Dec
29
December 29, 1984: Rajiv Gandhi Elected Prime Minister
December 29, 2003 | Comments Off on December 29, 1984: Rajiv Gandhi Elected Prime Minister
BBC news highlights December 29 as the day when former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi won a landslide victory in the elections following the assassination of his mother, Indira Gandhi. Like the success of the BJP after the 2002 Gujarat massacres of Muslims, the Congress Party won the highest majority ever, despite (or because of?) its role in organizing and leading the subsequent pogroms against the Sikhs:
With almost half the votes declared early this morning, it became apparent that his Congress (Indira) Party had taken 80% of the seats and was well ahead of any opposition parties. Although the final margin may be smaller, it is widely accepted that the Congress Party is likely to win a massive majority.
In his book, My Bleeding Punjab, Khushwant Singh describes how Gandhi’s electioneering referenced the Sikhs as a threat to the nation, ignoring the horrible massacres perpetrated on the Sikhs after his mother’s assassination:
Huge hoardings showed two Sikhs in uniform shooting at blood-stained Mrs. Gandhi against a back-drop of a map of India, or Mrs. Gandhi’s body lying in state with the Congress party candidate’s picture doing homage to her.
Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.