7/29/2019 Did Rajiv Gandhi Have A Swiss Account
The assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, former Prime Minister of India, occurred as a result of a suicide bombing in Sriperumbudur, Chennai, in Tamil Nadu, India on Tuesday, 21 May 1991.[1] At least 14 others were also killed.[2] It was carried out by Thenmozhi Rajaratnam, also known as Dhanu,[3] member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a militant organization from Sri Lanka; at the time India had just ended its involvement, through the Indian Peace Keeping Force, in the Sri Lankan Civil War. Subsequent accusations of conspiracy have been addressed by two commissions of inquiry and have brought down at least one national government.[4][5]
Remains of clothing worn by Rajiv Gandhi during his assassination
The stone mosaic that stands at the location where Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in Sriperumbudur
Assassination[edit]
Known as the 'Path of Light', this was the path that Rajiv took before being assassinated
Rajiv Gandhi was campaigning for the upcoming elections in southern states of India. On 21 May, after successfully campaigning in Visakhapatnam, his next stop was Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu. About two hours after arriving in Madras (now Chennai), Rajiv Gandhi was driven by motorcade in a white Ambassador car to Sriperumbudur, stopping along the way at a few other election campaigning venues.[6] When he reached a campaign rally in Sriperumbudur, he got out of his car and began to walk towards the dais where he would deliver a speech. Along the way, he was garlanded by many well-wishers, Congress party workers and school children. The assassin, Dhanu, approached and greeted him. She then bent down to touch his feet and detonated an RDXexplosive-laden belt tucked below her dress at exactly 10:10 PM.[7] Rajiv, his assassin and 14 others were killed in the explosion that followed, along with 43 others who were grievously injured. The assassination was caught on film by a local photographer, Haribabu[8] whose camera and film was found at the site though the photographer also died in the blast.
Security Lapses[edit]
The Supreme Court held that decision of eliminating Rajiv was prompted by his interview to Sunday magazine (August 21â28, 1990), where he said he would send the IPKF to disarm LTTE if he came back to power. Rajiv also defended the signing of the Indo-Sri Lanka accord in the same interview. The LTTE decision to kill him was perhaps aimed at preventing him from coming to power again. Thereafter, the Justice J S Verma Commission was formed to look into the security lapses that led to the killing.
The final report, submitted in June 1992, concluded that the security arrangements for the former PM were adequate but that the local Congress party leaders disrupted and broke these arrangements.[9]
The Narasimha Rao government initially rejected Vermaâs findings but later accepted it under pressure. However, no action was taken on the recommendations of the Commission.
Despite no action, the findings throw up vital questions that have been consistently raised by political analysts. Sources have indicated that Rajiv was time and again informed that there was a threat to his life and that he should not travel to Tamil Nadu. Illuminati the game walkthrough and cheats. In fact, the then governor of Tamil Nadu Bhism Narayan Singh, broke his official protocol and twice warned Rajiv about the threat to his life if he visited the state.
Dr Subramanian Swamy said in his book, Sri Lanka in Crisis: India's Options (2007), that an LTTE delegation had met Rajiv Gandhi on March 5, 1991. Another delegation met him around March 14, 1991 at New Delhi.
Journalist Ram Bahadur Rai wrote that:
The message conveyed to Rajiv Gandhi by both these delegations was that there was no threat to his life and that he can travel to Tamil Nadu without fearing for his life. I did a series of articles after his assassination that pointed out how, after these meetings, Rajiv became complacent about his security and broke security rules in more than 40 rallies.[10]
Funeral[edit]
Following his assassination, Rajiv Gandhi's mutilated body was airlifted to New Delhi. From the Palam airport, his body was sent to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi for post-mortem, reconstruction and embalming.[11]
A state funeral was held for Rajiv Gandhi on 24 May 1991. His funeral was telecast live nationally and internationally, and was attended by dignitaries from over 60 countries.[12] He was cremated on the banks of the river Yamuna, near the cremation spot of his mother, brother and grandfather. Today, the site where he was cremated is known as Veerbhumi.
Investigation[edit]
Immediately after the assassination, the Chandrasekhar government handed the investigation over to CBI on May 22, 1991. The agency created a Special Investigation Team (SIT) under D. R. Karthikeyan[13] to determine who was responsible for the assassination. The SIT probe confirmed the role of LTTE in the assassination,[14] which was upheld by the Supreme Court of India.[15]
The interim report of Justice Milap Chand Jain, looking into the conspiracy angle to the assassination, indicted the DMK for colluding with the LTTE. The report concluded that DMK provided sanctuary to the LTTE, which made it easy for the rebels to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi.[15]
The Commission report stated that the year 1989 signified 'the perpetuation of the general political trend of indulging the Tamil militants on Indian soil and tolerance of their wide-ranging criminal and anti-national activities'. The report also alleged that LTTE leaders in Jaffna were in possession of sensitive coded messages exchanged between the Union government and the state government of DMK. 'There is evidence to show that, during this period, some of the most vital wireless messages were passed between the LTTE operatives based in Tamil Nadu and Jaffna. These messages, which were decoded later, are directly related to the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi,' the report stated. The Congress subsequently brought down the United Front (UF) government of I K Gujral after the report was leaked in November 1998. The party also demanded the removal of DMK from the UF government, arguing that it had played a key role in the death of Rajiv Gandhi.
Perpetrator[edit]
Thenmozhi Rajaratnam
The assassination was carried out by Thenmozhi Rajaratnam, also known as Dhanu. She was a member of the Sri Lankan separatist group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (Tamil Tigers).Thenmozhi was 17 years old when she carried out the assassination.
Supreme Court judgment[edit]
As per the Supreme Court of India judgment, by Judge K. T. Thomas, the killing was carried out due to personal animosity of the LTTE chief Prabhakaran towards Rajiv Gandhi. Additionally, the Rajiv Gandhi administration had antagonised other Tamil militant organisations like PLOTE for reversing the military coup in Maldives back in 1988.[16]
The judgement further cites the death of Thileepan in a hunger strike and the suicide by 12 LTTE cadres in a vessel in October 1987.The judgment while convicting the accused, four of them to death and others to various jail terms, states that absolutely no evidence existed that any one of the conspirators ever desired the death of any Indian other than Rajiv Gandhi, though several people were killed. Judge Wadhwa further states there is nothing on record to show that the intention to kill Rajiv Gandhi was to overawe the Government. Hence it was held that it was not a terrorist act under TADA (Act).[17][18] Judge Thomas further states that conspiracy was hatched in stages commencing from 1987 and that it spanned several years. The Special Investigation team of India's premier special investigation agency CBI was not able to pinpoint when the decision to kill Rajiv Gandhi was taken.[18]
Trial[edit]
The trial was conducted under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act (TADA). On January 28, 1998, the designated TADA court in Chennai gave death sentences to all the 26 accused.[19][20] This created a storm in India. Legal experts were stunned.[21]Human rights groups protested as the trial did not meet the standards of a free trial.[22] The trial was held behind closed doors, in camera courts, and the identity of witnesses was not disclosed. Ms A. Athirai, an accused, was only 17 years old when she was arrested.
