Word: sikhs
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...divergent sentiments, grief and joy, were voiced last week as Indians marked the first anniversary of the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. In New Delhi there was sadness as an estimated 500,000 people gathered, amid tight security, on the sprawling lawns of the New Delhi Boat Club to hear her son and successor, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, compare his mother's "sacrifices" with those of Mohandas K. Gandhi, who led India's drive for independence from Britain. Wearing a bulletproof vest and standing near an 80-ft.-high picture of his mother, the Prime...
...year since Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was gunned down in her garden by two Sikh bodyguards, her son and successor Rajiv has demonstrated that he inherited more than just a name from the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty that has ruled India for all but five years since independence in 1947. A former pilot who once shunned politics, the young Gandhi, 41, has displayed a deft touch in guiding both foreign and domestic policy. His most recent triumph came in the troubled state of Punjab, where voters endorsed parties that supported a settlement Gandhi had negotiated with moderate Sikh leaders...
...election victory in the strife-torn state of Punjab last week, even though his Congress (I) Party failed to come out first in the balloting. Gandhi triumphed because a near record 60% of eligible voters defied the threat of terrorism to cast ballots for state and national candidates. Sikhs form a majority in Punjab, a state in which a small band of Sikh militants has pursued a violent campaign for independence since 1981. At stake in the election were 115 state assembly seats and 13 slots in the lower house of the Indian Parliament. Campaign terror was held...
When the votes were counted, the Akali Dal, a moderate Sikh party, had taken almost two-thirds of the state assembly seats, giving it a mandate to carry out a July accord with the central government to resolve long-standing Sikh grievances. No one expects, however, that the terrorists will fade away. "Each member of the new legislative assembly is now a target," said one key official. Still, the election provided strong evidence that the vast majority of Punjabis prefer the politics of the ballot to those of the bullet...
Longowal's death was seen as a major setback to the impressive start that had been made in mending relations between the Sikh community and the central government, which had been severely strained even before the army assault on the Golden Temple in Amritsar last year. In the month since the settlement was signed, Punjab had been unusually quiet, giving Gandhi the confidence to announce elections for Sept. 22. After Longowal's death, Gandhi changed the date to Sept. 25 to allow for the mourning period. The elections will be the first in five years and will end nearly...