Latest news with #IndiraGandhi
New Indian Express
5 hours ago
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Arrests will happen soon after submission of KLIS probe report: TPCC chief Mahesh Kumar Goud
KHAMMAM: Once the Commission of Inquiry probing irregularities in the Kaleshwaram project submits its report, arrests will follow, said TPCC chief Mahesh Kumar Goud on Saturday. Stating that Congress has consistently advocated for the rights and welfare of tribal and Adivasi communities, from the era of Indira Gandhi to the present leadership under Rahul Gandhi, Mahesh Kumar Goud noted that it was Indira Gandhi who introduced the Land Ceiling Act to empower tribal communities with full implementation later achieved under former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao. He also credited Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra for strengthening the party's connection with grassroots communities, which led to initiatives like the caste census in Telangana and the launch of the Indira Soura Giri Jal Vikasam scheme. Under this programme, land ownership rights were granted to over 2.3 lakh tribal farmers through the Recognition of Forest Rights Act.
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First Post
8 hours ago
- Politics
- First Post
History Today: When India's Operation Blue Star began at Amritsar's Golden Temple
On June 1, 1984, the Indian Army launched Operation Blue Star at the Golden Temple on orders from Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The operation targeted militants led by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, who was pushing for an independent Sikh-majority nation in Punjab, known as Khalistan. The first exchange of gunfire during the assault took place on this day. Also on this day in 1980, Cable News Network (CNN), the world's first 24-hour television news channel, was launched by Ted Turner read more The first gunfire exchange in the assault on the Golden Temple occurred on June 1, 1984. Image: X/@SoniaLiberal On June 1, 1984, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi gave the order for 'Operation Blue Star' at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, Punjab. The aim of the mission was to remove militants led by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. Over 80 soldiers and at least hundreds of pilgrims caught in the fighting lost their lives, according to government officials. At the time, Bhindranwale was a key leader in the rising separatist Khalistan movement. The anger within parts of the Sikh community over the operation reached its peak on October 31, 1984, when Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her two Sikh bodyguards, who held her responsible for the attack. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Also on this day in 1974, the stop-choking method created by Cincinnati surgeon Henry J. Heimlich was published. Known as the Heimlich manoeuvre, it involves applying inward and upward pressure on the abdomen of choking individuals and has become the standard lifesaving technique. Further, in 1980, CNN (Cable News Network), the world's first 24-hour news channel, was launched. The network began broadcasting from its headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, with a lead story about the attempted assassination of civil rights leader Vernon Jordan. If you are a history geek who loves to learn about important events from the past, Firstpost Explainers' ongoing series, History Today , is your one-stop destination to explore key events. Let's take a look at the events: The launch of Operation Blue Star The Indian Army launched Operation Blue Star on June 1, 1984, following orders from Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The operation took place at the Golden Temple, targeting militants led by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. He was once the leader of the Sikh seminary Damdami Taksal and a key figure in the Khalistan separatist movement. He had taken refuge in the Harmandir Sahib Complex. Bhindranwale sought to create an independent Sikh-majority country in Punjab called Khalistan. On May 3, Major General RS Brar was called to Punjab and given command of the operation, which was code-named Operation Blue Star. The Golden Temple complex suffered extensive damage. AFP/File Photo The first gunfire exchange in the assault on the Golden Temple occurred on June 1, 1984. On June 2, speaking on All India Radio, Gandhi urged: 'don't shed blood, shed hatred,' while the military surrounded the Golden Temple complex and more than 40 other gurdwaras across Punjab. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD On June 3, a 36-hour curfew was imposed in Punjab. All communication and public transport were halted, electricity lines were cut, and strict media censorship was enforced. The army began the main assault on the night of June 5. The initial goal was to neutralise the high defensive positions Bhindranwale's men had built inside the Golden Temple complex. The army believed the operation could not succeed if those positions remained. After midnight on June 6, a full-scale attack took place, including heavy gunfire and tank shells that destroyed the Akal Takht. The next day, Bhindranwale's body was found in the basement of the damaged Akal Takht, bearing multiple bullet wounds, though the exact cause of death is unclear. The Golden Temple complex suffered extensive damage. Apart from the Akal Takht, there were bullet holes in the temple, and a valuable Sikh library, along with its books, was lost to fire. The operation's impact spread beyond the immediate casualties. