The World - News from March 10, 1988

More than 250,000 people chanting “Rajiv must go!” crowded outside Parliament House in New Delhi and demanded the resignation of India’s Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and midterm parliamentary elections. The rally and a daylong strike in the Indian capital were sponsored by a right-wing party and a rural-based party. Most shops in New Delhi were closed, but government offices, banks and schools remained open. Traffic was normal. The opposition has blamed Gandhi’s government for failing to control inflation and impose law and order in northern Punjab state, where nearly 400 have been killed this year by Sikh separatists. The next election is due in December, 1989.