Rajiv Gandhi came to a violent end seven years after his unexpected rise to the country’s top manager, caused by another act of violence – his mother’s murder by her own security forces, who pumped 36 bullets into her body.
Like Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984, Rajiv thought of death on May 21, 1991. He had a kind of premonition about his impending end. Journalist Neena Gopal interviewed Rajiv shortly before the former prime minister was killed by an LTTE suicide bomber that fateful night in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu.
In her book, The Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, Gopal recalls asking him if he felt his life was in danger. “Rajiv replied with a counter-question: ‘Have you noticed that every time a South Asian importer rises to a position of power or wants to achieve something for himself or his country, he is dejected, attacked and killed? By woman [Indira] Gandhi, Sheikh Mujib, look at Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, in Zia-ul-Haq, [S.W.R.D.] Bandaranaike ‘”, it says in the book.
Gopal says that Rajiv himself would be gone within minutes of declaring that he was well aware that he was a likely target of dark forces at play.
A HISTORICAL GAME?
One of Rajiv’s actions as Prime Minister was to send Indian forces to Sri Lanka to end the uprising in the neighboring country. The Prime Minister had been instructed by the Indian High Commission in Colombo, military commanders and secret services to undertake such a risky and adventurous mission. But many Indian soldiers were killed and the Tamil Eelam Liberation Tigers (LTTE) could not be tamed. The army was recalled, but by then the LTTE had become a sworn enemy of Rajiv.
Gopal insists that between April 1990 and May 1991 there were hundreds of sections showing the LTTE’s intention to kill Rajiv. She quoted Colonel Hariharan, who had a small army of Jaffna’s Tamils that the LTTE was watching for him, and said he was surprised when he got a tape to listen to and what his code-breakers told him: that a conspiracy was underway to eliminate Rajiv. Some of the messages intercepted were “Rajiv Gandhi avarunde mandalai addipodalam”, “Dump pannleido” and “Maranai vechleido”. An approximate translation would be: Blow off Rajiv Gandhi’s head, eliminate him, kill him.
The fateful day
On May 21, 1991, Rajiv boarded a helicopter for a cyclone tour of the coastal areas of Bhadrak, Angul, Gunupur and Paralakhemundi in Orissa before moving to Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. Uma Gajapati Raju was the candidate for Congress there. Rajiv was a great voter for getting young professionals into politics, and he had made a special effort to get her a ticket.
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That evening, in order to catch up on his sleep, Rajiv toyed with the idea of not going to Sriperumbudur. He was extremely hungry and Raju invited him to their house for dinner, but he refused the offer. His party expected a little more from him. He shared his thoughts with a party official and said, “I will make up for my sleep with Rahul, Priyanka and Sonia. Margetham Chandrashekhar [the Congress candidate from Sriperumbudur] is an old friend of mom [Indira Gandhi]”, overriding the proposal that the former prime minister should not visit the constituency at night.
When Rajiv went to the airport, Raju sent him pizza, idlis and some sambhar rasam. Rajiv got on the plane, but there was a change of plan after a technical hook was discovered. It was decided to go to sleep in Visakhapatnam. While he was driving to the Circuit House, a police officer rushed over to inform him that the plane was ready to take off. As the flight took off, a hungry Rajiv discovered that the food had been left in the car.
When the Thalaivar (leader) reached Sriperumbudur, there was little that could be described as safety precautions. Tamil Nadu Police officers watched curiously as Rajiv mingled freely with the crowd. His personal security officer, Pradeep Gupta, made a weak bid to keep the mob from touching him. Senior State Congress leaders, from GK Moopanar to Margetham Chandrashekhar, sat on the podium about 100 meters away. Rajiv briskly walked the red carpet and accepted garlands from everyone.
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Death stopped him when he heard a young girl, Kokila, who was part of the suicide squad, recite a poem. His assassin Dhanu stepped closer to him with a garland of sandalwood. A nervous Rajiv sensed something unusual and signaled Constable Anusuya to regulate the crowd. But by then, Dhanu had bent over, pretending to touch Rajiv’s feat, and triggered the RDX strapped around her.
Ironically, at the time of the explosion, a choir was still singing at the public gathering, “Rajiv Gandhi’s life is our life; if not for Indira Gandhi’s son, there is no life for anyone.”
Ascent to the throne
Rajiv’s main disadvantage was that he had to become prime minister at the age of 40. He was neither educated nor tied to the decision to anoint him as Prime Minister on October 31, 1984, hours after his mother was murdered.
Rajiv had no ministerial experience or no interest in politics until 1980, when his younger brother Sanjay died in a plane crash. When politician ‘Dumpy’ Akbar Ahmed suggested Rajiv’s name for Amethi after Sanjay’s death, the author quoted SS Gill Indira as saying, “Don’t be silly. Be [Rajiv’s] Politics is not like ours. ” [The Dynasty – A Political Biography of the Premier Ruling Family of Modern India, 1996]
Indira’s friend Pupul Jayakar wrote how Indira told her that Sanjay is very frugal, but Rajiv and his wife “need some comfort”. [Indira Gandhi – A Biography, 1988]
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Shortly after becoming Prime Minister, Rajiv had a trio cousin Arun Nehru, Doon School buddy Arun Singh and his Finance Minister VP Singh as his close advisers and assistants. There was euphoria about recreating India, breaking the mold and changing the system. Rajiv wanted to reform Congress from “brokers of power and influence who give patronage to convert a mass movement into a feudal oligarchy”. He relied heavily on VP Singh to liberalize the economy and clean up the business environment.
Rajiv visited the United States in June 1985. The young Prime Minister had a brilliant performance at the National Press Club, USA, which made a magical impression on him. It was a solo performance that was televised live and was not prompted by any aide.
Then came the Bofors scandal, which erupted after a report on Swedish radio claimed the arms manufacturer paid bribes to secure the contract. One after the other, Arun Nehru, Arun Singh and VP Singh fell out with Rajiv. Political management was back to outsiders like RK Dhawan, MF Fotedar, Buta Singh, Lalit Suri, Captain Satish Sharma and Sitaram Kesri.
Rajiv became angry and cynical. Just as Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi had declined as the years went by, so did Rajiv towards the end of his tenure as prime minister in 1987-89 when allegations of setbacks and scandals undermined his credibility.
A fifteen month stint in the ranks of the opposition had made Rajiv more mature and wiser. However, fate had other designs. Rajiv was murdered trying to make a political comeback.
(Journalist Rasheed Kidwai is the author of 24 Akbar Road and Sonia A Biography)
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