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This article is written by Gitika Jain, pursuing BBA.LLB(Hons) from Amity University, Kolkata. This article deals with political assassinations.

Introduction

Political assassinations in social reality have always been a part of the political system since the emergence of social frameworks. The need to defend the privileged status of the leaders of tribal and villages and other communities was the main reason behind it. Assassinations all over the world have led to the rise and fall in some of the greatest empires. History is the witness of all the heart-wrenching assassinations of political leaders. Whatever might be the motive behind it, it always makes a person wonder about the extent to which the human mind can go. 

Political assassinations have been witnessed by history where the leaders of tribes, villages and other communities fight to protect their privileged status. The rise and fall of some of the greatest empires can be attributed to these political assassinations. One of the earliest examples of political assassinations can be seen back in the time of Mughals where Aurangzeb killed two of his brothers, the reason why he didn’t kill the third one was that he couldn’t get hold of him.

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In some cases, assassinations were just not to eliminate the political leaders but also to stir up the sense of revolution, as in the case of the killing of Robert Ashe, the collector of Tirunelveli, who was killed by Vanchinathan, who subsequently committed suicide in the year 1911.

Terrorism and Insurgency

Terrorism

Terrorists utilize violence with an aim that the population will pressurize its government to give over their demands. In some cases, the terrorists directly pressurize the political group to get their goals achieved. 

Insurgency

The idea behind insurgency is to form an alternative government that will eventually replace the existing one. The insurgents get control over a small territory, establish a state-like framework like tax collection, and then gradually expand the limits of their territory with the help of their military capacities until they are able to replace the existing government. 

The logic of political assassination

Political assassination is a different concept than terrorism and insurgency but getting an understanding of the two would help build up our understanding of the subject matter into consideration.

Political assassination eliminates a particular individual who has political power with a view to bringing about political changes in society without having the need to influence the mindset of the people. The political parties that are in power may feel growing support among the public for the opposition and thus may take resort to assassinations to subside the threat.

 Political assassination has several advantages over terrorism and insurgency, one such being in the number of operational resources that are needed. The execution of assassination can be carried out with the least support or recruitment mechanism.

In its simplest form, political assassination is about being resistant to adopt social, economic or political changes. But why is a killing necessary? Why can’t the reluctance to change be expressed by other means? Perhaps, the answer to this is that perpetrators believe assassination is the fastest way to achieve their interests. Secondly, other methods might not be easy to follow due to operational reasons. Finally, the perpetrator may feel that the targeted individual may be the only one who is responsible for the cause that brought about the idea of assassination in the perpetrator’s mind.

Causes of assassinations 

Needless to say, there cannot be one particular theory or hypothesis that can explain and illustrate why assassinations happen. But, considering the history and the patterns that have been observed, we can draw some conclusions regarding the psychopathology of the assassins. In a broad sense, we can explain the mentalities of assassins keeping in view the political violence. Political violence is the violence that is due to the government or the people in power by making excessive and undue use of their power to achieve their political benefits.

If political violence is considered harmful and unjustified, then the motive behind the assassination is similar to that of a tyrannicide. If the violence is understandable or in some cases justifiable, the causes for assassinations are to threaten and oppress the social conditions to eliminate the political violence, i.e. use of violence to reduce violence. The persons attempting these crimes are either psychopaths or are so filled with guilt, anger or fear that they feel this act of violence would end up giving them freedom from all their pain.

The data and literature on political assassinations are scarce, plus the study and analysis of this data have also been limited. This historical study of the associations forms the first group of the available literature. The second group of literature explains the political assassinations with a societal viewpoint. It focuses only on the assassinations that are of the heads of the states or of someone who is having a direct impact on political stability. The third and the last group of the literary works emphasizes the macro-level explanations encompassing the social and political situations that assist political assassinations.

The motives behind assassination vary largely. The reasons for the killing of a member of parliament will be different from that of the consideration that leads an individual to assassinate the head of a state. Like the way people have different mindsets while voting in local elections and while voting for national elections, similarly people tend to be influenced by the political spheres they are in. All of the assassinations will not have a similar impact on the political and social spheres.

Typologies of political assassinations

Political assassinations can be seen under the following heads:

Elite substitution

The killing of a political leader to replace him/her with an aim to change the sociopolitical order

Tyrannicide

The assassination of an immorally cruel and oppressive dictator to replace him/her with a more rational one.

Terrorist assassination

Mass killing of political figures to bring about a revolutionary change

Anomic assassination

The killing of a political leader for personal reasons

Propaganda by deed

Where the assassin wants to draw public attention to certain policy issues.

