Alternate History Secrets of the Republic

[Sergeant Foley]

Chapter 2: How to instigate a little chaos
Wednesday, October 31, 1984
Somewhere in New Delhi, India
​

In the aftermath of the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi hours earlier, several ambitious politicians inside the Indian Parliament began to start using their favorite tool: finding a scapegoat and pinning blame on for the assassination. It was the egostical Congress Party members of Parliament, who used the assassination as an excuse to pin all of the blame on Sikhs; the conspiracy in putting those perceived Sikhs in their place was also instigated by members of the New Delhi Police Deparment including several Hindu civilians as well as the super wealthy elites.

Depending on whom you believed or theorized on what really caused all of this chaos, going back to the moment Indira was officially declared dead at the All India Institute of Medical Services (AIIMS), including when her death was announced on All India Radio (AIR), many people who were already angry and upset at the news, began gathering around the AIIMS during the afternoon and began shouting ugly, heinous slogans such as "Khun ka badla, khun se lenge" (Blood for Blood) including other slogans like "Sardar Quam Ke Ghaddar" (Sardars ('Sikhs') are the nation's traitors) which was broadcasted by the country's state-owned Television station Doordarshan. Other incidents included in and outside of the area, including the neighboring constituency of Congress Councilor, Arjun Dass. Around 5:20 PM, when the vehicle of Indian President Zail Singh, himself a Sikh, was arriving at the AIIMS, it was greeted by heavy stones from angry people and those, who were furious at the President, some even accusing him of being complicit in the assassination.

Now despite the ugly skirmishes, there were no signs of violence on this day, (little did we know some would exploit the power vacuum to unleashing their violent rage on unfortunate folks in a previous PoV); now some would theorize a small measure of violence was only considered as a 'localized and spontaneous reaction' from an angry mob angered by the assassination of the late three-term Prime Minister of India.

However, things would take a dark and sinister turn between the late hours of October 31st and November 1st, several Congress Party members including local leaders held secret meetings in order to mobilizing their supporters; among those involved in these meetings, Congress Member of Parliament Sajjan Kumar and Congress Trade Union Leader and Metropolitan Councilor Lalit Maken, were determined to send an aggressive, vicious message....

 

[Sergeant Foley]

The ugly, violent ramifications of the 10.31.84 Incident
October 31-November 1, 1984​

Once news broke out across the country about the two assailants belonging to the Sikh community, there was pure anger and outright fury leading to violent backlash against the Sikh community, where an ugly bloodbath would ensue....

Instigated and egged on by local Congress Party politicians, who aggressively wanted to "teach those uppity Sikhs a lesson", the rioters viciously targeted the Sikhs systematically and personally, even tracking them down by using electrical lists in identifying Sikh families in the following suburbs: Mongolpuri, Palam, Shahdara, Trilokpuri, Sultanpuri, and the Trans-Yamuna regions. The group of rioters were organized, equipped gangs, who fanned out of the AIIMS once the official notification of Indira's death was announced; violence towards Sikhs and the destruction of property ranging from businesses, homes and other retail owned by Sikhs continued to escalate. Now during the first range of anti-Sikh riots, the swearing-in of Rajiv Gandhi as Prime Minister was taking place at the Rashtrapati Bhavan (the swearing-in ceremony was broadcasted on national television), but nobody at Rahstrapati knew of the ugly carnage going on in across the country while everyone was distracted with the assassination and investigation....

In the New Delhi suburb of Trilokpuri, which was once a thriving Sikh neighborhood, fell victim to the anti-Sikh riots and violent carnage: over at the gurdwara, where people who fled for the temple had assumed the worst was over as well as being in the clear and safe, but the wall wasn't that high enough; before anyone realized it, the angry mob came from all directions: the sight was UGLY and wreaked of death that followed.

The mob rampaged and killed anyone they could've laid their hands on: men, women, and most of all, innocent children. One by one, they were stabbed, beaten, gunned down and for most of the young women inside the temple.... violently raped. It was complete carnage with barely any survivors.

"Why are you doing this? You are destroying the reputation of our country"
"Shut the hell up and DIE"
Hukmil Singh's last words prior to being shot by one of the rioters, as well as the response from the rioter.

"Let us out of here please!"
We will let you out of here in bodybags, maybe (laughs)"
"You are traitors to the Republic of India, all of you are misguided. You will NOT win!"
"But we will come out ahead. We are here to avenge the assassination of the Prime Minister and teaching you uppity Sikhs a lesson!"
---An exchange between Sybil Padukone and another rioter.

"Wake up to the reality of what's going on. You're being manipulated by those in Parliament."
"I am very much awake you bitch. You killed our Prime Minister, and we're here to avenge Indira Gandhi, the mother of our country."
"Then all of you are lost. I will defend the honor of my country even if it costs me my life."
New Delhi PD police officer Priyanka Shahani and a rioter, minutes before she was violently raped, shot and hanged.