Under TADA an accused can appeal only to the Supreme Court. Appeal to the High Court is not allowed as in normal law.[23] Confessions given by the accused to the Superintendent of Police are taken as evidence against the accused under TADA. Under TADA the accused could be convicted on the basis of evidence that would have been insufficient for conviction by an ordinary court under normal Indian law. In the Rajiv Gandhi case, confessions by the accused formed a major part of the evidence in the judgement against them which they later claimed was taken under duress.[24]
On appeal to the Supreme Court, only four of the accused were sentenced to death and the others to various jail terms. S Nalini Sriharan is the lone surviving member of the five-member squad behind the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi and is serving life imprisonment. Arrested on June 14, 1991, she was sentenced to death, along with the other 25 accused. However, the court confirmed that the death sentence was given to only four of the convicts, including Nalini, on May 11, 1999. Nalini, who was a close friend of an LTTE operative known as V Sriharan alias Murugan, another convict in the case who had been sentenced to death, later gave birth to a girl, Harithra Murugan in prison. Upon the intervention of Rajiv Gandhi's widow and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who petitioned for clemency for the sake of Nalini's daughter in 2000, the death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. Nalini was treated as a class 'A' convict from September 10, 1999 till the privilege was withdrawn in May 2010 after a mobile phone was allegedly recovered from her cell during a surprise check. She 'regrets' the killing of the former Prime Minister and claims that the real conspirators have not been booked yet.[25][26] The President of India rejected the clemency pleas of Murugan and two others on death row, T Suthendraraja alias Santhan and A G Perarivalan alias Arivu in August 2011.[27] The execution of the three convicts was scheduled for September 9, 2011. However, the Madras High Court intervened and stayed their execution for eight weeks based on their petitions. Nalini was shifted back to Vellore prison from Puzhal prison amidst tight security on September 7, 2011. In 2010, Nalini had moved the Madras High Court seeking release as she had served more than 20 years in prison. She argued that even life convicts were released after 14 years. However, the state government rejected her request.[28][29][30] Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan, the three convicts condemned to death, claimed that they were not ordinary criminals but political prisoners.[31][32][33]
Controversies[edit]
In a report published on 30 October 2012 in DNA, K Ragothaman, former chief investigator of the CBI, talks about his new book Conspiracy to Kill Rajiv Gandhi: From the CBI Files and tells the reporter that while the CBI had started a preliminary inquiry in which MK Narayanan, former West Bengal Governor and former Intelligence Bureau director, was named a suspect in hiding evidence, the case was buried by the CBI SIT Chief, D.R. Karthikeyan.
In an interview in 2017, Judge K.T.Thomas had said that 'there were âserious flaws in the CBIâs investigation in case, particularly related to the seizure of Rs 40 lakh in cash from the convicts, which led him to believe that the probe exposed âan unpardonable flawâ in the âIndian criminal justice systemâ.
Jain Commission and other reports[edit]
In the Jain report, various people and agencies are named as suspected of having been involved in the murder of Rajiv Gandhi. Among them, the cleric Chandraswami was suspected of involvement, including financing the assassination.[34][35][36]One of the accused, Ranganath, said Chandraswami was the godfather who financed the killing.[37]Sikh Militants were also suspected.[38][39]The interim report of the Jain Commission created a storm when it accused Muthu and the Tamils of a role in the assassination, leading to Congress withdrawing its support for the I. K. Gujral government and fresh elections in 1998. Also other strong LTTE sympathizers Vaiko with MDMK and Thol. Thirumavalavan with VCK have supported Congress under Sonia Gandhi in the past. Vaiko left the UPA alliance before the 2009 election, partly due to the Sri Lankan issue. In the 2001 Norway peace talks, Prabhakaran told the press that the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi was a sorrowful event.In 2006, LTTE spokesman Anton Balasingham told the Indian television channel NDTV that the killing was a 'great tragedy, a monumental historical tragedy which we deeply regret'.[40][41]
Memorial and popular culture[edit]
Films[edit]
References[edit]
External links[edit]
Coordinates: 12°57â²37â³N79°56â²43â³E / 12.9602°N 79.9452°E
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Assassination_of_Rajiv_Gandhi&oldid=904132767'
Yes . Very much .Rajiv Gandhi received the commission and deposited in his Swiss bank account.Ram Jethmalani accused Rajiv with proofs of Swiss coded accounts with a famous Bollywood iconâ s brother staying in Switzerland as a repository .The Bofors commission was hardly Rs165 crores. If someone refers the Indian Express newspaper of 1989 it has mentioned a private discussion Rajiv had with V.P.Singh in which he admitted receipt of the payoff and before he resigned as Defence Minister .It shows Rajiv used to receive commission in other defence deals.
It is not that commssions are received for the first time in defense deals.it was going on since Nehru' s times probably .Late Jagajjivan Ram was Defence Minster for long time and was accused of corruption.But as usual high level corruption never reaches it's logical conclusion .Only thing in Bofors deal it came into light by the efforts of few fierce journalists like Chitra Subramanyam and Lawyer Ram Jethmalani,https://www.indiatoday.in/magazi..
and Kasturi of The Hindu newspaper like eminents.Since indira had institutionalised corruption long long ago ,and her Iron rule like a dreaded dictator nobody dared to expose the corruption of Indira , Sanjay and her cronies or any of her parliament members out of fear only. This kind of taking commission in all big govt deals Indira used to take and use those funds for fighting Loksabha Elections and for funding Congress candidates in all assembly Elections and also for paying huge sums to opposition leaders to ensure multiple cornered contests for guranteed Congress majority in all the state assemblys and LokSabha Elections till her death.Rajiv continued on his mother's lines only.
So if Prime Minister of the country takes sly money regularly the whole govt machinery was too happy to follow ,all MPs too were very happy to emulate her.So what Rajiv did was to follow the same culture .So there was no questions on stopping this pay off money in defense deals.â Yatha Raja thatha praja â . Big Money was required for fighting the elections ,which Congress thought they are priveledged to receive since they are in power,and at the same time opposition shud not be having any funds to fight the elections was the principle they all followed.MPs ,MLAs , Corporaters, zilla parishad ,village panchayats members started taking commissions in thier domains.so the whole set of rulers were extremely happy with this instituionalised corruption.So the general public started eulogising these newly evolved oligarchs for all favours ,jobs ,cash ,bank loans ,any work in govt offices , licenses etc. So the elected representatives forgot what they were elected for .Not to clash with the bunch of rulers was the new mantra for them.slowly a section bof the media journalists too joined them to make thier life very cosy and luxurious.
