Met, between devotion and resentment, 25 years after the assassination of Indira Gandhi

New Delhi, October 31, 2009. - The devotion and resentment mixed in the memory of Indira Gandhi at 25 years after his assassination, commemorated today with respect for hundreds of millions of Indians but not for the Sikh minority, which complains yet the attack on their sacred temple.
In recent days there have been many references, television specials and the affection they devote their heirs - his daughter and grandchildren Sonia Gandhi, Rahul and Priyanka - who retain control of the ruling Congress Party.
"In this somber occasion, we remember and reflect ourselves in his simple and austere way of life and conduct. Let guided by it ", asked the Italian Sonia, current leader of the party in the last issue of internal training.
On October 31, 1984, Indira Gandhi, then prime minister, was shot by two of her Sikh bodyguards as he left home way of an interview with British actor Peter Ustinov.
Indira paid and have ordered the assault on blood and fire in June preceding the Golden Temple in Amritsar, where they had barricaded armed radicals, in an operation that caused hundreds of deaths.
The assassination sparked grave unrest and street killings of Sikhs in Delhi that killed 3,000 people, facts that most radical Sikh organizations remember the 3 November with a strike.
"By attacking the Golden Temple, Indira wrote black history of the Sikhs. His murder was not an emotional reaction, but now we have moved on Sikhs, "said Efe Darmegh Singh, secretary of the organization that controls the temples of this faith, the SGPC.
Unlike the Sikhs, millions of Indians still appreciate the political legacy of Indira Gandhi and cited as his greatest achievements have split the two with Pakistan in the creation of Bangladesh in 1971-the Indian Army helped the Bangladeshis in that war-and first Indian nuclear tests, developed three years later.
But his detractors criticize his authoritarianism and, above all, have been behind the black episode since independence India: the declaration of a state of emergency in 1975, which led to thousands of opponents in jail and imposed censorship on the means.
Indira justified the measure by the political and social tension suffered by the country, but most historians agree that only sought to thwart a prosecution for electoral irregularities that would have removed from power.
The prime minister lifted the state of emergency a year and a half later, and although the citizens were punished with a defeat at the polls, returned to power in elections in 1980, months before the accidental death of his youngest son and political dolphin Sanjay.
"She was my idol at that time a few months ago he said his granddaughter Priyanka, daughter of the assassinated Rajiv Gandhi. I guess people remember her as a tough guy, but for his grandchildren was the best and sweetest grandmother. "
Indira dove into the policies of his father, Jawaharlal Nehru: sided with the Soviet Union, U.S. President Richard Nixon referred to as a "witch" - and tried to develop industry and end the endemic poverty in India .
But away from the style of his father, Indira inaugurated the era of political populism: nationalized the banks, was surrounded by faithful, not necessarily able-coup and ruled slogans like "End Poverty" or the famous "India is Indira" who chanted his supporters.
Still gives off that way to understand politics, if taken as reference for the memorial in the capital established popularity at home, where visitors can see family photos or brown sari she was wearing when he died.
Each morning, Indira housing adjacent to his office, filled with thousands of modest gujaratíes, Bangladeshis and Indians padded towards dark-skinned southerners who come to Delhi after days of bus and stop first at the plate in the point where he was shot.
The text of the plate is yours: "If I die violently, as some fear and a few plan to, I know that violence will in thought and action of the murderer, not my death, because there is no hatred so deep that love eclipse for my people and my country. "