"You killed your own law enforcement colleagues of the New Delhi Police Department, my brother and his family."
"And so what? What are you gonna do about it?"
"You will all pay for this! You can have my body, but you'll never have me ever!"
Parliament member Ghaul Singh to a rioter, after being brought in front of the burning corpses of New Delhi police detective Farouk Singh as well as his wife, Yesenia and eldest daughter, Rashita.

(crying) "Please don't kill us. We're innocent, we had nothing to do with the assassination of the Prime Minister."
"Shut the fuck up and STOP crying you ugly brats and prepare to DIE!"
(putting herself between her children and the rioters threatening them), You can kill all of us, but know this, God will be watching what you did and all of you will pay for this!"
"I want all of you ugly assholes to suffer first."
Altuza Muddaraj, a reporter at one of the New Delhi television stations (who was on the first day of her week-long vacation) to a rioter, seeing she and her two daughters were the last ones remaining in the suburb of Palam.

 

[Sergeant Foley]

Violent carnage continues.....
9:00 PM IST, Thursday, November 1, 1984
Somewhere in the suburbs of New Delhi, India.
​

During the height of the violent anti-Sikh riots in the New Delhi suburbs including other parts of the country, there were unsuspecting tourists who were curious to see what all the fuss was about....for some, it would be a fatal mistake.

Rhonda Shepherd, 31 of Denver, Colorado was on vacation from her busy day at the US Embassy in New Delhi. On the morning of November 1st, she was at her desk working the receptionist desk answering phone calls, referring those to the next line available when at 9:36 AM IST, the phone continued racheted upward, she was freaked out by the situation (having learned about the assassination on late Wednesday evening) for almost half an hour, Rhonda then answered the phone speaking with several Americans who wanted some kind of refuge at the US Embassy just in case the riots had escalated to an extreme national security threat.

By 5:00 PM IST, Rhonda was finished with her work and decided to go home and get some rest, but was advised by close friends and colleagues to be careful due to angry mobs forming....

Little did she realize that a group of angry rioters had stalked Rhonda as she was driving home; they waited until late at night to strike because they assumed she was one of those "uppity Sikhs."

At 9:00 PM IST, Rhonda was asleep when someone quietly broke into her home by unlocking the screendoor, walking all the way to her room and flipped on the light...."There's that meddler, time for you to talk bitch!" Startled and wondering what was going on, Rhonda asked "Who are you? Why did you break into my house? I am gonna call the police right now..." as she was reaching for the phone, the stalker grabbed her, dragging Rhonda out of the bed angrily telling her "You're an outside agitator, who instigated the assassination of the Prime Minister. Time to teach you a lesson!" before he punched her in the stomach twice, causing her to scream in extreme pain.

After slapping her around, kicking her and punching her in the stomach a third time, Gustav (one of the "Bulls") grabbed Rhonda by the hair, slammed her against the wall; then he held a firepoker, scarring the left side of Rhonda's face.... What would happen next was downright disturbing, Gustav violently raped Rhonda repeatedly non-stop. Soon afterwards, Gustav pulled out a revolver with a silencer, shooting her three times, "Stop meddling in our country's affairs you Sikh bitch. Now time to dump the body someplace" when he called in one of his sidekicks, who took an unconscious Rhonda to an undisclosed location, where Gustav dumped the body into the water.....

They left the scene and continued their violent anti-Sikh rampage.....

 

[Sergeant Foley]

Following installments to be posted in Chapter 2 soon:
*US Embassy in New Delhi analyzing the situation regarding the violence
*Personal PoV's from some of the co-conspirators
*Personal PoV's from those affected by the anti-Sikh riots
*Eyewitness accounts on the 10.31.84 Incident
*November 3, 1984: Indians bidding final goodbye to the late Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi
*The New Power Couple: Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi

 

[Sergeant Foley]

...."The assassination of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984 kickstarted the ultimate disastrous political fallout that soon followed: floundering economy, mistrust inside the government and an ongoing diplomatic dispute with Pakistan over the Kashmir Region resulted in the infamous 12.6.84 Coup."
---"India: The Country of Political Chaos"
Excerpt by Omar Huynh

"With the tenuous, fragile political situation in the country, a group of military generals began secretly courting government officials by promising them "new positions in the upcoming government". Seems like these ambitious generals were taking notes from what happened in the Republic of Korea five years ago when Chun Doo-hwan and his group of Hanahoe members from the Korean Military Academy successfully launched a military coup d'etat against then-ROK President Choi Kyu-hah on December 12, 1979. Another coup less than six months later led to Choi's resignation and Chun's move into the Blue House, where he's been ever since.

Nobody and I meant nobody thought that India was going to going to fall to a military coup d'etat less than two months after Indira's assassination. CIA, FBI, MI-6 and other international intelligence agencies never saw the coup in India happening at all. The United States, United Kingdom, France, West Germany, Italy and other countries all got caught flat-footed by the coup, which took place following the landslide victory of President Bush in the 1984 Presidential election on November 6, 1984.

