1982 HIGH ON DRAMA

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1947-2008-India-Roundup

The 16 drama-filled days of the Ninth Asian Games in Delhi saw 5,000 athletes from 33 countries and marked Asia’s emergence as a sporting powerhouse. In contrast, the first Games in Delhi in 1951 had attracted just 11 countries which had taken part in six sports events. Over 14 days of competition, an incredible 74 Asian and Asian Games records were broken as Asia fast closed in on the best in the world. India finished fifth with a cache of 57 medals, but won the hearts of Asians with the organization of the event, which established Rajiv Gandhi’s managerial skills. The event also kick started the era of colour television in India as the Games were broadcast in colour. This was also the first Asiad to be held under the aegis of the Olympic Council of Asia.

And Then She Left for Good

Maneka Gandhi left her mother-in-law Indira Gandhi’s house for good in March 1982, signifying to the March 1982, signifying to the world her final break with the Gandhi family and removing the last obstacle for Rajiv Gandhi to become Indira Gandhi’s successor.

FIRST CUT

The Palace on Wheels luxury train made its maiden journey on February 2. The tickets for the first ride started at Rs 5,600.

IN TRUE SPIRIT

“No man’s life can be encompassed in one telling… what can be done is to try to be faithful in spirit and find one’s way to the heart of the man.” So went the dedication in Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi. The film, starring Ben Kingsley as Gandhi, came very close to achieving that. The funeral sequence was filmed on January 31, 1981, 33 years to the day after Gandhi’s real funeral. Over 300,000 extras were used in the scene, the most for any film, according to the Guinness Book of
World Records.

“I WILL EVEN SWEEP THE FLOOR IF INDIRAJI ASKS ME TO.”

Zail Singh

Sardar Zail Singh Ramgarhia, President of India from 1982-87, was criticized for his subservient attitude to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. But his relations with Rajiv Gandhi were rocky from the start and deteriorated to such an extent that when india today broke its story about their cold war in February 1987, a Union minister hadn’t called on Singh in two years, not even when summoned. But when in March 1987, after what was the longest President-Prime Minister meeting, lasting 130 minutes, the two emerged clasping hands, it was evident that things had somewhat changed. When his term ended, he chose not to seek re-election.

ELSEWHERE…

• The Falklands War came to an end with the surrender of the Argentine garrison. Several thousand troops from Argentina had occupied the island the year before, laying claim to it.
• Italy won its first football World Cup in 44 years.
• The massacre of some 1,500 Palestinians by Lebanese Christian military men began in West Beirut’s Sabra and Chatilla refugee camps. The massacre triggered peace rallies in Israel with over 4,00,000 demonstrating in Tel Aviv.

6.1 lakh the number of immigrant Indians in the Middle East. The UAE accounted for the most, with 3.5 lakh immigrants while Saudi Arabia and Kuwait had 1.5 lakh and 1.1 lakh, respectively.

Courtesy By India Today