Eight shot dead by police against a Communist demonstration

New Delhi, July 28, 2007. - A communist protest seeking a better distribution of land in the southeastern region of India Andhra caused at least eight killed when police opened fire on protesters.
The clashes took place in the town of Modigonda, about 250 kilometers from the regional capital, Hyderabad, and the dead is a woman and a child of eight years, while there are eight more wounded, of whom three are in state critical, india news agency IANS.
In a day of strike, activists blocked roads and railways in demand for land for the poor, and public services were suspended as a precautionary measure, according to another agency india, PTI.
But Modigonda, protests took a course violent when activists of the Communist Party of India Marxist (CPI-M), blocking a road, threw stones at a police vehicle, injuring two policemen.
In response to the stones, the police opened fire on protesters and a group of women who were sitting in the shade.
The local TV footage showed police firing automatic weapons on demonstrators, whose bodies were bloodied and lying on the floor, surrounded by a mob shouting for help.
The situation remained tense, as several activists of the CPI-M took the bodies of those killed and taken to the office of district officials, destroying furniture and files blinded by anger.
The activists claimed that police shootings occurred without provocation, and sought to kill innocent protestors.
In Hyderabad, the regional minister of Interior, K. Jana Reddy announced an investigation into the facts, and sent an Inspector General of Police to direct it.
"If a policeman is found guilty, we will take action," said Interior Minister was quoted by IANS.
Meanwhile, the head of the regional government, YS Rajasekhara Reddy, met urgently with the Director General of Police, to discuss the situation.
Andhra deaths occurred during the one-day strike called by two formations Communists to protest the violence used on Thursday by police against Communist activists in various parts of the region.
The shooting of the police have already generated a wave of criticism from the political forces in Andhra, where the main opposition party, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), which supported the strike, branded the actions of the agents of "barbaric" and "inhumane."
For nearly three months left parties have asked the poor distribution of land and buildings government protests that have included even the land occupations.
Last Thursday, the manifestations of the communists caused violent riots against the police, an issue that has dominated the last parliamentary session of the Regional Assembly this Friday.
The regional government was in talks with the communist formations for handling protests, the dialogue was left unfinished last Friday, but was scheduled to be resumed today.
The regional secretary of the CPI, K. Narayana, and nine local leaders, who are on hunger strike for a week, were transferred today to a hospital because his health is deteriorating.
Riots in Andhra today largely resemble those recorded on 14 March in the Bengal region (northeast), where 14 people died and 40 others injured in clashes between police and thousands of farmers who were protesting because their lands were being expropriated.
Police then opened fire on the peasants, who had blocked roads and railways in the area to protest against the introduction of an exclusive economic zone that will serve to set up factories.

Hyderabad, calm tense after attack on mosque and police brutality

New Delhi, 19 may 2007. - The southern city of Hyderabad India woke up today with an atmosphere of tense calm following the attack reported Friday in a mosque and after learning that some of the 16 dead were killed by police gunfire.
"Eleven people died in the explosion inside the mosque during prayers, and five died under police fire in the old city after the attack", said the governor of the region of Andhra Pradesh, YS Reddy, was quoted by the agency India PTI.
In Hyderabad, the shops were closed and public examinations were postponed, following a strike called to protest the bomb blast, but police brutality.
The attack occurred inside the Macca Mosque, one of the oldest and largest in India, where thousands of devotees were preparing to make the mandatory Friday prayers, at around one thirty in the afternoon.
In the mosque there were four bombs hidden in lunch boxes, but ultimately only one of them exploded, while the others were later cleared by police.
The explosion sparked panic among the worshipers, who fled in stampede and, outside the religious center, demonstrated violently in the old city against the security forces, which suppressed shot in riot gear and the protests.
While this was happening, the dead and wounded, the last 61 in total, were taken to a nearby hospital where an examination revealed that some of them had gunshot wounds, said the television channel NDTV.
The regional governor, who had acknowledged in a statement before the death of "two or three people" because of police action, later apologized for the actions of the police, ensuring that prompted an investigation "if the facts warrant."
Reddy, who was in New Delhi when the attack occurred, he announced his return to Hyderabad after news of what happened and today visited the scene of the attack, which also announced compensation for the families of the victims and call for calm.
Reddy's announcement comes after the first investigations of Police, announced today the discovery of a mobile phone card with one of unexploded ordnance.
With this card, which is allegedly a member of the Islamic terrorist group "Harkat-ul-Jihad" (HUJI), researchers now say there is a direct connection between the attack on Friday and the explosions that took place in the city of Malegaon (west) on September 8, 2006.
At that time, two bombs placed near a mosque, also in day of prayer, killed 31 people in a town that had suffered severe religious conflicts in the past.
"It's a terrorist attack that seeks to provoke clashes between different religious communities in India," he said today in Hyderabad Minister Shivraj Patil, who today visited the mosque next to Reddy.
The Mecca Mosque, apart from one of the largest Islamic centers and old from all over India, is considered sacred by the devotees of this religion in Hyderabad, capital of the region of Andhra Pradesh, where Muslims account for 10 percent of the population.
The authorities have already announced an aid of 9,000 euros, a house and a government job for each of the families of the deceased, including those killed in police firing.
In Hyderabad, while the search for the smallest of 10 years Salman, who disappeared after the explosion at the mosque, concluded today with a happy ending after a day of uncertainty: the boy was only slightly injured-and-in another hospital.