Zaman |editor-first2=Fahmida |editor3=Nasreen |editor-first3=Zobaida}} Other sources record 16,000 deaths of Sikhs.{{cite book |last=Brass |first=Paul R. |title=The Politics of India Since Independence |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2008 |isbn=9780521459709 |edition=2 |page=200}}

The Justice Thakkar Commission of Inquiry, headed by Justice Manharlal Pranlal Thakkar, set up to probe Gandhi's assassination, recommended a separate probe for the conspiracy angle behind the assassination. The Thakkar Report stated that the "needle of suspicion" pointed at R. K. Dhawan for complicity in the conspiracy.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/cover-story/story/19890415-Thakkar-commission-report-leak-govt-try-to-accuse-Arun-Nehru-of-being-the-main-culprit-815980-1989-04-15 |title=Thakkar Commission report leak: Govt try to accuse Arun Nehru of being the main culprit |first=Prabhu |last=Chawla |date=April 15, 1989 |magazine=India Today |access-date=2018-10-30 |df=dmy-all}}

Satwant Singh and co-conspirator Kehar Singh were sentenced to death. Both were executed on 6 January 1989.{{cite news |last1=Hazarika |first1=Sanjoy |title=Protests Follow Hanging of 2 Sikhs |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/01/07/world/protests-follow-hanging-of-2-sikhs.html |volume=138|work=The New York Times |issue=47743 |date=7 January 1989}}

A Punjabi movie titled Kaum De Heere (Gems of the Community) highlighting the roles/lives of the two guards that assassinated Indira Gandhi was set to be released on 22 August 2014, but was banned by the Indian government{{cite news |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Centre-blocks-release-of-controversial-film-on-Indira-Gandhis-assassins-Kaum-de-Heere/articleshow/40606687.cms |title=Centre blocks release of controversial film on Indira Gandhi's assassins 'Kaum de Heere' |work=The Times of India |location=Mumbai |date=August 21, 2014 |agency=Times News Network |access-date=31 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141121153206/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Centre-blocks-release-of-controversial-film-on-Indira-Gandhis-assassins-Kaum-de-Heere/articleshow/40606687.cms |archive-date=21 November 2014 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}{{cite news |url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2014/20140821/latest-news.htm |title=Film on Indira Gandhi's assassins barred from release |work=The Tribune |location=Chandigarh, India |agency=Press Trust of India |date=August 21, 2014 |access-date=31 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303233520/http://www.tribuneindia.com/2014/20140821/latest-news.htm |archive-date=3 March 2016 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }} for five years.{{cite news |title=Delhi HC clears release of Punjabi movie 'Kaum De Heere' |url=https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/archive/punjab/delhi-hc-clears-release-of-punjabi-movie-kaum-de-heere-824741 |access-date=15 September 2021 |work=The Tribune |agency=Press Trust India |date=29 August 2019}}

• List of things named after Indira Gandhi
• Insurgency in Punjab, India
• Domestic policy of the Indira Gandhi government
• Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, the otherwise unrelated killing of Indira's son and successor as Prime Minister

{{Reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20130227011011/http://www.delhiwonders.com/delhi-indira-gandhi-memorial Indira Gandhi Memorial] Indira Gandhi assassination books in Tamil in two volumes by Mrs. Z.Y. Himsagar and S. Padmavathi, M.A., M.L., Notion press.com, Chennai, 2016 edition, {{ISBN|9789352065967|9789352065974}}
• [http://indiragandhi.in/en/memorial/virtual-museum Explore the Virtual Memorial of Indira Gandhi]

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