Less than one month after that, Operation Dog Whistle was launched while Bush was being inaugurated on January 21, 1985. From then on, the Bush administration's foreign policy team was going to be super busy 24/7."
---Firzgerald Grant
"Foreign Affairs Expert: Leadership through strength: Presidency of George Herbert Walker Bush (1983-1993)"
Spring 2002

 

[Sergeant Foley]

Barnes
10:00 PM IST, Friday, November 2, 1984
US Embassy, New Delhi, India

​

US Ambassador to India Harry George Barnes, Jr., was reading intelligence reports on the situation in India escalating to the point of ultimate chaos and bloodbath over the past two days. The anti-Sikh riots and deadly aftermath had not only escalated in India's cities, but also suburbs across the country as well including the New Delhi suburbs.

Having not left his office since being notified of the assassination of then-Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31st, Barnes had been in contact with US Secretary of State George P. Shultz and US President George HW Bush who asked for new developments.

Bush: "Ambassador Barnes. I am hearing there's some skirmishes in parts of the country. What can you tell me on any new developments on the situation in New Delhi?"
Barnes: "Mr. President. There have been some incidents of small-scale violence in the previous two days, but according to what the Indian Foreign Affairs Ministry had informed me, they said the situation is somewhat under control for the moment, but anything could change. Now I have been in contact with Indian President Zail Singh as well as the new Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi.
I will keep you posted on further developments as this situation could escalate further as I can tell that there hasn't been any violent riots near the US Embassy in New Delhi as it's under heavy guard by security and gathering information that none of our Consulates haven't been attacked either."
Bush: "Keep me informed on this situation as soon as possible."
Shultz: "Ambassador Barnes. I don't think the security situation is quite safe for you or any of the Consular officials in our consulates, but keep us all informed."

 

[Sergeant Foley]

Rajiv and Sonia: India's new power couple
12:47 PM IST, Friday, November 2, 1984
7, Lok Kalyan Marg, New Delhi, India.

​

The events of October 31st not only altered the course of history in India, but also shook the core of the Nehru-Gandhi family. The country's new Prime Minister and First Spouse: Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi all but became the new power couple in the Republic of India. People were intrigued to figure these two out and some critics weren't thrilled with Sonia, whom some critics went so far as calling her "that foreigner" or "annoying Italian trying to be Indian" or whatever criticism was vicious towards her.

Due to No. 1 Safdarjung Road being considered a crime scene after Indira was violently gunned down, the entire residence as well as the Prime Minister's Office across the street was shut down due to law enforcement officials investigating, so Rajiv, Sonia and their children: Raoul and Priyanka were currently residing at a private residence under heavy security and concerns from the Security Protection Group (due to death threats and others) had so been alarmed by these threats, instructions were quickly made to moving the South Asian country's new Prime Minister and his family into the 7, Lok Kaylan Marg; but Rajiv strongly preferred to use 5, LKM as his official residence.

Soon after assuming the Prime Ministership on October 31st, Rajiv asked embattled Indian President Zail Singh to dissolving Parliament in order to holding new elections because the Lok Sabha completed and finished up its five-year term. Easily benefiting from his vigor and youth (he was only 40 years old when he became Prime Minister) including general perceptions of being free from a background in corrupt politics and government, many Indians liked their new Prime Minister and some even went so far as to calling him "India's own John F. Kennedy."

 

[Sergeant Foley]

This week: Working on installments including personal PoV's.

 

[Sergeant Foley]

National and International headlines from Fall 1984
October 31-November 19, 1984

November 1-3, 1984: Mourners paying respects to the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi at the Teen Mutri Bhavan.​

*October 31-November 3, 1984: In the aftermath of the assassination of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, the anti-Sikh mass riots and murders take place in Delhi including various part of India. According to various news reports, the unofficial death toll in New Delhi rose to more than 400 deaths; 700 are believed to have lost their lives in this mass genocide throughout the country, although the government had not issued official figures due to fears of inflaming communal passions. The United News of India estimates the death toll as a result of the anti-Sikh riots to be around 900, while the Associated Press placed the figure more than 1,000 and counting.

*Thursday, November 1, 1984: The body of the late Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is taken by gun carriage from the AIIMS on Thursday morning to the Teen Mutri Bhavan, where she laid in state for three days as thousands and hundreds of mourners paid their last respects.

November 3, 1984: State honors for the late Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi at Shakti Sthal.​

*Saturday, November 3, 1984: The State Funeral of the late Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is held. Leaders representing 100 nations including 14 Presidents, attended the State Funeral. Among the dignitaries in attendance: British Prime Minister Geoffrey Howe; Philippine President Imelda Marcos; US Secretary of State George P. Shultz (representing US President George HW Bush); Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke; French Prime Minister Laurent Fabius; Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone; New Zealand Prime Minister David Lange; Republic of Korea Speaker of the National Assembly Chae Mun-shik; Ugandan President Milton Obote; Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda among many others.
Following services including a gun-volley salute, Indira was cremated with full state honors at Shakti Sthal.

