CNN 20: Indira Gandhi Assassinated, October 31, 1984
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: A look back at this day in 1984 and the assassination of Indira Gandhi.</s>MIKE CHINOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I was awakened in the middle of the night by a phone call from my producer, telling me that news had just come in that Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had been shot. She had been killed by her bodyguards, who were Sikhs, and they had done so in retaliation for her decision to launch a military assault on Sikh separatists who had occupied a temple in the holy Sikh city of Amritsar some months before. This was their vengeance. And as a result, angry mobs took to the streets in New Delhi, targeting Sikhs, and generally burning and looting. Delhi was in absolute chaos, chaos which continued for two or three days. In all, 3,000 people were killed in those first couple of days. Covering it was a nightmare, because these were mobs that were completely out of control. When they saw a TV crew, they went at you: in some cases, chasing our crews with swords up and down the city streets. It was a reflection of the anger and also of the enormous position that Indira Gandhi had in India.