Presenter: Peter Sissons ITN. Edward Stourton and Jane Corbin report from New Delhi.

“First, more than a hundred people are thought to have died in communal violence across India, in the wake of Mrs Gandhi’s assassination by two Sikh members of her bodyguard. In widespread rioting, Hindus are attacking Sikh property, Sikh temples and Sikhs themselves. The picture is still confused but in Delhi where a 24-hour curfew has been imposed and the troops have been called out to try to restore order, it’s reported that security forces now have orders to shoot to kill. Outside Delhi, curfews have been imposed in 30 other cities, including the holy city of Benares, the Kashmiri summer capital of Jammu, the state capital of Bihar, Patna and the state capital of Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow. In the Punjab, there are reports that the family and friends of one of the assassins have been arrested and in Calcutta, as in Delhi, the troops have been called out to try to restore order.

Edward Stourton, in London, has been following the day’s events.

Despite the 24 hours curfew, Delhi at nightfall bore the scars of a day of violence on the streets. Anti-Sikh feeling had made itself felt across the country. The day began with the moving of Mrs Gandhi’s body, carried in a gun carriage to the home of her father Pandit Nehru. She’ll lie-in-state and stayed there until her funeral on Saturday. Thousands of people had gathered to see her, at the gates of what has become a shrine to the Gandhi family. So many came to pay their respects to the Prime Minister that the security forces hustled them past her body as quickly as possible. One mourner said the whole nation had been orphaned. Mrs Gandhi’s son, Rajiv, the new Prime Minister, appealed for calm but nothing could steal the grief of some. By the time the day was over, some 400,000 had been through and the pressure was so great that police had to hold together the hastily erected barriers. 40 people were injured in the crush. They chanted Mrs Gandhi’s name, and some cried for vengeance.

Anti-Sikh feeling was expressed in more than words on the streets. Hundreds of cars and Sikh shops were burnt. Many Sikhs are shopkeepers which makes them easy targets. There are no Sikh ghettos as such and for the most part they live cheek by jowl with the other religious groups. So, gangs, sometimes as many as 2000 strong roamed the streets. And before long, much of the city was under a pall of smoke. Some Sikhs took refuge in one of Delhi’s Sikh temples. The crowd surrounded the building and tried to drive them out.

Edward Stourton, ITN.

It’s not clear how much of the violence was straightforward vandalism and looting and how much was genuine communal anger. The army were brought onto the streets in force. In Delhi they’d been given orders to shoot rioters and arsonists on site and 30 of India’s cities have been put under curfew. New Delhi’s police chief called the trouble the worst since independence. This evening the national flag flew at half-mast on India’s parliament. The nation is in mourning for its leader. It’s also holding its breath to see how long the violence will continue.

Jane Corbin has just arrived in Delhi. She spoke to the political commentator Venkat Naryan.

This is the most serious incident in peacetime. Even when Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated more than 36 years ago, I do not think a thing like this happened. This is the most unfortunate chapter in the history of this country.

What about the role of the army? They’re out in large numbers tonight in Delhi and in other major cities. Do you think that that’s right?

Well, I suppose there is no other go. You need the army to maintain peace and law and order, because the people are in a very disturbed condition. They could not imagine that Mrs Gandhi would have been shot dead by our own security guards and people are very angry, and they just went berserk. In all the cities.

You see, 15 million Sikhs live in this country, more than half of them in Punjab. The rest are scattered all over the country. And Delhi is the city where the largest number of Sikhs outside Punjab live. And people just let off their anger by bashing up the Sikhs and burning their properties, setting fire and looting. Antisocial elements also got into the fray. So you needed the army to bring law and order back on the rails.

Venkat Naryan, political commentator.

How do you think the new Prime Minister is coping with the situation?

He’s the youngest man to have become the Prime Minister of this country and he has a tremendous amount of goodwill among the people. The senior and the young elements in the Congress Party are with him, the bureaucracy is with him, the sympathy of the people, millions of people all over the country is with him at the moment. If he has so many things going and the army also in this country, there is no history of coups and things like that, the army also will back him to the hill. So, in a situation like that, everything is there for him and I’m sure he’ll make a good show hopefully. One has to give him time and see how he shapes up.

Buildings are still burning in Delhi. Today, the new Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi met members of the opposition party, who joined him in appealing for calm. The new Prime Minister has appointed four cabinet ministers, but he’s reserved the other portfolios for himself. Tonight, Indian television warned Delhi residents of the 24-hours curfew imposed this evening, saying that troops would be moving into the centre of the city. Tonight, as I drove through the streets of Delhi, there was a sense of eerie calm, deserted streets in a normally busy city. Meanwhile, heads of state have already begun arriving here for the funeral on Saturday. Jane Corbin, ITN.”

Edward Stourton and Jane Corbin of ITN news report from New Delhi, 1 November 1984 as the violence against the Sikhs begin.