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. "