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- <text id=89TT2354>
- <title>
- Sep. 11, 1989: World Notes:India
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1989
- Sep. 11, 1989 The Lonely War:Drugs
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- WORLD, Page 51
- World Notes
- INDIA
- Pulling the Plug On Gandhi
- </hdr><body>
- <p> Civil servants were cowed by government edict into turning
- up for work, but most of India's labor force stayed away, as
- opposition parties held a daylong general strike last week to
- demand the resignation of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Almost
- all factories and shops were closed, and travel was brought to
- a near halt across the country. The arrests of tens of thousands
- limited violence, but twelve people died as rival political
- groups clashed with one another and the police. The strike was
- intended to show just how disenchanted Indians are with a leader
- once dubbed "Mr. Clean." Gloated V.P. Singh, Gandhi's main
- challenger: "We have come out winners."
- </p>
- <p> The Bharat Bandh (Close India) strike was the opposition's
- second major action this summer against the Prime Minister. In
- July 104 members of Parliament resigned to protest an a-lleged
- $50 million government kickback scheme in a $1.3 billion
- purchase of Swedish arms for the Indian army. Gandhi is not
- likely to step down before the general elections expected in
- December. But most observers see the mudslinging as the start
- of a dirty and bitter campaign.
- </p>
-
- </body></article>
- </text>
-
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