(1984 US Presidential Election: Tuesday, November 6, 1984)
President George HW Bush (R-TX)/United States Senator Howard Baker (R-TN): 55,455,483 (60.73%)✔: 529 Electoral Votes
Former US Ambassador to Canada Walter Mondale (D-MN)/US Rep. Geraldine Ferraro (D-NY St): 37,577,352 (39.65%): 13 Electoral Votes​

*Tuesday, November 6, 1984: US President George HW Bush easily defeats former US Ambassador to Canada Walter Mondale with 60% of the nationwide vote, winning 529 Electoral Votes and carrying 50 out of 51 states. Bush, who ascended to the Presidency upon the assassination of then-US President Ronald Reagan on November 13, 1983, won a full four-year term in his own right; Bush highlighted his administration's accomplishments such as touting a strong recovery and overseeing a huge revival of national confidence and prestige. His approval ratings skyrocketed to 73% and stayed that way, (not coming close to topping the sky-high approval ratings of then-US President Nelson Rockefeller, who had a 83% approval rating when he died on January 26, 1979).

Bush also confirmed he plans on seeking a second full four-year term in 1988, which he made official during a press conference in Houston, Texas the next morning: the late Franklin Delano Roosevelt holds the record of the longest-serving American President with 12 consecutive years of service from March 4, 1933 until his death on April 12, 1945. Bush hasn't said whether he would seek reelection to a third full four-year term in 1992, which if he sought and won, it could potentially make him the longest-serving President with 13 1/2 years by 20 January 1997.

​

*Sunday, November 11, 1984: The Louisiana World Exposition, known as The 1984 World's Fair, and also New Orleans Worlds Fair, closes. It was plagued with problems ranging from low attendance, financial chaotic mismanagement and government incompetence.

*Wednesday, November 14, 1984: Zamboanga City Mayor Cesar Climaco, one of the prominent critics of the government of Philippine President Imelda Marcos, is assassinated under mysterious circumstances.

*Thursday, November 15, 1984: Former Texas Governor and former US Defense Secretary William P. Clements, Jr., in an one-on-one interview with the Fort Worth Star Telegram, says he's NOT making a comeback bid for the Texas Governor's Mansion against Texas Governor Mark W. White, Jr., in 1986. Clements, who served as US Defense Deputy Secretary under then-US Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford (1973-75) and later as US Secretary of Defense under then-US President Nelson Rockefeller (1975-77) before stepping aside following Rockefeller's landslide reelection in 1976, and embarking on a successful gubernatorial campaign in 1978 defeating then-Texas State Attorney General John L. Hill in one of the closet gubernatorial elections in Texas history; Clements served as Texas' 42nd Governor from January 16, 1979 to January 18, 1983 before losing reelection to current Governor White in 1982.

*Sunday, November 18, 1984: Louisiana Governor Edwin Washington Edwards addressed members of the press inside the conference room of the Louisiana State Capitol in Baton Rouge and was tight-lipped about a possible 1988 campaign for the Presidency, but he quickly shot those rumors down suggesting he'll serve out his third full term as Governor which expires on March 14, 1988 and is debating about whether to seek reelection to a fourth term in 1987.

​

*Monday, November 19, 1984: A series of explosions at the Pemex Petroleum Storage Facility at San Juan Ixhuatepec, in Mexico City, ignited a major fire which resulted in the deaths of 500 people.

 

[Sergeant Foley]

Personal PoV's: Vhreda Singh
10:00 PM, Monday, November 19, 1984
​

"I was enjoying the beach somewhere in San Juan, Puerto Rico since fleeing India on October 31st after the job was finished. Knowing they'd be tracking me, a Sikh woman with obvious incriminating attire, I ditched all of my Sikh attire and getting rid of the fingerprints to avoid detection where nobody can figure out who I am.

Finding a vacation spot in the Caribbean wasn't easy since the private plane I was flying in was quite small and would've been easily detectable before landing in the Bahamas, staying for the rest of the week until November 5th.

Since then, I flew to San Juan, Puerto Rico. And this was the place where nobody could find me although I was concerned about my family and friends who were trapped back home in India, especially in the suburbs of New Delhi."

 

[Sergeant Foley]

THE FOLLOWING INSTALLMENT WILL BE QUITE EROTIC; VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED!
Personal PoV: Jodi Singh
8:59 PM IST Tuesday, November 27, 1984
Somewhere in the outskirts of Gurdaspur, Punjab, India
​

Jodi Singh was one of the co-conspirators involved in the 10.31.84 Incident that resulted in the assassination of then-Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on the grounds of No. 1 Safdarjung Road, where the shooting occurred. Jodi was reluctant to get involved before being pressured by one of her colleagues to do so "because it's saving India from dictatorship"; when the shooting was taking place, Jodi was in the vehicle sweating and scared while everyone was distracted with the chaos going on in the grounds of the Prime Minister's official residence. Once the shooting stopped, Jodi immediately drove all the way toward an undisclosed location, where she hid for the remainder of the week before deciding to drive all the way to the outskirts of Guradsapur, Punjab (where she was from). She was of mixed race: Indian and French origin: her mother was French of the Roman Catholic faith and her father was Indian of the Hindu faith.

