The Gauriganj shooting incident in which Tikori Singh, a worker of the Sanjay Gandhi Vichar Manch, was injured and later died in a Lucknow hospital, took a dramatic turn with the arrest of three important Manch leaders: Akbar Ahmed, MLA, in Lucknow, Kalpanath Sonkar, MP, in Basti and J N Mishra in Delhi.
There were only two negative votes — those of Israel and the United States — when the emergency special session of the UN General Assembly condemned the recent “criminal massacre” of Palestinians in West Beirut and urged the Security Council to conduct an investigation into the circumstances and extent of the massacre. The vote on the resolution by 15 non-aligned nations including India was 147 to two.
Reacting sharply. to the arrests of three leading members of the Sanjay Vichar Manch, Maneka Gandhi claimed that it was a pure case of “political retaliation”. Addressing newsmen, she remarked: “Why is the government reaction so panicky after my visit to Amethi? I think the reason should be quite obvious.” Asked if she feared her arrest, she said, “I don’t fear it, I expect it.”
Striking employees of Doordarshan and All India Radio called off their day-long agitation 15 minutes before resumption of transmission, following the suspension of five security men for allegedly manhandling P L Gupta, a television assistant engineer. While Suresh Mathur, Director-General, Doordarshan, was announcing the suspensions, the security staff went on agitation demanding withdrawal of the orders.