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The aftermath of the operation saw then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards. AFP/File Photo The deep anger felt by parts of the Sikh community over the operation reached its most tragic point on October 31, 1984, when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her two Sikh bodyguards, who held her responsible for the attack. Heimlich maneuver was published On this day in 1974, Cincinnati surgeon Henry J. Heimlich's stop-choking technique was published in the medical journal 'Emergency Medicine'. The Heimlich maneuver, which involves pressing inward and upward on the abdomen of someone who is choking, became the standard way to save lives. June 1 is now observed each year as National Heimlich Maneuver Day. Wikimedia Commons Heimlich shared his early findings in an essay titled 'Pop Goes the Cafe Coronary,' published in the June 1974 issue of the journal. The term 'Cafe Coronary syndrome' describes a situation where a person chokes while eating in a restaurant, and onlookers mistake it for a heart attack. Before Heimlich's technique, the usual medical response was a tracheostomy, which involves inserting a large needle into the windpipe to open an airway, a procedure only doctors could perform. Heimlich tested the method on four Beagle dogs, repeating the treatment over 20 times on each. The dogs responded well, which gave Heimlich confidence that the same method would help humans with blocked airways. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Over the next fifty years, the technique saved tens of thousands of lives. June 1 is now observed each year as National Heimlich Maneuver Day. CNN was launched On June 1, 1980, CNN (Cable News Network), the world's first 24-hour television news channel, was launched. The network began broadcasting from its headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, with a lead story about the attempted assassination of civil rights leader Vernon Jordan. CNN changed the idea that news was only shown at set times during the day. CNN eventually became known for covering live events worldwide. Wikimedia Commons At the time, TV news in the US was dominated by three major networks, ABC, CBS, and NBC, each with a 30-minute nightly news broadcast. CNN was created by Robert 'Ted' Turner, a bold and outspoken businessman nicknamed the 'Mouth of the South.' In its early years, CNN lost money and was mocked as the Chicken Noodle Network. However, it eventually became known for covering live events worldwide as they happened, often ahead of the major networks. This Day, That Year 1926: American actress and model Marilyn Monroe was born. 1968: Helen Keller, the renowned writer and lecturer, passed away. 2001: Crown Prince Dipendra of Nepal shot and killed nine members of the Nepalese royal family, including his parents, King Birendra and Queen Aishwarya, before injuring himself. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 2001: World Milk Day is celebrated worldwide after the United Nations declared it in 2001 to promote the importance of milk as a global food. 2009: An Air France flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris went into freefall and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 228 people on board.
Hans India
10 hours ago
- Politics
- Hans India
Letter of dissent or of discreet assent?
Political and strategic analysts were absorbed by inexplicable curiosity when MLC Kalvakuntla Kavitha dispatched a handwritten letter to her father and BRS chief, K Chandrasekhar Rao, the architect of the 13-year separate Telangana movement, its victorious culmination, and triumphantly becoming the state's first Chief Minister. The content of the missive and its mysterious leak to social media was perceived as calculated planning and influenced by pressure groups. The whole drama subtly equates to political delinquency, intellectual immaturity, and lack of professional apprenticeship, as also an unseasoned bid for political space. The 'explicit and implicit messages' in the letter are simply enthralling. Kavitha's exquisite appeal to her 'Dear Daddy' seeking direction, clarity, and about her future in BRS, principally in the 'light of hope against hope' of returning to power is ambiguous. Beneath the emotional and persistent question, 'who should occupy the throne, if and when power returns?' is heedlessly quizzical. While couched in sentiment, it hinted at deeper currents of ambition, uncertainty, and strategic recalibration-a change in the mindset. Whether 'the letter to daddy' was an 'act of dissent or one of discreet assent' remains a million-dollar question. In Indian political history, Indira Gandhi, known for her iron grip over governance, mastered the choreography of party dynamics. For her 'dissent was not always an enemy' but a precisely and carefully honed tool wielded with 'discreet assent.' She engineered historic splits in the Congress Party, not out of helplessness but as a calculated strike to neutralise internal resistance and reassert her indomitable dominance. Her way of turning discord into strategic advantage and emerging not weakened but stronger with every confrontation, remains unparalleled. Perhaps KCR employs a similar strategy. Indira Gandhi's shrewd orchestration of party dynamics was executed through loyalists, who owed their rise to her patronage. That was the era of 'makeshift, tailor-made dissidents' carefully crafted figures deployed with 'just enough freedom to roam freely in a vehicle' yet with the brakes and steering firmly in Madam's grip. No matter how far they ventured, geographically or politically, they consistently ended up parking in her garage--'A dissent by design: Either an assembled dissent or descent on a leash.' She nurtured parallel voices to maintain leverage within the party. Kavitha's assertion that, 'KCR is my leader and will not accept other leadership' was a significant parallel. 