Fast forward to late November, Jodi was in the clear and invited Diego Alcazar of Rio de Janiero, Brazil, who was one of the rogue elements in the Brazilian government (more on Diego later in the timeline). Diego was in the Brazilian Marine Corps Reserves working at the Brazilian Consulate General's office in Mumbai when he got a phone call from Jodi "I need to see you"; Diego replied "I can't my wife and kids are here at my house". Jodi said "Diego, I am here in the outskirts of Guradsapur and nobody's here but me in my private house". "Ok, I'll make up some excuse to go on some vacation alone and see you before we plan something else". After informing his unsuspecting wife, Rhonda and his seven children on "heading to the northern part of the country to get a handle on a certain situation in relation to October 31st", Rhonda allowed her husband to leave Mumbai, little did she know that he intended to be on "vacation" for a long time.

In the evening hours of November 27th, inside their secret hideout, Diego and Jodi were in one of their secret escapades on the bed (both were naked and barefoot) as he penetrated her repeatedly while she moaned loudly. Turns out, this had been going on for more than several months, but years. It was 9:27 PM IST when they heard some loud skirmishes outside the neighborhood when they stopped whatever they were doing as Jodi wondered "What's that stupid noise?" because of her fears of being hunted down by the Indian government in light of the anti-Sikh riots that occurred from October 31st-November 3rd, 1984. Hearing some more noises, Diego calmed Jodi down "I am sure there's nothing to worry about" before they returned to making love on the bed.

The time was 9:59 PM IST when a loud firecracker exploded across the street, which both of them up, Jodi was sweating, wet and drenched. It was decided that they needed to get out of the hideout, so while Diego was busy destroying incriminating evidence implicating both of them of the 10.31.84 Incident, Jodi was busy packing up clothes and placing them in suitcases; they put their clothes on and quietly snuck out of their secret hideout from the back, Diego locked the door before they got into the car and drove all the way into the Pakistani border where they heard a voice coming in from the receiver, "Affirmative Horse Rider. This is Queen Beauty, I am in position as the ghost appears to be clear for you guys to come in as soon as possible because there's a private plane awaiting to pick us up." Jodi recognized the soft beautiful, lifting female Indian-accented voice which was obvious. "She's taking a big risk coming here, I am scared she'll get caught by the authorities and the same thing will happen to us."

Upon arriving at their hidden checkpoint, that recognizable beautiful soft Indian-accented voice was none other than Zehra Cheema (more on her later in the timelime), who smiled wickedly at them "The plane's ready for us to go. We've got a long trip before our next mission" as Zehra, Diego and Jade got aboard the private plane and took off for somewhere in Chile.

 

[Sergeant Foley]

COMING UP THIS WEEK IN CHAPTER 2 OF SECRETS OF THE REPUBLIC
Scheming and plotting by taking advantage of the power vacuum in India

​

 

[Sergeant Foley]

Thirst for Power!
12:36 PM IST, Thursday, November 29, 1984
Somewhere at the Indian Military Academy Headquarters
Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India

General Arun Shridhar Vaidya and other generals following the successful Operation Blue Star during Summer 1984.​

In the following month after the 10.31.84 Incident and anti-Sikh riots altered the course of India's history going forward, General Srun Shridhar Vaidya, who was Chief of Staff of the Indian Army, Lieutenant General Krishnaswamy Sundarji, Lieutenant General Ranjit Singh Dyal, Air Chief Marshal Lakshman Madhav Katre of the Indian Air Force and several others from the Indian Military Academy continued taking advantage of the fragile political situation in the country by aggressively growing the strength of Chanohoe (secret military club formed sometime back in the 1960s) by lobbying and courting key commanders including subverting the nation's intelligence gathering organizations.

"This is our moment! We cannot let this pass us by or else the fragile situation will escalate even further" Vaidya informed many of his close colleagues during a private meeting. It had been no secret that many had grown annoyed with the incompetent government of Indian President Zail Singh as well as the disastrous aftermath of backlash from the international community over Operation Blue Star which resulted in the assassination of then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31st. The ambitious military generals had also been in secret contact with some of their foreign counterparts in Chile, Brazil and Argentine Republic on how to instigate some chaos inside the government by taking it over....

One of the key military commanders personally visited Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and while not blurting out to him their plans, he basically told Rajiv "Mr. Prime Minister. I want to personally and officially inform you that your current position is secure. Your family's personal and political interests will be protected as you're the head of government. Just wanted you to know that." It's not known if Rajiv have given the ambitious group of military generals the go-ahead or not. It also was rumored on whether the CIA had been secretly working with these generals to undermine the Singh administration from the very get-go....

Little did Singh realize that there was going to be a coup d'etat against his government, the clock was ticking fast and he had no idea what sucker-punch was coming.

