Sant Bhindranwale was released from judicial custody at 2. Judicial Magistrate G K Rai formally heard the counsels from the two sides and in a tactfully worded order allowed the release. Five organisations, including the Citizens for Democracy and Lok Sevak Eangh, founded by Jayaprakash Narayan, decided at a meeting in New Delhi to launch an all-India campaign against corruption. Following are some rare archival images commemorating highlights of his lifetime.
The Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi turned 73 Monday. The Time magazine in chose a bunch of brave women, those who had spoken up against sexual harassment as the Person of the Year. Her inspiring legacy should help her party today to shed their despondency that seems to loom large as it has been reduced to a shadow of the Grand Old Party it once was.
A sincere commemoration is self-defeating if it is saturated with veneration and devoid of any attempt to read the blunders and misdoings of the personality.
Two major pathologies of Indira's legacy that have deeply scarred the Indian body politic must be studied with utmost attention.
This is necessary not to malign her legacy, but to comprehend the circumstances in which corrosive politics breeds. First, Indira's intractable misstep of stripping the Congress party of its multi-layered structure, where influential regional leaders had a substantial say in its functioning, only destroyed the effective organisational apparatus of the party.
This rather deepened the roots of dynastic politics in India. Today's dilapidated Congress stands as the casualty of Indira's obsession with centralisation of power that has eventually, but surely, greatly eroded the once resilient machinery of the party. If the incumbent Congress leadership has to embark on a path of political revival, undoing Indira's legacy of unbridled power accumulation has to be the first call.
In a relatively early introspection, the BJP must also take a cue from the Congress' plight to understand what damage centralisation of power by an all-pervasive leader can do to the fate of a political party bereft of inner-party democracy. Second, history bears testimony to the fact that the institutions of governance have been perpetually on the receiving end of Indira's wrath.
The institutions that are the vital instruments of democratic functioning, administrative efficiency and upholder of the rule of law were assaulted during Indira's regime in pursuance of her limitless power and immunity. The perpetual subversion of such institutions has left an everlasting blot on sluggishly functioning institutions that we are left to deal with. Both ruling as well as Opposition parties must realise the need for vibrant institutions not only for a well-functioning democracy but also for essential pursuits of nation building and amelioration of its people.
Beginning of admiration for unabashed aggression as hallmarks of political leadership can be attributed to Mrs. Every year around October and November, Hindus around the world celebrate Diwali, or Deepavali—a festival of lights that stretches back more than 2, years. Diwali occurs on Thursday, November 4. In India, the five-day celebration traditionally marks the biggest holiday of Live TV. This Day In History. History Vault. Recommended for you. Mohandas Gandhi. Gandhi on His Religious Beliefs.
Photo: Public domain via Wikimedia Commons. When she was 12, Indira played an even bigger role in India's struggle for self-determination by leading children in the Vanar Sena the name means Monkey Brigade; it was inspired by the monkey army that aided Lord Rama in the epic Ramayana. The group grew to include 60, young revolutionaries who addressed envelopes, made flags, conveyed messages and put up notices about demonstrations.
It was a risky undertaking, but Indira was happy to be participating in the independence movement. Indira's father was a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi. However, the fact that Indira ended up with the same last name as the iconic Indian leader wasn't due to a connection with the Mahatma; instead, Indira became Indira Gandhi following her marriage to Feroze Gandhi who wasn't related to the Mahatma.
And despite the fact that Indira and Feroze were in love, theirs was a wedding that few people in India supported. Feroze, a fellow participant in the struggle for independence, was Parsi, while Indira was Hindu, and at the time mixed marriages were unusual.
It was also out-of-the-norm not to have an arranged marriage. In fact, there was such a public outcry against the match that Mahatma Gandhi had to offer a public statement of support, which included the request: "I invite the writers of abusive letters to shed your wrath and bless the forthcoming marriage. Indira and Feroze wed in Unfortunately, though the pair had two sons together, the marriage was not a great success.
Feroze had extramarital liaisons, while much of Indira's time was spent with her father after he became India's prime minister in The marriage ended with Feroze's death in In , Indira faced a crisis when troops from West Pakistan went into Bengali East Pakistan to crush its independence movement. She spoke out against the horrific violence on March 31, but harsh treatment continued and millions of refugees began to stream into neighboring India. Taking care of these refugees stretched India's resources; tensions also mounted because India offered support to independence fighters.
Making the situation even more complicated were geopolitical considerations — President Richard Nixon wanted the United States to stand by Pakistan and China was arming Pakistan, while India had signed a "treaty of peace, friendship and cooperation" with the Soviet Union. The situation didn't improve when Indira visited the United States in November — Oval Office recordings from the time reveal that Nixon told Henry Kissinger the prime minister was an "old witch.
Photo: Robert L. Knudsen [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons. War began when Pakistan's air force bombed Indian bases on December 3; Indira recognized the independence of Bangladesh formerly East Pakistan on December 6. On December 9, Nixon directed a U.
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