Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index

1984 in India

See also: 1983 in India, other events of 1984, 1985 in India and the Timeline of Indian history.


June

Prime Minister Indira Gandhi dispatches troops into Amritsar's Golden Temple, Sikhdom's holiest shrine. More than 1,000 people are killed in the operation to oust separatist militants using the temple as a headquarters.

October 31

Gandhi is assassinated by Sikh bodyguards in apparent retaliation for dispatching troops to the Golden Temple. Her son Rajiv Gandhi takes over as prime minister and leader of the Congress-I Party with India in turmoil as Hindus kill some 2,700 Sikhs in revenge riots.

December

Deadly gas leaks from a pesticide plant owned by U.S.-based Union Carbide Corp in the central city of Bhopal, killing some 6,500 people and injuring 20,000 in the world's worst industrial disaster.