This is an archive article published on January 7, 2019

Opinion Forty Years Ago: January 7, 1979

In the holy city of Qom in Iran, nearly a lakh people marched through the streets to demand the Shah’s abdication in favour of an Islamic republic.

January 7, 2019 12:45 AM IST First published on: Jan 7, 2019 at 12:45 AM IST

The Vigilance Department filed a charge-sheet against former Bihar chief minister, Jagannath Mishra, alleging, among other things, misuse of army jeeps for the Congress campaigns in the Lok Sabha election of March.

Changes In Iran

The new Iran Prime Minister, Shapour Bakhtiar, who promised to lead the country from political turmoil toward social democracy, took power and said Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi would remain on the throne as a constitutional monarch. Reaction to the new government, which replaced the military regime after two months in power, was mixed. The Shah’s leading opponent, the exiled Ayatullah Khomeini, branded the Bakhtiar Government as “illegal’’ but stopped short of demanding its overthrow. In the holy city of Qom, nearly a lakh people marched through the streets to demand the Shah’s abdication in favour of an Islamic republic.

Naga Violence

Both Assam and Nagaland rushed fresh armed police reinforcements to the scene of ghastly arson and killings by armed Nagas in five Assam villages in the Sibsagar area of the disputed Assam-Nagaland border following reports that some Assamese villagers were planning retaliatory action against the Nagas living on the other side of the border. The chief secretary of Nagaland contacted his counterpart in Assam to inform him that reports reaching him from the disturbed border areas indicated that some Assamese villagers were planning retaliatory attacks on Nagas living in villages close to the border.

Bihar ex-CM Booked

CPI MP Killed

S G Murugaiyan, CPI member of the Lok Sabha, was murdered while returning home after addressing a meeting late last night. He was attacked by some persons and murdered while on way to his village after alighting from a bus. The police here suspect that the murder may be a sequel to a land dispute.