 

[Sergeant Foley]

"It was so damn obvious that Indira was played like a jackass by those damn Soviets, who used KGB active measures and illegal operations by manufacturing so-called evidence and documentation by persuading her that the American and Pakistani intelligence agencies were involved in pushing Sikh separatism in Punjab, with calls for an independent country. Despite assurance that we had nothing to do with it, Indira flatly rejected these assurances and accused us of "meddling in Indian affairs", there was nothing we could do to convince her otherwise.

In the summer of 1981, the Suriname situation was being pushed hard by General Haig (in reference to then-US Secretary of State Alexander Haig), and it is because he flew with then-President Reagan to the G-7 Summit to Montebello, Quebec, Canada, he had brought with him a book including several documents to read on the trip. He was really shocked by it, how ugly the explosive protests got out of hand during the Summer of 1979 when rouge elements of the Surinamese Army sent troops to ambush American Embassy staff employees in the middle of the night, Holton ordered military airstrikes to destroy Surinamese air defenses including other areas. And it was a fucking disaster. I mean really, a total fucking disaster for both sides, this continued even under the Reagan administration, where economic sanctions were enforced against the Surinamese government. This policy question fell into our laps when we took over on January 20, 1981."
----Caspar Weinberger
US Secretary of Defense under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George HW Bush (1983-87)
Summer of 1988

"Following President Reagan's horrific assassination on November 13, 1983 in Seoul, Republic of Korea and the ascension of George H.W. Bush as the 42nd President, the Bush administration offered to work with the Indian government on finding a diplomatic solution to the growing crisis bubbling up the surface in Punjab through our contacts, but Senator Goldwater bluntly warned the Bush administration that it would blow up in your face. Barry was right! Indira once again, falling for the Soviet tricks, refused to deviate from her independent foreign policy shtick and accused both Pakistan and the United States of interferring in Indian affairs. Little did we realize that shocking events ranging from the deadly aftermath of Operation Blue Star in the Summer of '84 to Indira's shocking assassination on October 31, 1984 and then the ugly, deadly anti-Sikh riots across India would not only have ramifications and implications for India, but the entire world."
----Bruce Babbitt
Spring 2004
19th Arizona State Attorney General (January 6, 1975-March 4, 1978)
16th Governor of Arizona (March 4, 1978-January 5, 1987)
47th US Secretary of the Interior under Presidents Bill Clinton (1993-96); Al Gore (1996-97) and Mark W. White, Jr., (1997-2001)

 

[Sergeant Foley]

"....it was fucking obvious that President Singh and the newly-installed Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi didn't get along at all. You can tell by the body language between them. It was like neither wanted to be in the same room or be in the same building altogether, I knew that most people have rough patches sometimes, but Jesus Christ: I didn't know that the tension would get this bad. From the moment those traitorous bastards gunned down Indira, I knew that change was in the air across the Republic of India. This was one of the largest countries in South Asia with nuclear weapons and a strong military to boot. There have been allegations on whether Rajiv or some of his closest associates were instigating the deadly coup d'etat against President Singh, but I just cannot seem to understand what justification this caused."
---Excerpt from "The Plot to kill Democracy in India"
Summer 2004

"That afternoon of December 6th, 1984 will be forever remembered as the day democracy in India died when some ambitious egotistical military generals betrayed their constitutional oaths by participating in treasonous activities against our government. I will NEVER forgive, forget and will always remember this awful day which destroyed the international reputation of our country. How is anyone going to take us seriously after this? I am still amazed that despite the awful deadly human rights violations committed by the Military Junta over the years, that our country was received by fans of the Miss Universe pageant when Sushmita Sen and Lara Dutta managed to win Miss Universe respectively in 1994 and 2000. Surprised neither got death threats from anyone because of what the Junta was doing to us...."
---Aubrey Feroz
Spring 2007

 

[Sergeant Foley]

12.06.84: Democracy dies in India
Thursday, December 6, 1984
New Delhi, India

Bombing of one of the government buildings in New Delhi (December 6, 1984)​

"We have a go. Time to Save the Republic."

Depending on whom you ask about where you were on that afternoon of December 6th, that it would have devastating implications and ramifications for India and the entire world. Some say the backlash over Operation Blue Star including the catalyst resulting in the assassination of then-Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31st served as the ticking time-bomb that was bound to explode. In nearby Pakistan, the Pakistani government had been so alarmed by rumblings of a coup that they closed down the borders and locked everything down as well as sending some military reinforcements to keep things under control.

This was the 12.06.84 Incident.

There had been some diplomatic overtures to Indian President Zail Singh to consider making options in terms of fleeing the country with members of his family, but despite the hardworking efforts of US Ambassador to India Harry Barnes, Jr., Singh told Barnes "Ambassador Barnes. I appreciate the offer, but I was elected by the people of India to serve as their President and I have a constitutional duty to finishing out my five-year term despite the ongoing fragile political situation going on over the past few months." Few people expected that India, a growing nuclear power in South Asia and one of the functioning democracies despite imperfections, it would fall victim to military coups and replaced by military governments as was the case in Brazil (1964), Argentine Republic (1966), Peru (1968), Bolivia (1969), Uruguay and Chile (1973), Mexico (1975) including Republic of Korea (December 12, 1979).