Religious assassinations

The assassination that draws its justification from religious texts

Assassinations motivated by nationalism

Killing those who are perceived to be unpatriotic by the perpetrators

These categories are neither exhaustive nor mutually exclusive and hence the bandwidth of the classification scheme may vary largely from one study to another. The prevalent typologies of political assassinations are going through analytical deficiencies.

The landscape and general trends of political assassinations

Data set: No matter how much we may try to figure out the reasons behind political assassinations, our understanding is bound to be limited due to the fact that there can never be an exhaustive list of causes of political assassinations. That is why a data set has been constructed that contains details of these associations from the Second World War to early 2013. In all, 758 attacks resulting in the death of 954 political leaders have been identified (multiple leaders were killed in some of the attacks). These attacks were carried out through 920 perpetrators. The analysis of this data could give us some insight into the reasons as to why most of these associations took place.

Space and time

Globalisation and modernisation also have an impact on the spread of political assassinations. Also, the growing number of political parties and democratic practices may become the reasons for such assassinations. The number of killings of political leaders has shown an increasing trend over the years irrespective of the region.

Tactics and Targets

Guns and pistols are seen to be the main weapons that are used for killings, for example, Mahatma Gandhi and Pramod Mahajan. Apart from them, suicide bombs (as in the case of Rajeev Gandhi) and blunt objects like knife were also used. The reason is of course that the perpetrators would aim to minimise risk and maximise success.

Perpetrators

A political assassination is an act of a group rather than a lone wolf in most of the circumstances. Most of the times, the assassins have already seen to be criminals even before the assassination. The group usually chooses from among its own veteran members to actively participate in the assassination because the stakes of such member would be high. Sometimes, the difference between the assassin and a conventional terrorist is not significant. The assassins sometimes possess  military caliber and are often employed in the security industry.

Distribution of assassinations by perpetrators ideology

There is no explicit ideological stream that prevents perpetrators from indulging into political assassinations. Nonetheless, separatist groups and the left-wing are responsible for more than a third of the killings. The religious ideologies form another backdrop for the killings. The political parties that indulge in the propaganda of spreading the religion of their like are more prone to such killings. Usama Bin Laden even announced financial prizes for the assassins for killing the deputy and the commander of US troops or his deputy in Iraq. Prizes were also put for the killings of Kofi Annan, the head of his mission to Iraq. The prize amount was 10 Kg of gold. 

Facilitators of political assassinations

There are two variables that facilitate political assassinations- institutional variables and environmental variables. Institutional variables are those that relate to the stability and resilience of a political system. On the other hand, environmental variables are those that are concerned with social circumstances.

Institutional variables

Regime type

There are different types of democracies. In a presidential democracy, the president is the de jure head of the state and shapes the policies framed by the executives. Hence, the elimination of the president would directly affect policies promoted by the Executive. However, in the case of the prime minister, the policies don’t just signify the ideologies of their party but also of other parties in their coalition. Moreover, a president exercises direct executive powers whereas the prime minister is elected by the party members and not directly elected by the people. 

Thus, the impact of the association of the state’s president is different from the killing of the prime minister. However, in some cases, Prime Ministers may be extremely politically strong to promote their political ideology, as in the case of India. Nearly 60 per cent of the political assassinations take place in a presidential or semi-presidential system.

Competitiveness and fragmentation

The level of competitiveness is the competition that the political leaders face from the opposition. The lesser the competition, the higher are the chances of political assassinations due to the fact that in a competitive system, cheaper alternatives exist to assassinations to influence the political processes such as stepping into the political arena itself or getting the aims fulfilled through civil society channels. 

Competition within the political system seems to have a marginal impact on political assassinations whereas competition within the executive branch does not have any significant influence. In a competitive scenario, it makes more sense to assassinate the opposition leader, why bother killing someone who has the least chances of getting into power? Having understood competitiveness, let’s explore political fragmentation. Political fragmentation is the delegation of power and functions away from the centre to small local entities like municipalities. 

This allows the government to act locally with the basic issues pertaining to education, the safety of women, crime rates, etc. High levels of political fragmentation have inherent difficulties of unanimous decision making and this subsequently increases the chances of political violence, including political assassinations.

Environment variables

Civil wars and political strife

Historical data support the view that the government’s involvement in violence makes political assassinations more justifiable. Some of the political leaders can’t help indulging in violence and turmoils as a part of their dirty politics. Various political assassinations have been the result of agitation that built up due to the political conflicts and struggle. Civil wars are the apex of political instability, conflict and riots. There is a positive correlation between civil wars and the possibility of a political assassination. With the day of assassination coming closer, we are likely to witness antigovernmental demonstrations and turmoil. 

