| INDIA TODAY | CURRENT ISSUE DECEMBER 26, 2005 | | | | ANNIVERSARY ISSUE: IMAGES |  | | | IMAGES
The power of a photograph is the power to create a myth, transcending a moment to make it history. As a visual narrative of the extraordinary times India Today has recorded in three amazing decades, these pictures are representative both of the kaleidoscopic breadth of events, sometimes tragic, often triumphant, as well as the stupendous talent of the people behind the camera. Here are 30 heart-stopping seconds in the nation's life. Frozen in time, yet eloquent in their immediacy. | | |  | | PICTURE SPEAK | |  |  | THE IRON WOMAN : As the invincible Indira Gandhi is claimed by death on October 31, 1984, Raghu Rai captures her farewell.
"Attempts are being made to eliminate me. Every drop of my blood, I am sure, will contribute to the growth of this nation."
Indira Gandhi, a few days before her assassination | | THE ENEMY WITHIN: Having trampled all over Punjab's prosperity with country-made weapons and AK-47s, militants found a new weapon-Germany-built explosives-which they planted in public places to devastating effect. Pramod Pushkarna took this picture seconds after a bomb exploded at Katra Ahluwalia, a Hindu-dominated section of Amritsar, in June 1988. The blast invited a communal backlash.
"Planting a bomb like this is much safer and easier for militants than killing people with AK-47 rifles.
Suresh Arora, SSP, Amritsar, 1988 | |
| | PICTURE SPEAK | |  |  | SPLIT SECOND : The daring, deadly destruction that changed the notion of nationhood evoked a quick rebuttal. Thirteen serial blasts in Mumbai on March 12, 1993, killed over 200 people and injured more than a thousand. Namas Bhojani took this picture as the city with nerves of steel was shaken to its core.
"Industry certainly can't thrive in a situation of uncertainty and lawlessness.
Aditya Birla, industrialist, after the blasts | | | THE SON RISES : In and out of power, in prison and out of it, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah (left) dominated Jammu and Kashmir's troubled politics. When it was time to pass on the legacy, son Farooq (right) was ready to follow in his father's footsteps. As in this photograph by Bhawan Singh in Srinagar, in September 1982. At another time, another place, Singh's camera caught future prime minister Rajiv Gandhi (top, right) filming an air show in 1983. | |
| | PICTURE SPEAK | |  |  | KILLING FIELD : After 24 hours of ceaseless violence, Nellie was a graveyard where the smell of death was overpowering. The mindless carnage on February 18, 1983, was in protest against Indira Gandhi's insistence on state elections, and altered the contours of the Assam problem-possibly forever. Photo by Bhawan Singh.
"The violence was created by government agents. The people of Assam will no longer tolerate any deviousness by the Government."
Nurul Hussain, president, All Assam Students' Union | | | DEFIANT QUEEN : Indira Gandhi courts arrest in October 1977 in a dramatic fashion, demanding, "Where are the handcuffs? I am not going without handcuffs." Raghu Rai is at hand to capture the moment. | |
| | PICTURE SPEAK | |  |  | FOR GOD'S SAKE? : When L.K. Advani stepped into his air-conditioned rath in September 1990, he was making a dramatically symbolic gesture: the BJP was pulling out all stops to reclaim its political base by brandishing the Ram card. From that moment on, the demolition of the Babri Masjid (right) in Ayodhya, on December 6, 1992, was inevitable. Photos by Prashant Panjiar.
"The mosque is a sign of slavery. An independent India will not accept it."
Murli Manohar Joshi, BJP president, 1992 | |
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