And that was the story of end of Solomon grundy .
Sonia Gandhipronunciation (néeMaino; born 9 December 1946) is an Indian politician. She is a former president of the Indian National Congress, the secular and left-of-centre political party, which governed India for most of its post-independence history. She took over as the party leader in 1998, seven years after the assassination of her husband, Rajiv Gandhi, a former prime minister of India, and remained in office for nineteen years.[2][3][4][5]
Born in a small village near Vicenza, Italy, Gandhi was raised in a Roman Catholic family. After completing her primary education at local schools, she moved for her higher education to Cambridge, England, where she met Rajiv Gandhi, and later married him in 1968. She took up Indian citizenship and began living with her mother-in-law, the then-Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, at the latter's New Delhi residence. Sonia Gandhi, however, kept away from the public sphere, even during the years of her husband's premiership.
Following her husband's assassination, Gandhi was invited by Congress leaders to lead the party, but she declined. She agreed to join politics in 1997 after much pleading from the party; the following year, she was nominated for party president, and elected over Jitendra Prasada.[a] Under her leadership, the Congress went on to form the government post the 2004 elections in coalition with other centre-left political parties. Gandhi has since been credited for being instrumental in formulating the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), which was re-elected to power in 2009. Gandhi declined the premiership following the 2004 victory; she instead led the ruling alliance and the National Advisory Council.[b]
Over the course of her career, Gandhi presided over the advisory councils credited for the formation and subsequent implementation of such rights-based development and welfare schemes as the Right to information, Food security bill, and MNREGA, as she drew criticism related to the Bofors scandal and the National Herald Case. Her foreign birth has also been a subject of much debate and controversy.[c] Gandhi's active participation in politics began to reduce during the latter half of the UPA government's second term owing to health concerns. She stepped down as the Congress president in December 2017, but continues to lead the party's Parliamentary committee. Although she never held any public office in the government of India, Gandhi has been widely described as one of the most powerful politicians in the country, and is often listed among the most powerful women in the world.[d]
Early life
Sonia Gandhi's birthplace, 31, Contrada Maini (Maini street), Lusiana, Italy (the house on the right)
Sonia Maino[20] was born on 9 December 1946 to Stefano and Paola Maino in Lusiana (in Maini street), a historically Cimbrian-speaking village about 35 km from Vicenza in Veneto, Italy.[21][22] Sonia spent her adolescence in Orbassano, a town near Turin, and was raised in a traditional Roman Catholic Christian family. She attained primary education attending the local Catholic schools; Sister Maria, one of her early teachers described her as 'a diligent little girl, [who] studied as much as was necessary'.[20]
Stefano, who was a building mason established a small construction business in Orbassano.[23] He had fought against the Soviet military alongside Hitler's Wehrmacht on the eastern front in World War II, was a loyal supporter of Benito Mussolini and Italy's National Fascist Party. The family house had leather bound books on writings and speeches of Mussolini.[23] Stefano had named Sonia and her elder sister Nadia in the memory of the Italian participation in the Eastern Front.[20] He died in 1983.[24] Gandhi has two sisters who still reside in Orbassano along with their mother.[25]
Gandhi completed her schooling at the age of 13; her final report card read: 'intelligent, diligent, committed [..] would succeed well at the high school for teachers'. She aspired to become a flight attendant.[20] In 1964, she went to study English at the Bell Educational Trust's language school in the city of Cambridge. The following year, she met Rajiv Gandhi at the Varsity Restaurant, where she was working as a part-time waitress, while he was enrolled for an engineering degree in the Trinity College at the University of Cambridge.[26] In this context, the Times, London reported, 'Mrs Gandhi was an 18-year-old student at a small language college in Cambridge in 1965, [..] when she met a handsome young engineering student'.[27] The couple married in 1968, in a Hindu ceremony, following which she moved into the house of her mother-in-law and then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi.[28][9]
The couple had two children, Rahul Gandhi (born 1970) and Priyanka Vadra (born 1972). Despite belonging to the influential Nehru family, Sonia and Rajiv avoided all involvement in politics. Rajiv worked as an airline pilot while Sonia took care of her family.She spent considerable amount of time with her mother-in-law, Indira Gandhi; she recalled her experience in a 1985 interview with the Hindi-language magazine Dharmyug, 'She [Indira] showered me with all her affection and love'.[29] Soon after the latter's ousting from office in 1977 in the aftermath of the Indian Emergency, the Rajiv family contemplated moving abroad for a short time.[30] When Rajiv entered politics in 1982 after the death of his younger brother Sanjay Gandhi in a plane crash on 23 June 1980, Sonia continued to focus on her family and avoided all contact with the public.[31]
Political careerWife of the prime minister
40th president of the United StatesRonald Reagan, Sonia Gandhi, First Lady Nancy Reagan and Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, during a state dinner for Prime Minister Gandhi. June 1985.
Queen of the NetherlandsBeatrix with Prince Claus metting Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi.
Sonia Gandhi's involvement with Indian public life began after the assassination of her mother-in-law and her husband's election as prime minister. As the prime minister's wife she acted as his official hostess and also accompanied him on a number of state visits.[32]
In 1984, she actively campaigned against her husband's sister-in-law Maneka Gandhi who was running against Rajiv in Amethi. At the end of Rajiv Gandhi's five years in office, the Bofors scandal broke out. Ottavio Quattrocchi, an Italian businessman believed to be involved, was said to be a friend of Sonia Gandhi, having access to the Prime Minister's official residence.[33] The BJP has alleged that she appeared on the voters' list in New Delhi prior to obtaining Indian citizenship in April 1983, in contravention of Indian law.[34][35]
Former senior Congress leader and former President of IndiaPranab Mukherjee said that she surrendered her Italian passport to the Italian Embassy on 27 April 1983.[citation needed]Italian nationality law did not permit dual nationality until 1992. So, by acquiring Indian citizenship in 1983, she would automatically have lost Italian citizenship.[36]
Congress President
Sonia Gandhi as Leader of Opposition, meeting with the President of RussiaVladimir Putin during latter's State visit to India in October 2000.
After Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in 1991 and Sonia Gandhi refused[citation needed] to become Prime Minister, the party settled on the choice of P. V. Narasimha Rao who became leader and subsequently Prime Minister. Over the next few years, however, the Congress fortunes continued to dwindle and it lost the 1996 elections. Several senior leaders such as Madhavrao Sindhia, Rajesh Pilot, Narayan Dutt Tiwari, Arjun Singh, Mamata Banerjee, G. K. Moopanar, P. Chidambaram and Jayanthi Natarajan were in open revolt against incumbent President Sitaram Kesri and many of whom quit the party, splitting the Congress into many factions.[37]
In an effort to revive the party's sagging fortunes, she joined the Congress Party as a primary member in the Calcutta Plenary Session in 1997 and became party leader in 1998.[8][38]
In May 1999, three senior leaders of the party (Sharad Pawar, P. A. Sangma, and Tariq Anwar) challenged her right to try to become India's Prime Minister because of her foreign origins. In response, she offered to resign[citation needed] as party leader, resulting in an outpouring of support and the expulsion from the party of the three rebels who went on to form the Nationalist Congress Party.[39]
Within 62 days of joining as a primary member, she was offered the party President post which she accepted.[40]
Rajiv Gandhi Death Video
She contested Lok Sabha elections from Bellary, Karnataka and Amethi, Uttar Pradesh in 1999. She won both seats but chose to represent Amethi.[41] In Bellary, she had defeated veteran BJP leader, Sushma Swaraj.[42]
Leader of the Opposition
She was elected the Leader of the Opposition of the 13th Lok Sabha in 1999.[43]
When the BJP-led NDA formed a government under Atal Bihari Vajpayee, she took the office of the Leader of Opposition. As Leader of Opposition, she called a no-confidence motion against the NDA government led by Vajpayee in 2003.[44]
2004 elections and aftermath
In the 2004 general elections, Gandhi launched a nationwide campaign, criss-crossing the country on the Aam Aadmi (ordinary man) slogan in contrast to the 'India Shining' slogan of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) alliance. She countered the BJP asking 'Who is India Shining for?'. In the election, she was re-elected by a 200,000-vote margin over nearest rival, in the Rae Bareli.[45] Following the unexpected defeat of the NDA, she was widely expected to be the next Prime Minister of India. On 16 May, she was unanimously chosen to lead a 15-party coalition government with the support of the left, which was subsequently named the United Progressive Alliance (UPA).[citation needed]
The defeated NDA protested once again her 'foreign origin' and senior NDA leader Sushma Swaraj threatened to shave her head and 'sleep on the ground', among other things, should Sonia become prime minister.[15]
The NDA claimed that there were legal reasons that barred her from the Prime Minister's post.[46]
They pointed, in particular, to Section 5 of the Indian Citizenship Act of 1955, which they claimed implied 'reciprocity'. This was contested by others[35] and eventually the suits were dismissed by the Supreme Court of India.[47]
A few days after the election, Gandhi recommended Manmohan Singh as her choice as prime minister, that the party leaders accepted. Her supporters compared it to the old Indian tradition of renunciation,[48] while her opponents attacked it as a political stunt.[49]
UPA Chairperson
Sonia Gandhi with 13th Prime Minister of IndiaManmohan Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur at an Iftar party in New Delhi on 2010.
On 23 March 2006, Gandhi announced her resignation from the Lok Sabha and also as chairperson of the National Advisory Council under the office-of-profit controversy and the speculation that the government was planning to bring an ordinance to exempt the post of chairperson of National Advisory Council from the purview of office of profit.[50] She was re-elected from her constituency Rae Bareli in May 2006 by a margin of over 400,000 votes.[51][52]
As chairperson of the National Advisory Committee and the UPA, she played an important role in making the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and the Right to Information Act into law.[53][54]
She addressed the United Nations on 2 October 2007, Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary which is observed as the international day of non-violence after a UN resolution passed on 15 July 2007.[55]
Under her leadership, the Congress-led UPA won a decisive majority in the 2009 general elections with Manmohan Singh as the Prime Minister.[56] The Congress itself won 206 Lok Sabha seats, which was then the highest total by any party since 1991.[57] She was re-elected to a third term as a member of parliament representing Rae Bareli.[58]
In 2013, Gandhi became the first person to serve as Congress President for 15 years consecutively.[59] In the same year, Gandhi condemned the Supreme Court's judgement supporting Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code and backed LGBT rights.[60]
In the 2014 general election, she held her seat in Rae Bareli.[61] However, the Indian National Congress and the Congress-led UPA electoral alliance suffered their worst result in a general election ever, winning only 44 and 59 seats respectively.[62][63][64]
When Rahul Gandhi was expected to take over as Congress president, Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury picked Sonia over Rahul, calling her the 'glue that binds the opposition'[65] during an interview November 2017 . Rahul took over as the 49th Congress president on 16 December 2017.[66][67]
Gandhi returned to active politics for Indian National Congress' campaign for the 2018 Karnataka Legislative Assembly election. Having stayed away from campaigning for elections since 2016, Gandhi addressed a rally at Bijapur, which comprised five legislation assembly constituencies; while Congress emerged as the second largest party in the election with 78 seats behind the BJP, the former won four or the five assembly seats from Bijapur.[68][69] Gandhi also played an active role in orchestrating a post-poll alliance with the Janata Dal (Secular).[70]
Personal life
Sonia is the widow of Rajiv Gandhi, elder son of Indira Gandhi. Sonia has two children, Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi.
In August 2011, she underwent successful surgery for cervical cancer[71] in the United States at Memorial SloanâKettering Cancer Center in New York.[72] She returned to India on 9 September after her treatment. Speaking on 18 July 2012, about her son taking a larger role in the party, she said that it is for Rahul to decide.[73]
Sonia Gandhi was listed as one of the fifty best-dressed over 50s by the Guardian in March 2013.[74]She follows the style quote 'Simple is Stylish' and looks no further than mother-in-law Indira Gandhi's 'innate sense of fashion'.[75]
According to an affidavit filed during the 2014 Indian general election, Sonia had declared assets worth â¹ 92.8 million â â¹ 28.1 million in movable and â¹ 64.7 million in immovable properties. This is an almost six-fold increase since her declaration in the last election.[76]
Honours and recognition
Gandhi was seen as the most powerful politician of India from 2004 - 2014,[77] and variously listed among the most powerful people and women listings by magazines.[18][78]
In 2013, Sonia Gandhi was ranked 21st among world's most powerful and 9th most powerful woman by Forbes Magazine.[79]
In 2007, she had been named the third most powerful woman in the world by the same magazine[80] and was ranked 6th in exclusive list in 2007.[81]
In 2010, Gandhi ranked as the ninth most powerful person on the planet by Forbes magazine.[82][83][84] She was ranked 12 in 2012 in Forbes' powerful people list.[85][86][87]
Sonia was also named among the people in the world for the years 2007[88] and 2008.[89]New Statesman listed Sonia Gandhi at number 29 in their annual survey of 'The World's 50 Most Influential Figures' in the year 2010.[90]
Books featuring Sonia Gandhi
See alsoReferencesNotes
Citations
Further reading
External links
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sonia_Gandhi&oldid=904118643'
Rajiv Ratna Gandhi (/ËrÉËdÊiËvËÉ¡ÉËndiË/(listen); 20 August 1944 â 21 May 1991) was an Indian politician who served as the 6th Prime Minister of India from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the 1984 assassination of his mother, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, to become the youngest Indian Prime Minister at the age of 40.