'Anguished over the developments in BRS, I had written the letter for its betterment,' Kavitha maintained. The letter, couched in strong tones of introspection, accountability, and future direction, has sent ripples through the BRS--reading like a rebellious call and critique of leadership style and strategic missteps. Scratch beneath, and it evokes something more complex and familiar--a manoeuvre reminiscent of the Indira era's engineered dissent with discreet assent, echoed, perhaps, in today's political choreography. Rightly or not, the letter could well be a calibrated tool to project an 'illusion of democratic introspection' within a tightly controlled party structure. Or maybe not! Out of power is not at all devoid of control on BRS to a spirited KCR. His political acumen, seldom understood even by his self-styled closest associates, often thrives on silence and surprise. Like Indira, KCR has structural and embedded networks, loyalties, and timing. Controlled dissidence is a way to make BRS seem alive with ideas and disagreements, while still being driven from the same garage. Whether Kavitha 'manages to sit firmly in the driving seat' or 'leaves the steering and brakes to her daddy' with static boundaries, is anyone's guess as of now. However, the letter may possibly allow BRS to dilute public frustration. Indian women into the halls of politics, and luck and competence favoured, into governance have, often, strategically navigated journeys. Contemporary political history is dotted with stories of women wielding power, as parliamentarians, and as Chief Ministers, either directly, or through manipulation, proxy, and emotional capital, or otherwise. Factors like family legacy, godfathers, caste arithmetic, money power, charisma, emotional appeals, sheer defiance, developing on their own were reasons behind their entry and political ascent. During the freedom struggle most women entered via ideology, not for power, irrespective of shadows of male leaders or alongside husbands or quite often on their own. Direct manipulative tactics for power were rare. The Nehruvian era and its immediate aftermath saw the symbolic, yet significant inclusion of women in politics. The first woman Chief Minister, a freedom fighter, Sucheta Kripalani, stands as the best example as a torchbearer for future women CMs. Freedom fighter, diplomat, and politician Vijay Lakshmi Pandit was the first woman to have been appointed as president of the UN General Assembly. Hyderabad's very own Sarojini Naidu was the first woman AICC president and the first woman governor after Independence. The real shift began with the emergence of Indira Gandhi, apparently a 'compromise Prime Minister' initially. But 'astonishingly Indira Gandhi showcased the power and instance of a woman' in the 'male chauvinistic political ecosystem' to become a democratic dictator and authoritarian leader. Eventually, women domination in Indian politics, especially during the 1980s and later, from other parts of the country, backed by family dynasties, evolved. In several states, women occupied pivotal political positions as CMs, governors, speakers, diplomats, among other such privileged positions. Some of them rebelled against the parent party leadership and got their due share. Failures are equally significant numbers. But then that is politicking. Some despite not being in top position officially either as Prime Minister or Chief Minister, wielded extensive power. Sonia Gandhi, who was the 'de-facto centre of power', was never its constitutional face. Priyanka Gandhi is emerging on similar lines. Either the 'attempt in vain' of YSR Sharmila, or the attempt of BRS Kavitha, may be seen as battles of equal perception and relevance. The saga of women in politics-the 'dance of democracy' continues with a blend of tradition and rebellion, of backroom calculations and front-stage charisma. 'Manipulations' may vary, but the 'mission to claim power' remains undiminished with 'meteoric ascents and humiliating downfalls.' Kavitha's political entry had a powerful legacy, being daughter of a towering personality, unchallenged leader of the statehood movement and its first Chief Minister. She enjoyed early visibility through cultural diplomacy (like Telangana Jagruthi) and a brief MP stint. Now her letter to daddy has made people believe unequivocally that she 'rebelled and rebelled earnestly.' Her maiden attempt to prove this was the formation of the 'Singareni unit of Telangana Jagruti' and appointing '11 area coordinators', obviously hinting at: 'Well, I Shall not relent and want clarity on my future come what may.' Kavitha further claimed that there was a proposal to merge BRS with the BJP. It all depends now on Kavitha and her committed team that is managing followers, rallies, and campaign infrastructure. 'Family name brings loyalty' but money greases the machinery. Moreover, political expenses are high and rarely are to be made transparent. Kavitha may reclaim space in shifting political sands provided she depends not on name or money but on timing, emotional connect, and clarity of purpose. Better if Kavitha demonstrates these. In politics, lineage can grant entry but not necessarily acceptance. In Telangana, a political realignment is not unthinkable with murmurs of leadership changes in the BRS, INC and BJP--either in one, two or perhaps all. Fathers and godfathers, who propel their kin and protégés into the 'unpredicted stormy ocean of politics'-caution is indispensable please! Political nurturing must go beyond entitlement. It must equip them with skills of listening, learning, and leadership-not a jolly ride on borrowed credibility. The 'surname may open the doors, but only substance will keep them in the race.' Hence, it is true that 'politics shall be treated as an honourable task and not a light-hearted game' as often professed by K Chandrasekhar Rao.
