Assassinated World Leaders

Assassinated Indian Political leaders

Indira Gandhi

Indira Gandhi, the eminent Indian politician was the first female Prime Minister of India. She was born on November 19, 1917 in Allahabad. As the Prime Minister of India she served three consecutive terms from 1966 to 1977 and a fourth from 1980 to 1984. She was the second longest serving PM and the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru. She was known for her fierce politics and extraordinary way of governance. Gandhi played a major role in creation of Bangladesh. She also made cordial relations with the Soviet Union during her tenure. It was Gandhi who declared the state of emergency in India to 'rule by decree'. During that time she made amendments in the Constitution of India.

Indira Gandhi was assassinated by Sikh extremists after the Operation Blue Star on October 31, 1984 at her residence. Her bodyguards, Satwant Singh and Beant Singh killed her after the Operation Blue Star. It was a military operation which was ordered by Gandhi. The aim of the Operation was to gain control over Harmandir Sahib Complex in Amritsar by removing Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his supporters from the complex. The Indian army carried out the operation. The Operation created anger among the Sikh community. To take revenge from Gandhi, her bodyguards on October 31 fired into her till she fell onto the ground. After shooting her, the guards threw their guns and Beant Singh said "I have done what I had to do. You do what you want to do".While Beant Singh was killed by the soldiers on the spot, Satwant Singh was arrested and later hanged to death in 1989.

Mahatma Gandhi

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was the political activist and religious leader. He was born on October 2, 1869 in Porbandar. He is referred to as 'Bapu'. He was the leader of Indian nationalism during the time when India was ruled by the British. At the time when violence was prevalent all over, Gandhi raised the voice of non-violence. He was instrumental in leading India to independence. Gandhi developed his leadership qualities during the years spent in South Africa. He strived to maintain communal harmony and peaceful relations between Hindus and Muslims. He urged people to end untouchability and speak for their rights. He also led Indians against British-imposed salt tax. Gandhi wanted to achieve Swaraj or self-rule.

Gandhi was assassinated on January 30, 1948. His death was a great blow to the whole world. While Gandhi was on his way to attend a prayer meeting, he was shot dead. He was killed by Nathuram Godse. Earlier also attempts were made to kill Gandhi. Godse felt that Gandhi was responsible for the partition of the country and subsequent suffering faced by the people. According to Godse, instead of protesting against the atrocities faced by the minorities in Pakistan, Gandhi was busy fasting. He also asserted that Gandhi was the one who was responsible for making India weak as he insisted on making the payment to Pakistan.

Rajiv Gandhi

Born into a political family, Rajiv Gandhi, the seventh PM of India took charge after the assassination of Indira Gandhi. He was born on August 20, 1944 in Mumbai. His entry into politics was not by choice. After the death of his brother Sanjay Gandhi, he was forced by his mother to enter into politics. Like his mother, he also focussed on improving bilateral relations with Soviet Union. Gandhi supported development of science and technology in the country. He reduced taxes on technology-based industries. For implementation of higher educational programmes in India, he announced a National Policy on Education in 1986. He also initiated programmes for the upliftment of rural people of the society. The sudden death of Gandhi came as a shock to people of India.

He was assassinated by a suicide bomber in Sriperumbudur, near Chennai on May 21, 1991. The attack on Gandhi was made by Thenmozhi Rajaratnam, also known as Dhanu. Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was blamed for the attack.  LTTE is a separatist organization from Sri Lanka. While Gandhi was campaigning in Sriperumbudur many well-wishers approached him. When Dhanu approached him and bent down to touch his feet, she exploded an RDX-laden belt. Along with Rajiv Gandhi 14 others were also killed in the blast. It was believed that LTTE planned Gandhi's murder to prevent him from coming to power again.

Mahendra Karma

Mahendra Karma, an eminent political leader was a member of Indian National Congress (INC) in Chhattisgarh. He was an adivasi leader born on August 5, 1950 in Dantewada district. He made his debut in the politics as a member of Communist Party of India (CPI). Karma played a major role in the anti-naxal movements in the state of Chhattisgarh.