Gandhi was a scion of the politically powerful NehruâGandhi family, which had been associated with the Indian National Congress party. For much of his childhood, his maternal grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru was Prime Minister. Gandhi attended college in the United Kingdom. He returned to India in 1966 and became a professional pilot for the state-owned Indian Airlines. In 1968 he married Sonia Gandhi; the couple settled in Delhi to a domestic life with their children Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. For much of the 1970s, his mother Indira Gandhi was prime minister and his brother Sanjay Gandhi an MP; despite this, Rajiv Gandhi remained apolitical. After Sanjay's death in an aeroplane crash in 1980, Gandhi reluctantly entered politics at the behest of Indira. The following year he won his brother's Parliamentary seat of Amethi and became a member of the Lok Sabhaâthe lower house of India's Parliament. As part of his political grooming, Rajiv was made a general secretary of the Congress party and given significant responsibility in organising the 1982 Asian Games.
On the morning of 31 October 1984, his mother was assassinated by one of her bodyguards; later that day, Gandhi was appointed Prime Minister. His leadership was tested over the next few days as organised mobs rioted against the Sikh community, resulting in riots in Delhi. That December, Congress party won the largest Lok Sabha majority to date, 411 seats out of 542. Rajiv Gandhi's period in office was mired in controversies; perhaps the greatest crises were the Bhopal disaster and the Shah Bano case. In 1988 he reversed the coup in Maldives, antagonising militant Tamil groups such as PLOTE, intervening and then sending peacekeeping troops to Sri Lanka in 1987, leading to open conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). In mid-1987 the Bofors scandal damaged his corruption-free image and resulted in a major defeat for his party in the 1989 election.
Gandhi remained Congress President until the elections in 1991. While campaigning for the elections, he was assassinated by a suicide bomber from the LTTE. His widow Sonia became the president of the Congress party in 1998 and led the party to victory in the 2004 and 2009 parliamentary elections. His son Rahul Gandhi is a Member of Parliament and the current President of Indian National Congress. In 1991 the Indian government posthumously awarded Gandhi the Bharat Ratna, the country's highest civilian award. At the India Leadership Conclave in 2009, the Revolutionary Leader of Modern India award was conferred posthumously on Gandhi.[1]
Early life and career
Indira Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajiv Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi
Rajiv Gandhi, Indira Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi
Rajiv Gandhi was born in Bombay on 20 August 1944 to Indira and Feroze Gandhi. In 1951, Rajiv and Sanjay were admitted to Shiv Niketan school, where the teachers said Rajiv was shy and introverted, and 'greatly enjoyed painting and drawing'.[citation needed] He was admitted to the Welham Boys' School, Dehradun and Doon School, Dehradun in 1954, where Sanjay joined him two years later.[2] Rajiv was sent to London in 1961 to study A-levels. From 1962 to 1965 he studied engineering at Trinity College, Cambridge, but did not obtain a degree.[3] In 1966 he began a course in mechanical engineering at Imperial College London, but did not complete it. Gandhi really was not studious enough, as he went on to admit later.[4]
Gandhi returned to India in 1966, the year his mother became Prime Minister. He went to Delhi and became a member of the Flying Club, where he was trained as a pilot. In 1970, he was employed as a pilot by Air India; unlike Sanjay, he did not exhibit any interest of joining politics.[5] In 1968, after three years of courtship, he married Edvige Antonia Albina MÃ ino, who changed her name to Sonia Gandhi and made India her home. Their first child, a son, Rahul Gandhi was born in 1970. In 1972, the couple had a daughter, Priyanka Gandhi, who married Robert Vadra.[6]
Entry into politics
On 23 June 1980, Rajiv's younger brother Sanjay Gandhi died unexpectedly in an airplane crash. At that time, Rajiv Gandhi was in London as part of his foreign tour. Hearing the news, he returned to Delhi and cremated Sanjay's body.[7] As per Agarwal, in the week following Sanjay's death, Shankaracharya Swami Shri Swaroopanand, a saint from Badrinath, visited the family's house to offer his condolences.[8] He advised Rajiv not to fly aeroplanes and instead 'dedicate himself to the service of the nation'.[9] 70 members of the Congress party signed a proposal and went to Indira, urging Rajiv to enter politics. Indira told them it was Rajiv's decision whether to enter politics. When he was questioned about it, he replied, 'If my mother gets help from it, then I will enter politics'.[9] Rajiv entered politics on 16 February 1981, when he addressed a national farmers' rally in Delhi.[10] During this time, he was still an employee of Air India.[11]
Participation in active politics
On 4 May 1981, Indira Gandhi presided over a meeting of the All India Congress Committee. Vasantdada Patil proposed Rajiv as a candidate for the Amethi constituency, which was accepted by all members at the meeting. A week later, the party officially announced his candidacy for the constituency. He then paid the party membership fees of the party and flew to Sultanpur to file his nomination papers and completed other formalities.[12] He won the seat, defeating Lok Dal candidate Sharad Yadav by a margin of 237,000 votes.[13] He took his oath on 17 August as Member of Parliament.[11]
Rajiv Gandhi's first political tour was to England, where he attended the wedding ceremony of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer on 29 July 1981.[14] In December the same year, he was put in charge of the Indian Youth Congress.[14] He first showed his organisational ability by 'working round the clock' on the 1982 Asian Games.[citation needed] He was one of 33 members of the Indian parliament who were part of the Games' organising committee; sports historian Boria Majumdar writes that being 'son of the prime minister he had a moral and unofficial authority' over the others.[15] The report submitted by the Asian Games committee mentions Gandhi's 'drive, zeal and initiative' for the 'outstanding success' of the games.[15]
Rajiv Gandhi during a medal ceremony
Indira Gandhi's death
Meeting Russian Hare Krishna devotees in 1989.