At 8:00 AM IST on December 6th, a date chosen in order to avoid infuriating Republic of Korea President Chun Doo-hwan's 12.12.79 and 05.17.80 coups, the Indian Navy aggressively took full and permanent control of the Persian Gulf Region; the Horn of Africa and also took full control of Ezhimala. They also captured Mumbai and closed down radio and television networks effective immediately. Vice Admiral K.K. Nayyar informed President Singh of the Navy's controversial actions; immediately, the President was working in his office at Rashtrapati Bhavan (the presidential palace) with his bodyguards, including the Special Protection Group as well as the President's Bodyguard special units guarding the palace.

By 9:30 AM, the Indian Army had closed down several radio and television stations in New Delhi; the Air Force had bombed five others with ruthless, sadistic force killing more than 27 people, who were trapped in one of the buildings at one of the news stations in attempt to escape due to hearing fire sirens going off. Due to the growing chaotic escalation, President Singh had been getting incomplete briefings, assuming it was only a rouge element within the Indian Armed Forces. President Singh and Defense Minister Shankarrao Chavan had both been unable to communicate with senior military officials. Days earlier, Admiral Oscar Stanley Dawson, who served as Chief of the Naval Staff from the Indian Navy, a Singh loyalist, was considered "persona-non-grata" by the ambitious military generals and was forced out as Chairman of the Chief of Staff Committee (a power-play move instigated by General Vaidya). Replacing Dawson would be Admiral Radhakrishna Hariram Tahiliani; Air Force Chief Marshal Lakshman Madav Katre of the Indian Air Force and General Arun Shridhar Vaidya of the Indian Army, all of whom refused to answer Singh's telephone calls to them.

Deciding to check things out, Defense Minister Shankarrao Chavan went to the Ministry of Defence, which was controlled by troops loyal to Vaidya and quickly arrested, becoming the first prisoner of the coup d'etat.

Working hard to find some units loyal to the Indian government, Singh attempted to reach Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on the phone to discuss the escalating situation, but was told by one female confidential secretary at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg (the official residence of the Prime Minister) "I'm sorry Mr. President, you have the wrong number and the Prime Minister doesn't want to speak with you at this time." Enraged and pissed off, Singh thought to himself "That conniving bastard back-stabbed me despite the fact that I named him as the new Prime Minister on October 31st. Is this how I get thanks for giving him such hardworking efforts to leading the country?"

The military's rebellion continued to escalate when at 10:00 AM IST, a radio announcement was read aloud when the Indian Armed Forces announced they were in full control of the government and that the President had been deposed. Despite this setback, Singh stubbornly refused to resign from the Presidency.

31 minutes later, the President's Bodyguard units suddenly left Rashtrapati Bhavan. By 10:30 AM IST, the Armed Forces had controlled India all expect for New Delhi. Singh once again, refused to surrender and didn't take any blunt warnings from the rebellious military troops that they would bomb the presidential palace if Singh didn't resign. Speaking with several foreign diplomatic contacts, they advised Singh to consider fleeing the country and form a government in exile in a friendly country such as the Philippines or Singapore. Singh decided to let his family leave the country and head to Singapore for their safety "I am going to tough this out and fight to the very end!" he declared when he rejected a heartfelt plea from US Secretary of State George P. Shultz to leave the country, choosing instead to attempt one last appeal in preventing this coup attempt.

When it became apparent that the military troops and the rebellious leaders were strongly serious and not budging, Singh delivered a farewell address on television informing the Indian people of the coup against the government and telling the people "This is your country. Fight for it! Fight until the very end.!"

Annoyed with Singh and his loyalists' refusal to surrender, Katre gave the green-light and the order of having the presidential palace bombed, but was told that the Air Force's Hawker Hunter jets wouldn't arrive in 43 minutes. Vadiya then ordered armored and infantry troops to advance toward Rashtrapati Bhavan. Once the troops arrived and started moving forward, they received a pleasant surprise when several loyalists working for Singh's administration opened fire on them via sniper, many of whom were perched on the rooftops and other parts of the palace. Lieutenant General Sundarji, despite some hesitancy, reluctantly called for helicopter gunship support from the Indian Army helicopter squadrons and the troops continued their advance even further. Once the Indian Air Force aircraft arrived, the bombing began and escalated non-stop....

Major government buildings were bombed including parts of Rashtrapati Bhavan, where several of the defenders continued fighting non-stop until realizing they were surrounded by heavy force and were forced to surrender at 3:37 PM IST.

Shortly afterwards, Singh's corpse was carried out of Rashtrapati Bhavan wrapped in an extra-large black poncho by soldiers and firefighters, who arrived to put out the devastating fire of the presidential palace. His body was then sent to AIIMS, arriving at 4:27 PM. The private autopsy confirmed Singh had been shot to death by soldiers as he tried shooting back at them during a gunfight.