Karma with other party leaders was killed in the Maoist attack in May last year. Karma on his way back from the rally, was shot dead by the Maoists. He was attacked in the forest area between Tongpal and Dharba. The attack took place on May 25, 2013. The Naxalites took the responsibility for killing him.

List of Indian leaders assassinated

The table below shows the names of all Indian Leaders assassinated with their year of assassination. Also shown along is the name of the assassin, reason of assassination and the position held by the leader during his assassination

Name	Year of Assassination	Assassinated by	Reason	Position
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi	1948	Nathuram Godse	held Gandhi responsible for the partition of India	Leader of the Indian freedom movement (1920-1947)
Pratap Singh Kairon	1965	Sucha Singh	personal enmity	Chief Minister of Punjab
Indira Gandhi	1984	Satwant Singh and Beant Singh	in protest against Operation Bluestar in Golden Temple, Amritsar	Indian prime minister
Rajiv Gandhi	1991	Thenmozhi Rajaratnam a.k.a Dhanu.	Tamil Tigers in protest against sending Indian troops to Sri Lanka	Indian prime minister
Vidya Charan Shukla	2013	Naxalites	Communist Insurgents waging war against the Indian Republic	Minister of External Affairs
Mahendra Karma	2013	Naxalites	Communist Insurgents waging war against the Indian Republic	Leader of the Opposition, Chhattisgarh
Phoolan Devi	2001	Sher Singh Rana	Sher Sing Rana took revenge for the Behmai massacre in which she had killed 22 Thakurs	Member of Parliament
Lalit Maken	1985	Harjinder Singh Jinda, Sukhdev Singh Sukha , Ranjit Singh Gill	his alleged involvement in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots	Congress Leader
Abdul Ghani Lone	2002	Militants	he was a supporter of militancy but later he reformed and toned down his attitude towards militancy. He vouched for Kashmir as an independent state.	Kashmiri separatist leader
Krishnanand Rai	2005	Mukhtar Ansari, Afzal, Jiva, Aijaz		Member of Parliament
Pramod Mahajan	2006	Pravin Mahajan	personal enmity	He was a member of the Rajya Sabha and a General Secretary of his party.
Madan Tamang	2010	Gorkha Janmukti Morcha supporters	enimity	President of Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League

List of World leaders assassinated

The table below shows the names of all World Leaders assassinated with their year of assassination. Also shown along is the name of the assassin, reason of assassination and the position held by the leader during his assassination

Name	Country	Year of Assassination	Assassinated by	Reason	Position
Benazir Bhutto	Pakistan	2007	Mustafa Abu al-Yazid		Chair-Person of Pakistan Peoples Party
John F. Kennedy	USA	1963	Lee Harvey Oswald	Palestinian terrorist seeking revenge for the US support of Israel	President of the United States
Indira Gandhi	India	1984	Satwant Singh and Beant Singh	Sikhs in protest against Operation Bluestar in Golden Temple, Amritsar	Indian prime minister
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi	India	1948	Nathuram Godse	Held Gandhi responsible for the partition of India	Leader of the Indian freedom movement (1920-1947)
Abraham Lincoln	USA	1865	John Wilkes Booth	Booth was allegedly enraged by Lincoln's support for black voting rights in America	President of the United States of America
Martin Luther King, Jr	USA	1968	James Earl Ray	Because he was aimed to put an end to the racial discrimination of African Americans	leader of the African-American Civil Rights Movement
Liaquat Ali Khan	Pakistan	1951	Saad Akbar Babrak		Prime Minister of Pakistan. He was also the first Defence minister and minister of Commonwealth and Kashmir Affairs
Rafic Hariri	Lebanon	2005			Prime Minister of Lebanon
Yitzhak Rabin	Israel	1995	Yigal Amir	Israeli-Palestinian conflict	Israel Prime Minister
Franz Ferdinand	Austria	1914	Serbian group
Julius Caesar	Rome	44 BC	Senator group	he was proclaimed dictator.	Roman general and statesman
Malcolm X	USA	1965	Black Muslims	He emerged as a controversial figure due to his radical views.	Black American minister