Indian Express
11 hours ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
The day Mrs Gandhi was shot: A reporter's diary
Four decades since one of the most tragic, violent events witnessed in post-Independence India — the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her security guards — a new memoir comes with fresh revelations. Dr Sneh Bhargava was appointed Director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on October 31, 1984 — the very day Indira Gandhi was felled by a fusillade of bullets fired by her security guards, Satwant Singh and Beant Singh. In her recently released memoir, The Woman Who Ran AIIMS, the Delhi-based Dr Bhargava, now 95, graphically describes the horrific morning when 'the ink was not even dry on my appointment letter' but there, on the eighth-floor operation theatre of AIIMS, a desperate team of surgeons was fighting a 'losing battle' as they tried to save the Prime Minister's life. And for almost four interminable hours, they kept up a 'charade' that attempts were afoot to frantically try and resuscitate Mrs Gandhi. The pall of gloom of the fateful morning, the muffled wails emanating from some of the country's most powerful who lined the eighth-floor of that AIIMS corridor, have remained fresh in my mind too. I was there. I recall rushing to the PTI teleprinter in the Nehru Place office of Delhi Recorder, the magazine where I was a trainee reporter then, and reading, incredulously, the 'takes' of the Prime Minister being shot. I argued with another trainee reporter who wanted to stay in office and follow the story. 'No', I said, and zipped off towards AIIMS. As it turned out, I was among the very few reporters who managed to break several security cordons and reach the eighth floor. I remained there, just a fly-on-the-wall. By the time I left AIIMS in the evening, riots had broken out close to the hospital. Taxi stands had been burnt down. The reprisal had begun. Over several years, I kept in touch with the Indira Gandhi assassination case: I covered the trial in Tihar Jail; wrote several cover stories for Sunday, the magazine to which I had moved. In the minutes after the Prime Minister's killing, Beant Singh, the older of the two assassins, was killed by agitated guards posted at the Prime Minister's residence. Satwant Singh, the younger constable, was still alive but a predicament the media faced those days was that there was not a single photograph of Indira Gandhi's surviving assassin. I 'scooped' the picture. Days later, Satwant Singh's father, Trilok Singh, who would often travel to Delhi to meet his son's lawyers, once mentioned that when Satwant was recruited to the Delhi Police, he had got his service photograph taken at a photo studio located near Qutab Minar. When he went back to his village, Trilok Singh even got me the reference number. I located the studio, handed its owner the number and simply 'ordered' a set of passport-sized photographs of Satwant Singh. By 1990, I also wrote a book for Penguin simply titled, The Assassination of Indira Gandhi. The first chapter of that book, too, has all the minute details of the tragic drama that played out at AIIMS on October 31, 1984, and the brutality of the gunning down of Indira Gandhi. In her book, Dr Bhargava confirms that Indira Gandhi was brought in with no pulse and despite that, they put her on the heart-lung machine ( a cardiopulmonary bypass machine) and tried to revive her. She writes, 'The perfusionist was a young Sikh. The moment he heard the doctors mention that her killers were Sikh, he fled the operation theatre to save his life. The doctors had to bring in someone else.' In fact, Dr Bhargava has made it evident that even in the eighth-floor operation theatre that fateful morning, there was an apprehension that Sikhs would be targeted. She now writes about her fears, 'There was a lot to do. A huge crowd might storm the gates of AIIMS to catch a glimpse of Mrs Gandhi or barge into the premises to kill the first Sikh they saw… A bloodbath against Sikhs could not be ruled out. Sadly it did come to pass in the days that followed…' Perhaps the most important disclosure from the chapter on Indira Gandhi's assassination is the fact that just before he was whisked off to be sworn in as Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi ('he looked shocked but composed') told Dr Bhargava that he had 'warned' his mother about one of her Sikh security guards. The reason he gave her: 'because he looked suspicious'. One does not know which of the two assassins — Beant Singh or Satwant Singh — Rajiv was referring to or what he did about his suspicion. The writer, Executive Editor (News & Investigations) with The Indian Express, was a trainee reporter for Delhi Recorder in 1984
New Indian Express
19 hours ago
- Entertainment
- New Indian Express
Kangana Ranaut says she never feared ageing: ‘Politics is kinder to older women than movies'
She added, 'Do you guys think politics is kinder to older women than movies? I definitely think so. No filter used in this picture. Joy of aging. Delhi vibes.' Sharing another photo with her curly hair, she wrote, 'The most beautiful place in the world is where there is no gap between who you are and how you are perceived.' Kangana is currently the Member of Parliament from Mandi constituency in Himachal Pradesh. She was last seen playing the role of former Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi in the political-drama Emergency, which was also directed by her. Next up, she has a thriller with R Madhavan in the pipeline. Apart from that, she will also be making her Hollywood debut with the horror-drama, Blessed be the Evil.
