BBC Six O’clock News, Presented by Sue Lawley and Jeremy Paxman. Brian Hanrahan report from New Delhi. Interview with actor, Peter Ustinov.

Mrs Gandhi’s body lies in state tonight and thousands of mourners queue for a last glimpse of their leader the cities of India have erupted in violence. At least 70 people are dead including Sikhs burnt alive by Hindus and hundreds have been injured.

Sue Lawley, BBC.

“Mrs Gandhi’s body lies in state tonight and thousands of mourners queue for a last glimpse of their leader the cities of India have erupted in violence. At least 70 people are dead including Sikhs burnt alive by Hindus and hundreds have been injured. In many places the Army and police have orders to shoot rioters on site. Tourists have been warned to stay away from India and England’s cricketers who arrived in New Delhi earlier this week have been ordered not to leave their hotel. This is the beginning of 13 days of official mourning for Mrs Gandhi, who will be cremated publicly on Saturday. It’s expected that her son Rajiv the new Prime Minister will light the pyre. The outpourings of national anger against the Sikhs whose extremist leaders claimed the assassination was their work has brought chaos throughout the subcontinent.

In New Delhi rioting and arson Hindu crowds armed with iron rods prowl the streets. Kanpur, widespread violence and indefinite curfew imposed Calcutta, large-scale looting and arson police firing at rioters army called in Rae Barelli, Mrs Gandhi’s former constituency. Security forces ordered to shoot rioters on-site.

Our report from Brian Hanrahan in New Delhi. The Hindu backlash turns what should have been a day of mourning into a day of revenge. Hardly a part of Delhi was spared the attacks on the Sikhs the elegant Colonnades of Connaught Centre were put to the torch as part of a frenzy that started early and spread right across the city to rich and poor areas alike. Burning vehicles by the dozen litter of the roads and pavements heavy black smoke puffed upwards with each exploding petrol tank. Particular targets were the taxis mostly driven by Sikhs. They were stopped smashed and set on fire. Few drivers were willing to risk their lives. Nearly all traffic stopped.

The few police were in sight watched without attempting to interfere. They said the violence was so widespread it was impossible to cope with it. Parts of Delhi became lawless. At their temples, the Sikhs gathered with swords and homemade cudgels ready to defend themselves.

The targets of the violence were undoubtedly Sikhs. Their shops, their offices and their vehicles. A similar pattern of violence against Sikhs is becoming apparent across Central and Northern India. The areas they call the Hindu Heartland.

Brian Hanrahan, BBC.

Eventually in Delhi this evening, the army were brought in to try to restore order they’ve had to be called out in six cities now. Curfews have been declared in 16.

When all this was happening, Mrs Gandhi’s body was taken on a gun carriage from her house where it remained overnight it will nine state for two days in the mansion used by her father Pandit Nehru while he was India’s Prime Minister. Her son Rajiv, now Prime Minister in her place, took his stance as tradition demanded alongside the body. He greeted the predator of India other officials and members of the family who came to see Mrs Gandhi’s embalmed body. While the mighty filed passed inside, many thousands passed in front of the open door outside. Theirs was a noisy and an angry procession shouting and surging. Their slogan Mrs Gandhi’s memory will live on and there to watch and sometimes greet them with the new Prime Minister, who has to ride that anger and turn it away from communal violence.

Rajiv Gandhi, the third of his family to rule India, must now prove his own worth. His likely first step is to call an election and hope that this outpouring of national anger and grief can be turned into a vote in support of him. Then with a popular mandate, he’ll be able to turn his attentions to tackling India’s problems, the problems his mother has bequeathed him.

It was noticeable that nowhere in that long line of people were there any turbans. No Sikhs felt his grief was deep enough to risk appearing in the midst of a volatile crowd that seemed constantly close to violence. Outside the grounds the line wound on many thousand strong and tens of thousands plotted through the broad avenues to join the queue, to show respect and grief and anger. A funeral pyre is being prepared for Mrs Gandhi’s cremation after a state funeral on Saturday. More than a hundred nations have announced that they will be represented. guarding them will be a further strain on security forces already overstretched. This is Brian Hanrahan for the Six O’clock news in Delhi.

The foreign office is advising people planning to visit India to postpone their travel plans for the time being. Yesterday, they’d said there was no need for people to change their plans. Among those already in Delhi is the actor and writer Peter Ustinov. He was in the garden of Mrs Gandhi’s residence waiting to interview her for a documentary when the shots rang out which killed her.

Today, he talked to Michael Blakey.

Our cameras were locked into position, ready for her the cushions were ready as she wanted them on her chair. I was already miked up, the tea was on the table and we were all ready for a very much more static show than what we got. What was the effect on you personally being so close to this assassination? You live with the moment and you’re aware of everything and if the whole garden is bristling with trigger-happy soldiers looking for something to move not sure how many assassins there are, you’re absolutely you’re on your guard and all your senses are woken. It’s only later that the shock waves come.

It’s the same with the people here because yesterday there wasn’t yet much reaction today, I get that awful sweet smell in my nose that I remember from the blitz. Of buildings burning here gratuitously, little local revenges, it’s all unexplained, it’s all chaotic, it’s all slightly crazy, young men turning over cars and as you go by in your car. people look to the inside to see who you are or how you’re dressed.

Peter Ustinov

Well, that interview with Peter Ustinov was done by Michael Blakey, our Sports correspondent who’s in India for the cricket tour and the team as we mentioned earlier have been ordered to stay inside their hotel and it looks as though the tour could be in Jeopardy. The first two warm-up matches have already been cancelled and the first one day test in the Punjab could be cancelled.”

BBC News report from New Delhi. 1 November 1984, including an interview with veteran actor, Peter Ustinov.