He [Rajiv Gandhi] reacted in a lukewarm manner, saying that he was reviewing the situation. Ultimately, the army was called in but told not to open f… - Zail Singh

His earliest inspiration came from the martyrdom of Bhagat Singh and his companions on 23 March 1931. **In: p. 71.

Being able to stand up to injustice throughout once life, in the midst of great social change and upheaval, requires a robust and unconquerable spirit. One president of modern India had such spirit in ample measure. In his life time he challenged feudal princely power and foreign domination, and fought against communalism and social injustice. He was recognized as a learned and aristocratic personality but was also someone who was completely unassuming and a friend of the poor and downtrodden. He successfully combined as all these exceptional qualities

He overwhelmingly won election to the largely ceremonial office. There was much speculation, however, that Gandhi had selected him in order to mollify Sikh extremists in Punjab, who had since mid-1982 become increasingly militant in that state.