On 31 October 1984, the Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi's mother Indira Gandhi, was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards, which led to violent riots against Sikhs.[16] At a Boat Club rally 19 days after the assassination, Gandhi said, 'Some riots took place in the country following the murder of Indiraji. We know the people were very angry and for a few days it seemed that India had been shaken. But, when a mighty tree falls, it is only natural that the earth around it does shake a little'.[17] According to Verinder Grover, the statement made by Gandhi was a 'virtual justification' of the riots.[16] Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar wrote, 'Did it constitute an incitement to mass murder?' He also criticised Gandhi for his reluctance to bring the army from Meerut to handle the mob.[18]
Prime Minister of India
Rajiv Gandhi was in West Bengal on 31 October 1984 when his mother, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, was assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards, Satwant Singh and Beant Singh, to avenge the military attack on the Golden Temple during Operation Blue Star. Sardar Buta Singh and President Zail Singh pressed Rajiv to succeed his mother as Prime Minister within hours of her murder. Commenting on the anti-Sikh riots in Delhi, Rajiv Gandhi said, 'When a giant tree falls, the earth below shakes';[19] a statement for which he was widely criticised. Many Congress politicians were accused of orchestrating the violence.[20]
Indian politics got the youngest ever Prime minister in Rajiv Gandhi. This phenomenon attracted attention the world over. . . his winsome smile, charm and decency were his valuable personal assets. . . A senior opposition member, while talking to me, conceded that . . . he could not conceal his feeling that Rajiv Gandhi would be invincible for the opposition.
â Satyendra Narayan Sinha[21]
Soon after assuming office, Gandhi asked President Singh to dissolve Parliament and hold fresh elections, as the Lok Sabha had completed its five-year term. Gandhi officially became the President of the Congress party, which won a landslide victory with the largest majority in history of the Indian Parliament, giving Gandhi absolute control of government. He benefited from his youth and a general perception of being free of a background in corrupt politics.[22] Gandhi took his oath on 31 December 1984; at 40, he was the youngest Prime Minister of India.[23] Historian Meena Agarwal writes that even after taking the Prime Ministerial oath, he was a relatively unknown figure, 'novice in politics' as he assumed the post after being an MP for three years.[24]
Cabinet ministers
After his swearing-in as Prime Minister, Gandhi appointed his fourteen-member cabinet. He said he would monitor their performance and would 'fire ministers who do not come to the mark'.[citation needed] From the Third Indira Gandhi ministry, he removed two powerful figures; Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Railway Minister A. B. A. Ghani Khan Choudhury. Mohsina Kidwai became the Minister of Railways; she was the only female figure in the cabinet. Former Home Minister PV Narasimha Rao was put in charge of defence.[23]V.P. Singh who was initially appointed as the Finance Minister, was given the Defence Ministry in 1987.[25] During his tenure as Prime Minister, Gandhi frequently shuffled his cabinet ministers, drawing criticism from the magazine India Today, which called it a 'wheel of confusion'. The West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu said, 'The Cabinet change reflects the instability of the Congress (I) Government at the Centre'.[26]
Anti-defection law
Gandhi's first action as Prime Minister was passing the anti-defection law in January 1985. According to this law, an elected Member of Parliament or legislative assembly could not join an opposition party until the next election. Historian Manish Telikicherla Chary calls it a measure of curbing corruption and bribery of ministers by switching parties so they could gain majority.[27] Many such defections occurred during the 1980s as elected leaders of the Congress party joined opposition parties.[28]
Shah Bano case
In 1985, the Supreme Court of India ruled in favour of Muslim divorcee Shah Bano, declaring that her husband should give her alimony. Some Indian Muslims treated it as an encroachment upon Muslim Personal Law and protested against it. Gandhi agreed to their demands.[29] In 1986, the Parliament of India passed The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act 1986, which nullified the Supreme Court's judgment in the Shah Bano case. The Act diluted the Supreme Court judgment and allowed maintenance payments to divorced women only during the period of Iddah, or until 90 days after the divorce, according to the provisions of Islamic law. This was in contrast to Section 125 of the Code.[30][31] Indian magazine Business and Economics called it a minority appeasement by Gandhi.[32] Lawyer and former Law Minister of India, Ram Jethmalani, called the Act 'retrogressive obscurantism for short-term minority populism'.[33] Gandhi's colleague Arif Mohammad Khan, who was then a Member of Parliament, resigned in protest.[34]
Economic policy
Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi with Ram Kishore Shukla in 1988.
In his election manifesto for the 1984 general election, he did not mention any economic reforms, but after assuming office he tried to liberalise the country's economy.[35] He did so by providing incentives to make private production profitable. Subsidies were given to corporate companies to increase industrial production, especially of durable goods. It was hoped this would increase economic growth and improve the quality of investment.[36] But according to Professor Atul Kohli of Princeton University in a book published by Cambridge University, Gandhi faced stiff opposition from Congress leadership who thought 'it would open the economy to external economic influences'.[35] Rural and tribal people protested because they saw them as 'pro-rich' and 'pro-city' reforms.[35]
Gandhi increased government support for science, technology and associated industries, and reduced import quotas, taxes and tariffs on technology-based industries, especially computers, airlines, defence and telecommunications. In 1986, he announced a National Policy on Education to modernise and expand higher education programs across India. In 1986, he founded the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya System, which is a Central government-based education institution that provides rural populations with free residential education from grades six to twelve.[37] His efforts created MTNL in 1986, and his public call officesâbetter known as PCOsâhelped develop the telephone network in rural areas.[38] He introduced measures to significantly reduce the Licence Raj after 1990, allowing businesses and individuals to purchase capital, consumer goods and import without bureaucratic restrictions.[39]
Foreign policy
President Ronald Reagan, Sonia Gandhi, First Lady Nancy Reagan and Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, during a state dinner for Prime Minister Gandhi. June 1985.
According to Rejaul Karim Laskar, a scholar of Indian foreign policy and an ideologue of Congress party, Rajiv Gandhi's vision for a new world order was premised on India's place in its front rank.[40] According to Laskar, the 'whole gamut' of Rajiv Gandhi's foreign policy was 'geared towards' making India 'strong, independent, self-reliant and in the front rank of the nations of the world.' [40] According to Laskar, Rajiv Gandhi's diplomacy was 'properly calibrated' so as to be 'conciliatory and accommodating when required' and 'assertive when the occasion demanded.' [40]
In 1986, by request of the President of Seychelles France-Albert René, Gandhi sent India's navy to Seychelles to oppose an attempted coup against René. The intervention of India averted the coup. This mission was codenamed as Operation Flowers are Blooming.[41] In 1987, India re-occupied the Quaid Post in the disputed Siachen region of the Indo-Pakistani border after winning what was termed Operation Rajiv.[42] In the 1988 Maldives coup d'état, the Maldives president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom asked for help from Gandhi. He dispatched 1500 soldiers and the coup was suppressed.[43]
On Thursday, 9 June 1988, at the fifteenth special session of the United Nations General Assembly, held at Headquarters, New York, Gandhi made vocal his views on a world free of nuclear weapons, to be realised through an, 'Action Plan for Ushering in a Nuclear-Weapon Free and Non-Violent World Order.'[44][45]
He said:
Alas, nuclear weapons are not the only weapons of mass destruction. New knowledge is being generated in the life sciences. Military applications of these developments could rapidly undermine the existing convention against the military use of biological weapons. The ambit of our concern must extend to all means of mass annihilation.
