India remembers Indira Gandhi on 25th death anniv

New Delhi, Oct 31:While the whole country remembers the 'Iron Lady' of India on her 25th death anniversary, the Congress party has scheduled a long list of programmes to pay tribute to the former prime minister, Indira Gandhi.

Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Congress General Secretary, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi paid homage to Indira Gandhi at Shakti Sthal. Vice President, Hamid Ansari and other leaders too visited the memorial.

The chairperson of the ruling UPA government, Sonia Gandhi who is also the daughter-in-law of Indira Gandhi is reportedly personally looking into the programmes marking the death anniversary.

The party has oganised blood donation camps, national integration rallies and screening of short films across the nation along with an exhibition on the life and times of Indira Gandhi.

On Oct 31, 1984, the controversial leader was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards. Indira Gandhi who is India's first and only lady prime minister till now was seen as a dictator at times. The 'Operation Bluestar' and the emergency imposed in 1975 became extremely controversial.

It was the military operation in the Golden Temple to tackle the Sikh Separatists ultimately led to her downfall. Her bodyguards Beant Singh and Kehar Singh and Satwant Singh shot and killed her leading to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in which thousands of Sikhs were killed to avenge the death of the leader.

However, India gained a lot from some of Indira Gandhi's policies including those dealing with economy, Green Revolution, nationalisation of banks. She paid attention to science and technology as well as communication and broadcasting,

OneIndia News