- Political Crisis --
Introduction,
Opposition Challenge,
Reform Pressure
Introduction to the Political Crisis
The devastating news reached Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao as he was leaving Madurai for New Delhi in August 1995: Sikh separatists had assassinated the Punjab Chief Minister in a terrorist bombing that killed 15 and wounded 23.
Minister Beant Singh, a Sikh, had become a critical ally. His elected Congress party government launched Rakshak ("Protector") II, a campaign of extreme repression that until today's bombing had appeared to crush the separatists. Now Rao confronted major secessionist threats in both Punjab and its northern neighbor. Muslim terrorists in Kashmir had just embarrassed the central government by seizing five Western hostages. The group Al Faran beheaded a Norwegian national when Rao refused to release Muslim political prisoners. An American, two Britons and a German national remained captives.
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