This was based on his prior historic speech before the Japanese National Diet on 29 November 1985, in which he said:
Let us remove the mental partitions which obstruct the ennobling vision of the human family linked together in peace and prosperity. The Buddha's message of compassion is the very condition of human survival in our age.[46][47][48]
The foiled bid of India recently to enter the Nuclear Suppliers Group, echoed his policy of non-proliferation to be linked to universal disarmament, which the World Nuclear Association refuses to recognise; non-proliferation being seen by India as essentially a weapon of the arms control regime, of the big nuclear powers as United States, Russia, United Kingdom, France, and China.[49][50]
Pakistan
In February 1987, the Pakistani President Zia-ul-Haq visited Delhi, where he met Gandhi to discuss 'routine military exercises of the Indian army' on the borders of Rajasthan and Punjab. Gandhi reciprocated, in December 1988, by visiting Islamabad and meeting the new Prime Minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto, to reaffirm the 1972 Shimla agreement.[51]
Sri Lanka
The Sri Lankan Civil War broke out with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which was demanding an independent Tamil state in Sri Lanka. Gandhi discussed the matter with the Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranasinghe Premadasa at the SAARC meeting in 1986. In that year, the Sri Lankan army blockaded the Tamil majority district of Jaffna; Gandhi ordered relief supplies to be dropped into the area by parachute because the Sri Lankan navy did not allow the Indian Navy to enter.[52]
Gandhi signed the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord in July 1987. The accord 'envisaged a devolution of power to the Tamil-majority areas', dissolved the LTTE, and designated Tamil as an official language of Sri Lanka.[53] Gandhi said:
The Government of India believe that, despite some problems and delays, many of which were foreseen but unavoidable in the resolution of an issue of this magnitude and complexity, this Agreement represents the only way of safeguarding legitimate Tamil interests and ensuring a durable peace in Sri Lanka. Some have chosen to criticise the Agreement. None has shown a better way of meeting the legitimate aspirations of the Tamils in Sri Lanka, restoring peace in that country and of meeting our own security concern in the region. We have accepted a role which is difficult, but which is in our national interests to discharge. We shall not shrink our obligations and commitments. This is a national endeavour.[53]
Chanderasekar withdrew the IPKF in 1989.[51]
Assault by Sri Lankan guard
On 30 July 1987, a day after Gandhi went to Sri Lanka and signed the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord, an honour guard named Vijitha Rohana hit him on his shoulder with his rifle; Gandhi's quick reflexes saved him from injury. The guard was then dragged off by his security personnel.[54][55] The guard said his intention was to kill Gandhi because of 'the damage he had caused' to Sri Lanka. Wijemuni was imprisoned for two-and-a-half years for the assault.[54] Gandhi later said about the incident:
When I was inspecting the guard of honour and as I walked past one person, I saw through the corner of my eye some movement. I ducked down a little bit in a reflex action. By my ducking, he missed my head and the brunt of the blow came on my shoulder below the left ear.[55]
Regional issues
Rajiv Gandhi (left) congratulates Indian Army explorers for reaching the South Pole.
Punjab
Soon after assuming office, Gandhi released the leaders of the Akali Dal who had been imprisoned since 1984's Operation Blue Star during Indira Gandhi's prime ministership. He lifted the ban on All India Sikh Students Federation and filed an inquiry into the 1984 Anti-Sikh Riots. He also held a closed-door meeting with senior Akali Dal leaders to find a solution to the Punjab problem. Despite Akali opposition, in January 1985, Gandhi signed the Rajiv-Longowal Accord with Akali leader HS Longowal. Punjab's state assembly election was scheduled in September 1985, but Longowal died and was replaced by Surjit Singh Barnala, who formed the government. After two years, in 1987, Barnala resigned his office because of a breakdown of law and order, leading to the implementation of President's rule in the state.[56]
In May 1988, Gandhi launched the Operation Black Thunder to clear the Golden Temple in Amritsar of arms and gunmen. Two groups called National Security Guard and Special Action Group were created; they surrounded the temple in a 10-day siege during which the extremists' weapons were confiscated. Congress leader Anand Sharma said, 'Operation Black Thunder effectively demonstrated the will of Rajiv Gandhi's government to take firm action to bring peace to Punjab'.[57]
Northeast India
Gandhi's prime-ministership marked an increase of insurgency in northeast India. Mizo National Front demanded independence for Mizoram. In 1987, Gandhi addressed this problem; Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh were given the status of states that were earlier union territories.[58] Gandhi also ended the Assam Movement, which was launched by Assamese people to protest against the alleged illegal migration of Bangladeshi Muslims and immigration of other Bengalis to their state, which had reduced the Assamese to a minority there. He signed the Assam Accord on 15 August 1985. According to the accord, foreigners who came to the state between 1951 and 1961 were given full citizenship but those who arrived there between 1961 and 1971 did not get right to vote for the next ten years.[59]
Technology
Gandhi employed former Rockwell International executive Sam Pitroda as his adviser on public information infrastructure and innovation. During Gandhi's time in office, public sector telecom companies MTNL and VSNL was developed.[60] According to Pitroda, Gandhi's ability to resist pressure from multi-national companies to abandon his plan to spread telecommunication services has been an important factor in India's development. According to news website Oneindia, 'About 20 years ago telephones were considered to be a thing for the use of the rich, but credit goes to Rajiv Gandhi for taking them to the rural masses'.[61] Pitroda also said their plan to expand India's telephone network succeeded because of Gandhi's political support. According to Pitroda, by 2007 they were 'adding six million phones every month'.[61] Gandhi's government also allowed the import of fully assembled motherboards, which led to the price of computers being reduced.[62] According to some commentators, the seed for the information technology (IT) revolution was also planted during Rajiv Gandhi's time.[62]
Bofors scandal, HDW scandal and 1989 elections defeat
Rajiv Gandhi's finance minister, V. P. Singh, uncovered compromising details about government and political corruption, to the consternation of Congress leaders. Transferred to the Defence Ministry, Singh uncovered what became known as the Bofors scandal, which involved millions of US dollars and concerned alleged payoffs by the Swedish arms company Bofors through Italian businessman and Gandhi family associate Ottavio Quattrocchi, in return for Indian contracts. Upon discovering the scandal, Singh was dismissed from office and later resigned his Congress membership. Gandhi was later personally implicated in the scandal when the investigation was continued by Narasimhan Ram and Chitra Subramaniam of The Hindu newspaper, damaging his image as an honest politician. In 2004, he was posthumously cleared of this allegation.[63]
