Lanterna Rally

Author: Tariq Ali

Publisher: Seagull Books

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 160

ISBN-13:

"We know the name of the assassins, but did they act alone?" "Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (19 November 1917-31 October 1984), born into the influential Nehru dynasty, was Prime Minister of India for three consecutive terms from 1966 to 1977 and for a fourth term from 1980 until her assassination in 1984. She was India's first and so far only female prime minister." "A crushing victory in the 1971 war with Pakistan was followed by a period of instability that led her to impose a state of Emergency in 1975; she paid for the authoritarian excesses of the period with three years in Opposition. Returning to office in 1980, she became increasingly involved in an escalating conflict with separatists in Punjab which eventually led to her assassination by her own bodyguards in 1984." "The night before her death she told a political rally: 'I don't mind if my life goes in the service of the nation. If I die today, every drop of my blood will invigorate the nation.'" "In this fictional filmscript, Tariq Ali suggests that larger forces were at work, exploiting genuine Sikh grievances to settle their own score with a Prime Minister who, whatever her faults, was fiercely independent of Washington and safeguarded Indian sovereignty with a zeal inherited from her father."--BOOK JACKET.