Elections

Elections provide a time for the opposition to make the most of the opportunities and to elevate his/her esteem and influence while becoming a threat to the ruling party and are, therefore, more vulnerable to assassination by the hired goons of the government. Also, there are chances that during the manifesto and rallies of the ruling party for the upcoming elections, the perpetrators get a good opportunity for assassination due to the increased exposure of political leaders. Data suggests that more than half of the assassinations occur during the election years. 

Economic development

Interestingly, data suggests that the average GDP of country-years facing assassinations is three times as high as that of the average GDP of country-years that did not face assassinations.

Several arguments can be put forward in support of this assertion. Developed countries have a strong political framework and those in power have such an exceptionally well-positioned that attacking them might not be even possible. At a micro level, it could also be possible that an individual joins militant activities owing to the frustration and desperation that in some cases might be a result of economic deprivation.

Brutal assassinations that India witnessed

Mahatma Gandhi assassination

India observes 30th January as Martyrs day 1948 because on that day the father of the nation Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was assassinated. He was the person responsible for leading our country into independence and freedom from the British people. He was the one who discovered nonviolence and the Satyagraha movement. He was a great freedom fighter who led India into the heaven of freedom and was assassinated soon after independence. During his stay and struggle, he conducted many non-violent movements and believed in equality and justice.

He even suggested for the disbandment of Indian National Congress on the ground that it was not a political party but a party of freedom struggle because he was a man of distant vision. The most important face of Indian National movement and father of the nation was assassinated brutally. He was on his way to a prayer meeting. Hindu nationalist considered Mahatma Gandhi to be responsible for the partition that assassinated him.

The first attempt at assassination of Gandhi was made on 20th January 1948. It was tempted by throwing a grenade. On its failure on 30th January 1948 again Mahatma Gandhi was shot to death. There are various theories on which the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi depends. He was shot by Nathuram an advocate of Hindu nationalism at point-blank range in Birla house called Gandhi Smriti. 

Before six months when he was shot to death the British Empire had bargained freedom during the partition of the nation into India and Pakistan which resulted in Chaos and slaughter of millions of people. After Gandhi’s assassination on an occasion, Gita Mehta was only 5 years old raised her voice” Amar Rahe” for Gandhiji. Even the Prime Minister of India announced this happening with sorrow lines ” the light has gone out of our lives”.

The movie of Richard and Thane borrowed on Gandhi had different scenes of his last rites from what it was in reality. This was noticed by Gita Mehta. In the movie, it was shown that the funeral of Gandhi was picturised with a huge military affair with guns and rows of soldiers marching. Even though Gandhiji never wanted production on his death it was invented by Nehru and Mountbatten. In the novel of Shashi Thakur published in 1989 Gandhiji was represented through Bhishma. The great Indian novel included the Indians contributions of Gandhiji which potteries a compact picture of the father of our nation. 

Indira Gandhi assasination

The only female Prime Minister of India and daughter of the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, so good as the Prime Minister of a country from January 1966 to March 1977 and again from January 1980 still she was assassinated in October 1984. Her own bodyguards Beant Singh and Satwant Singh assassinated her by shooting her with their service weapons in her residence garden at Safdarjung Road New Delhi. After the Operation Bluestar that was ordered by Indira Gandhi to the Indian army to completely remove the Sikh militants in the Harmandir Sahib complex, the assassination took place. Beant Singh shot with his sidearm thrice and Satwant Singh fired 30 rounds. In the novel of Shashi Tharoor, the great Indian novel published in 1989 Indira Gandhi was represented through female Duryodhan. 

The personality of Indira Gandhi has not been presented in the novel. Indira Gandhi’s assassination is the subject of a fine balance which describes Gandhi’s whole life as a prime minister. All the historical situations and realities of the Prime Minister are laid down in the piece of work by Rohinton Mistry’s A fine balance 1995. Indira Gandhi’s popular slogan to remove poverty during her fifth election enabled her to gain victory at her time. After Mrs Gandhi’s assassination her son was elected as the Prime Minister of India in September 1985. The only reason for the target of Indira Gandhi was the Holy Golden Temple of the Sikhs at Amritsar. Mr. Rajiv Gandhi the eldest son of Mrs. Indira Gandhi was being groomed to become a politically successful leader after her death. 

Rajiv Gandhi assasination

At the age of 40, the youngest Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi who served as the sixth prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989 was appointed. he took his office after The assassination of his mother Mrs. Indira Gandhi. He too was well focused and he was focused on improving relations with the Soviet Union. Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by suicide bomber Thenmohzi Rajaratnam member of the liberal tigers of Tamil Eelam (Dhanu in Sriperumbudur near Chennai) during the election campaign on 21st May 1991. 