Upon being notified of Singh's violent death in the bloody coup d'etat, US President George HW Bush strongly condemned the coup, but urged restraint when he addressed the nation during a press conference; US Secretary of State George P. Shultz was enraged and furious "Those fucking Judases killed their own commander-in-chief. They're going to regret destroying their own government by launching this despicable act." Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations Natarajan Krishnan, informed about the coup, was devastated about Singh's death and wondered about the ramifications going forward, "I can guess these bastards are going to come after me and my family any moment now."

Later in the night, evening raids ordered by the Military Junta were launched: anyone who was sympathetic to the deposed Singh government was fair game and considered "national security threats". Men, women, children and even the elderly were targets for these raids as well as college students, who upon learning of the coup, began to fight back against the immediate oppression measures being implemented by the Junta. In some cases, these attempts to fight back were unsuccessful.

Upon the seizure of power, General Vadiya, one of the leaders of the Junta announced the permanent bans of political parties including those who constituted in electing Zail Singh as President in 1982. Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was strongly reassured by the Junta that he would remain the Head of Government as well as the face of Indian politics, while the Junta would be running the show. Almost quickly, the Junta's aggressive tactics of violence and intimidation was directed not only at political opponents, but other civilians, athletes, celebrities and their families (more on that later).

 

[Sergeant Foley]

BREAKING NEWS: INDIAN PRESIDENT ZAIL SINGH, SEVERAL GOVERNMENT LOAYLISTS KILLED IN VIOLENT COUP D'ETAT; INDIAN MILITARY FORMS INTERIM GOVERNMENT EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY

Giani Zail Singh
(May 5, 1916-December 6, 1984)
7th President of India
July 25, 1982-December 6, 1984
Minister of Home Affairs
January 14, 1980-June 22, 1982
9th Chief Minister of Punjab
March 17, 1972-April 30, 1977
Chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement
1983-1984
​

Before the fragile political situation could calm down, things in India quickly spiraled out of control very fast: Military leaders under the control of General Arun Shridhar Vaidya made the decision to launch an aggressive offensive by ousting the country's first Sikh President with violent force and started an offensive against Rashtrapati Bhavan, where the Indian Air Force launched bombing raids against the presidential palace and other government buildings. Reports circulate that Singh and 26 others were killed while defending the presidential palace from rebellious military troops; the Associated Press had gotten confirmation that Singh was fatally shot over 20 times by three of the soldiers as they barged into one of the offices of the palace. Although many of Singh's supporters and loyal government officials engaged in defensive fighting, the situation calmed down by later that evening when they were arrested and sent to detention camps in unknown destinations.

Almost immediately, the Military Junta led by General Vaidya held a national televised address addressing the Indian people, informing them of "Saving the Republic" and announced the Junta will be forming a new interim government....with the Military Junta running it as well as rotating the Presidency of various generals of the Indian Armed Forces and issued nationwide curfew in order to maintain law and order across India.

SINGH FAMILY IN EXILE; BLASTS COUP AND COUP PLOTTERS AS TRAITORS OF THE COUNTRY
*Friday, December 7, 1984: Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew confirmed that the family of the slain Indian President Zail Singh went into Singaporean exile. It was unclear whether they would make plans on returning to India and what would happen to Singh's supporters and government officials in India.

Singh's wife, former Indian First Lady Pardhan Kaur blasted the coup plotters "These Judases are traitors to the Republic of India and they're godless bastards for destroying a proud independent country all because of their damned egos and lust for greed and power." Singh's four children also seconded those sentiments in blunt, aggressive critical comments blasting the Military Junta. When asked if Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi is to blame for the coup, Kaur stated "The Prime Minister knew what was going to happen with these ambitious traitors and didn't do anything to stop it."

 

[Sergeant Foley]

Coming up: More Personal PoV's will be worked on over the weekend including several key stories as the Military Junta begins their reign of terror.

 

[Sergeant Foley]

"It was just a simple intelligence coordination mission in an attempt to force change in the Indian government. But I didn't know anything about the murder when the coup escalated into bombing Rashtrapati Bhavan. I didn't think things would escalate leading to the mysterious shooting death of the President."
---Thomas Ferguson
FBI Special Agent working in BlackOps mission

"the coup of December 6, 1984 in India would have major implications and ramifications not only for India, but sending major shockwaves through the entire world. Especially since the Military Junta not only succeeded in violently ousting a democratic elected government, but had total control of nuclear weapons. The fears of a possible nuclear holocaust between India and Pakistan was a potential possibility...."
---Excerpt in "South Asia's own version of Operation Condor"

"my country's identity is gone. Democracy is dead and we are scared of what might happen next...."
---Yudisha Singh
Somewhere in the outskirts of New Delhi
Late December 1984

​

 

[Sergeant Foley]

COMING SOON IN SECRETS OF THE REPUBLIC
Personal PoV's: Yameesha's secret lifestyle