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1947-2008-India-Roundup
In a year that had seen Rajiv Gandhi swamped with one crisis after another, from the resignation of foreign secretary A.P. Venkateshwaran to the bitter relationship with President Giani Zail Singh, the Bofors controversy left a gaping hole in his credibility. A year after the Rs 1,705-crore Bofors deal had been inked; it became the proverbial loaded gun, as allegations of irregularities in the purchase broke out on Swedish Radio. Almost as damaging as the allegations themselves was the Government’s bungling of the affair. And then, as if these weren’t enough, Rajiv sent to 
FIRST CUT
On September 4, Roop Kanwar seemingly set herself afire on her husband’s funeral pyre at Deorala in Rajasthan, bringing to light the practice of sati.
DID YOU KNOW
In what threatened to be a sequel to the controversial Shah Bano case of 1985, another Muslim woman, Saira Banu, was also awarded a maintenance from her divorced husband.
“THEY SAID I RIGGED THE 1983 POLLS, BUT COULDN’T PROVE IT.”
Farooq Abdullah
A landslide victory for the National Conference-Congress alliance in the Jammu and Kashmir elections of March should have been cause for celebration, but Farooq Abdullah’s return to power in the state was tainted by charges of rigging and electoral bungling. That was lent credence by the fact that it was the only state where results remained unannounced for a week. Even as the results were coming in, the new government was busy arresting top Muslim United Front leaders. Starting two weeks before the elections, about 600 Opposition party workers were in jail.
Meerut on the Boil
Nine days of communal violence in Meerut caused the death of over 150 and left over 1,000 injured. The frenzied rioting was set off by an insignificant incident when the police broke in on an Iftar session of a Muslim family to pick up a murder suspect.
THE BLASTER
On March 7, 'Little Master' Sunil Gavaskar becme the first batsmean in the world to score 10,000runs in Test circket.
THE OTHER STAR
Former Osho acolyte Vinod Khanna made a storming come-back challenging Amitabh Bachchan’s dominance in Bollywood with the release of two block-busters Insaaf and Satyamev Jayate, both of which touched 100 per cent first-week collections across most of India.
ELSEWHERE…
- US President Ronald Reagan addressed the nation on the Iran-Contra affair, acknowledging that overtures to Iran had ‘deteriorated’ into an arms-for-hostages deal.
- The Chadian army (below) destroyed a Libyan brigade in Battle of Fada, a decisive event in the 1978-87 Libyan-Chadian War.
- The first successful heart-lung transplant took place in Baltimore, Maryland, in the US.
- The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 1,000, ending the day at 2002.25.
- British stores released the first Beatles compact discs.
40,000 was the number of people who were killed in road accidents throughout the country. Another 1.75 lakh were injured.
3, 20,000 was the total number of registered medical practitioners in India.
