In the aftermath of Indira’s assassination, 2,700 Sikhs are killed in Delhi and other north Indian cities. As the administration looks the other way, Rajiv Gandhi comments, "When a big tree falls, the earth trembles..." On June 23, 1985, in a terrorist strike, an Air-India Boeing explodes, killing 329 passengers on board. Parts of the salvaged wreckage in Cork, Ireland.
The 1987 Meerut riots mark the birth of militant Hindu revivalism, which is spear headed by the VHP and the Bajrang Dal. After a controversial election, 600 Bengali Muslim settlers are massacred in Nellie, Assam, on February 18, 1983.
