There have been numerous assassination attempts on prime ministers of India. The prime minister is the executive head of the Union Government of India, and is usually the most powerful person in the country.

Two prime ministers, namely Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi (former prime minister) have been assassinated.

Assassinated prime ministers


Name	Date	Place	Type	Assassin(s)
Indira Gandhi	31 October 1984	New Delhi, India	Shooting	Main convicts: Beant Singh Satwant Singh Co-conspirator: Kehar Singh
Rajiv Gandhi (former prime minister)	21 May 1991	Thiruperumbudur, India	Suicide bombing	Main convict: Thenmozhi Rajaratnam Co-conspirators: A. G. Perarivalan S. Nalini Sriharan T. Suthendrara V. Sriharan

Assassination attempts and plots

Jawaharlal Nehru

1947: Assassination attempt (as head of the Interim Government) during the partition of India while he was visiting the North-West Frontier Province in a car.^[1]^[2]
4 May 1953: An alleged attempt to bomb the Bombay–Amritsar Express in which Nehru was travelling was thwarted when the police discovered two men crouched near the railway tracks in Kalyan, Bombay State.^[3]^[4] It was later discovered that the object initially thought of as a bomb was a firecracker and the attackers had only intended to cause a sensation.^[3]
1955: Baburao Laxman Kochale, a knife-wielding rickshaw-puller, tried to kill Nehru near Nagpur.^[5]
1955: Plotted by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).^[6]^[7]
1956: A stone-throwing mob attempted to assassinate Nehru with a bomb in Bombay.^[8]
30 September 1961: A failed bombing attempt on train tracks in Maharashtra on a route to be followed by the Prime Minister.^[9]

Rajiv Gandhi

January 1985: FBI found out about an attempt to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi by Sikhs in New York. They planned to use bombs and target other key locations.^[10]
April 1985: FBI that Sikh militants were plotting an assassination of Rajiv Gandhi and promised to give $60,000 to anyone who killed Rajiv Gandhi.^[10]
July 31, 1985: Harjinder Singh Jinda revealed that immediately after killing Lalit Maken he took position outside of a hospital anticipating Rajiv Gandhi and Zail Singh to visit. He planned to kill them both. He was unable to get a shot because of a large crowd.^[10]
October 1985: British police foiled a plan to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi.^[10]
16 June 1986: 4 Sikhs were jailed for trying to assassinate Gandhi in Leicester.
2 October 1986: Karamjit Singh, a Sikh gunman, fired rounds from an improvised, homemade firearm at Gandhi in Delhi, while he was leaving the Raj Ghat.^[11]
30 July 1987 A Sri Lankan Navy sailor Wijemuni Vijitha Rohana de Silva hit Gandhi with his rifle butt in Colombo, while he was inspecting Guard of Honour at the Sri Lankan President’s House at Colombo.^[12]
May 1991: Iqbal Singh Fauji, deputy chief of Khalistan National Army, and other members of Khalistan National Army planned to kill Rajiv Gandhi with sticky bombs. They decided not to carry out the plan.^[10]
May 1991: Iqbal Singh Fauji, deputy chief of Khalistan National Army, and other members of Khalistan National Army again planned to kill Rajiv Gandhi with sticky bombs. The plan was that while everyone threw flowers at Gandhi they would throw sticky bombs hidden in baskets of flower. Tight security led to the plan not being carried out.^[10]

References

^ Mathai, M. O. (1978). Reminiscences of the Nehru Age.
^ Dutta, Prabhash K. "Nehru might be assassinated, a fear that kept Sardar Patel awake: 4 foiled plots". India Today. Archived from the original on 2019-11-14. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
^ ^a ^b Kothari, Urvish (2018-12-28). "The many plots to kill Jawaharlal Nehru from 1948 to 1955". ThePrint. Archived from the original on 2021-12-17. Retrieved 2020-02-07.
^ "Policeman foils attempt to bomb Nehru's train". The New York Times. 5 May 1953.
^ "Assassination Attempt on Nehru Made in Car". Gettysburg Times. 22 March 1955. Archived from the original on 5 February 2021. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
^ Covertaction Quarterly. Covert Action Publications. 1992. p. 9. Archived from the original on 2023-07-08. Retrieved 2023-07-08.
^ William Blum (2006). Rogue State: A Guide to the Worlds Only Superpower. Zed Books. p. 50. ISBN 9781842778272. Archived from the original on 2023-07-08. Retrieved 2023-07-08.
^ "Police Say Nehru's Assassination Plot is Thwarted". Altus Times-Democrat. 4 June 1956. Archived from the original on 5 February 2021. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
^ "Bomb Explodes on Nehru's Route". Toledo Blade. 30 September 1961. Archived from the original on 28 November 2021. Retrieved 14 August 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f "Jain Commission - Threats to Rajiv Gandhi - Chapter 1 Sections 1&2". tamilnation.org. Archived from the original on 2024-01-19. Retrieved 2023-06-01.
^ Weintraub, Richard M. (1986-10-03). "Gandhi Unhurt in Apparent Assassination Attempt". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2022-01-17. Retrieved 2020-02-07.
^ "No regrets for attack on Rajiv, says Lankan guard". The New Indian Express. 2013-08-30. Archived from the original on 2016-08-29. Retrieved 2016-08-29.

v t e Prime Minister of India
List By previous experience
Prime Ministers	Jawaharlal Nehru Lal Bahadur Shastri Premiership Indira Gandhi Morarji Desai Premiership Charan Singh Rajiv Gandhi V. P. Singh Premiership Chandra Shekhar P. V. Narasimha Rao Atal Bihari Vajpayee Premiership H. D. Deve Gowda Inder Kumar Gujral Manmohan Singh Narendra Modi Premiership
Acting	Gulzarilal Nanda
Prime ministerial firsts Things named after prime ministers Nehru Indira Rajiv Office Residence International trips Nehru Indira Vajpayee Modi Spouses Children Category

Assassinated prime ministers

Assassination attempts and plots

Jawaharlal Nehru

Rajiv Gandhi

See also

References