Gandhi Sends Troops to End Riot

Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi ordered army troops into Gujarat state today to quell two days of rioting by Hindu mobs enraged by a plan to allow more members of India’s lowest caste--the “untouchables”--into college. The death toll rose to six.

Gandhi ordered troops into the state capital of Ahmadabad, 500 miles southwest of New Delhi, after mobs defied curfews and surged through the city, looting and setting fire to government buildings and shops that failed to heed a call for a general strike.