While the Assassin was walking towards mister Gandhi to greet him and touch his feet he left there an RDX explosive Laden belt below the dress. in that incident, 14 others were killed and it was believed to be an assassination that was carried out because of personal grudges of the LTTE ( liberation tigers of Tamileelam) chief Prabhakaran. It was done to take revenge against the Indian keeping force that was sent to fight their militants. 

Phoolan Devi assasination

The Bandit Queen who later became a member of the parliament at the age of 18 years was gang-raped by some high caste people, took revenge in 1981 by killing 22 Rajput men of Behmai village. She herself surrendered to the police and when she was released from the jail in 1996 he was elected to the Lok Sabha twice from the Mirzapur constituency. She was then shot dead by former rival bandits whose people were killed at Behmai on 25 July 2001. 

Pramod Mahajan assasination

BJP leader and the telecommunications minister between 2001 and 2003, Pramod Mahajan was shot by his own younger brother Pravin Mahajan, in his own apartments in Mumbai. 13 days after he was shot, he died of a heart attack in the hospital. Pravin, after having killed his brother, went to the police station and surrendered himself, handing over the gun to the inspector and confessing, “I am Pravin… I killed Pramod.” In the court, Pravin said that he was raised “like a pet dog” by his brother Pramod. He added many reasons as to why he killed his own brother. Pravin was sentenced to life imprisonment.

The consequences of political assassinations 

Some political assassinations lead to severe implications on the political and social conditions of a state whereas some changes are so insignificant that they might even go unnoticed. It is challenging to separate the political and social development from the impact of assassination.

There  could be some cases of assassinations following which there are no changes:

  • Some direct changes like the replacement of prime minister with another
  • Changes in the political condition or some policies
  • Social revolution
  • The downfall of an entire government

These categories are neither exhaustive nor mutually exclusive. For example distinction between social revolution and changes in the political system cannot be clearly delineated. The assassination that is based on religion, culture, or normative struggles are likely to bring about a situation of political strife especially if the opposition forces elevate their fights against the government. The trust and the support of the public in the government decrease when the assassinations are related to the regime. 

Impact of the assassination on the head of state

The assassination of the head of state directly causes a decline in the economic and political stability of the state and political polarisation. Surprisingly, the assassination of the head of the state brings about rice in the levels of GDP. This may be due to the fact that the assassination of the head of the state results in competition regarding who will be the successor within the system. This facilitates the formation of new alliances within the system thereby creating new political stability and forces the ruling party to become more responsive and active.

Impact of the political assassinations on opposition leader

The assassination of an opposition leader in some cases might even facilitate in fulfilling the goals of the opposition itself if the assassination is followed by political strife and polarisation within the system. However, the major consequences of such an assassination would be that the competitiveness within the system will be undermined and the opposition forces would be shaken.

Impact of the political assassination on legislators

It might be difficult to identify the trends in terms of the impact of the assassination of legislators due to their diverse population considering their influence and role in the political system. Such assassinations lead to a decline in the democratic level and political competitiveness as well as an increase in polarisation and fragmentation. Also, the levels of political Activision and violence go down.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we can say that the reasons and rationale behind political assassinations are different from other forms of political violence. Thus it becomes important to understand the various factors that facilitate individuals or groups from indulging in political assassinations. These factors vary significantly among different types of a political assassination because the reasons for those assassination depends largely on the nature of the targeted individuals. The processes involved in political assassinations are different from those associated with terrorism or insurgency. These different types of assassinations have different social and political impacts and also some assassination might not have an effect at all. 

The number of political assassination has seen an increasing trend after the 2nd world war reflecting the growth of willingness to use assassination as a tool for surprising the political oppositions. Most of the assassinations of opposition leaders were executed by the leaders of the political parties with the help of their proxies. Studies suggest that mostly the perpetrators are the most experienced individuals with military training and also having served in law enforcement agencies. Political assassinations are not specific to any geographical area or regime. The levels of democracy either facilitate or impede the number of political assassinations.

Political assassinations are more common in countries that suffer from the scarcity of political competition and strong fragmentation. Countries are more probable to have political assassinations during the election periods due to an increase in violent strife. When a ruling party or government loses control over some part of the territory to the opposition then the risk of assassinations increases as both the parties want to increase their influence and public recognition. The states that are most vulnerable to assassinations are those where the head of the state enjoys an authoritarian rule over the territory and where the levels of polarization are high. 

These assassinations are seen to occur more frequently in countries where the powers digress from the centre and are regulated in succession. The Assassination of the head of the state in a democratic system will have a limited long-term impact on the social and political order of the state.

The governments have the power to influence the political and social conditions that may decrease the possibility of the happening of political assassinations. For the electoral process to occur smoothly and peacefully it is necessary that the government ensures that the political grievances have been addressed. Also, more attention has to be provided for the safety of the political figures during times of unrest.

References

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