In an interview in July 2005, V.P.Singh explained that his fall out with Rajiv Gandhi was not due to the Bofors deal, but rather due to the HDW deal. Courtesy a contract signed with the Germany company HDW in 1981, the Indian government had agreed to purchase two ready submarines built in Germany by HDW and two submarines in CKD form to be assembled in Mazagaon docks. V.P.Singh had received a telegram from the Indian ambassador in Germany, stating that an Indian agents had received commissions in the HDW submarine deal. He told Rajiv Gandhi about this and instituted an enquiry. This led to differences and V.P.Singh resigned from the cabinet.[64]
In his book, Unknown Facets of Rajiv Gandhi, Jyoti Basu and Indrajit Gupta, released in November 2013, former CBI director Dr. A P Mukherjee wrote that Gandhi wanted commission paid by defence suppliers to be used exclusively for meeting running expenses of the Congress party.[65] Mukherjee said Gandhi explained his position in a meeting between the two at the Prime Minister's residence on 19 June 1989.[66] In May 2015, Indian president Pranab Mukherjee said the scandal was a 'media trial' as 'no Indian court has as yet established it as a scandal'.[67]
Opposition parties Lok Dal, Indian National Congress (Socialist) and Jan Morcha united under Singh to form the Janata Dal.[68] Singh led the National Front coalition to victory in 1989 elections and he was sworn in as Prime Minister. Though the coalition won 143 seats compared to Congress's 197, it gained majority in the lower house of the parliament through outside support from the Bharatiya Janta Party under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani and the left parties such as the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Communist Party of India.[69] Eminent lawyer and politician, former Law Minister of IndiaRam Jethmalani said that as Prime Minister, Gandhi was 'lacklustre and mediocre'.[33]
Later yearsAllegations of black money
In November 1991, Schweizer Illustrierte magazine published an article on black money held in secret accounts by Imelda Marcos and 14 other rulers of Third World countries. Citing McKinsey as a source, the article stated that Rajiv Gandhi held 2.5 billion Swiss francs in secret Indian accounts in Switzerland.[70][71] Several leaders of opposition parties in India have raised the issue, citing the Schweizer Illustrierte article. In December 1991, Amal Datta raised the issue in the Indian Parliament; the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Shivraj Patil, expunged Rajiv Gandhi's name from the proceedings.[72] In December 2011, Subramanian Swamy wrote to the director of the Central Bureau of Investigation, citing the article and asking him to take action on black money accounts of the Nehru-Gandhi family.[73] On 29 December 2011, Ram Jethmalani made an indirect reference to the issue in the Rajya Sabha, calling it a shame that one of India's former Prime Ministers was named by a Swiss magazine. This was met by uproar and a demand for withdrawal of the remark by the ruling Congress party members.[74]
Funding from KGB
In 1992, the Indian newspapers Times of India and The Hindu published reports alleging that Rajiv Gandhi had received funds from the KGB.[72] The Russian government confirmed this disclosure and defended the payments as necessary for Soviet ideological interest.[75] In their 1994 book The State Within a State, journalists Yevgenia Albats and Catherine Fitzpatrick quoted a letter signed by Viktor Chebrikov, head of the KGB, in the 1980s. The letter says the KGB maintained contact with Gandhi, who expressed his gratitude to the KGB for benefits accruing to his family from commercial dealings of a controlled firm. A considerable portion of funds obtained from this channel were used to support his party.[76] Albats later said that in December 1985, Chebrikov had asked for authorisation from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union to make payments to family members of Rajiv Gandhi, including Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.[72][75] The payments were authorised by a resolution and endorsed by the USSR Council of Ministers, and had been paid since 1971.[75] In December 2001, Subramanian Swamy filed a writ petition in the Delhi High Court; the Court ordered CBI to ascertain the truth of the allegations in May 2002. After two years, the CBI told the Court Russia would not entertain such queries without a registered FIR.[clarification needed][75]
Assassination
Rajiv Gandhi's last public meeting was on 21 May 1991, at Sriperumbudur, a village approximately 40 km (25 mi) from Chennai, where he was assassinated while campaigning for the Sriperumbudur Lok Sabha Congress candidate. At 10:10 pm, a woman later identified as Thenmozhi Rajaratnam, approached Gandhi in public and greeted him. She then bent down to touch his feet and detonated a belt laden with 700 g (1.5 lb) of RDX explosives tucked under her dress.[77]
Veer Bhumi at Delhi, where Rajiv Gandhi was cremated
The explosion killed Gandhi, Rajaratnam, and at least 25 other people. The assassination was captured by a 21-year-old local photographer, whose camera and film were found at the site. The cameraman, named Haribabu, died in the blast but the camera remained intact.[78] Gandhi's mutilated body was airlifted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi for post-mortem, reconstruction and embalming.[79]
A state funeral was held for Gandhi on 24 May 1991; it was telecast live and was attended by dignitaries from over 60 countries.[80] He was cremated at Veer Bhumi, on the banks of the river Yamuna near the shrines of his mother (Indira Gandhi), brother (Sanjay Gandhi), and grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru.
Aftermath
The Rajiv Gandhi Memorial, at Sriperumbudur
The Supreme Court judgement, by Justice K. T. Thomas, confirmed that Gandhi was killed because of personal animosity by the LTTE chief Prabhakaran arising from his sending the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) to Sri Lanka and the alleged IPKF atrocities against Sri Lankan Tamils.[81] The Gandhi administration had already antagonised other Tamil militant organisations like PLOTE for reversing the 1988 military coup in Maldives. The judgement further cites the death of Thileepan in a hunger strike and the suicide by 12 LTTE cadres in a vessel in Oct 1987.[82]
In the Jain Commission report, various people and agencies are named as suspects in the murder of Rajiv Gandhi. Among them, the cleric Chandraswami was suspected of involvement, including financing the assassination.[83][84][85] Nalini Sriharan, the only surviving member of the five-member squad behind the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, is serving life imprisonment. Arrested on 14 June 1991, she and 25 others were sentenced to death by a special court on 28 January 1998. The court confirmed the death sentences of four of the convicts, including Nalini, on 11 May 1999.[86] Nalini was a close friend of an LTTE operative known as Sriharan alias Murugan, another convict in the case who has been sentenced to death. Nalini later gave birth to a girl, Harithra, in prison. Nalini's death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in April 2000.[87] Rajiv's widow, Sonia Gandhi, intervened and asked for clemency for Nalini on the grounds of the latter being a mother.[88] Later, it was reported that Gandhi's daughter, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, had met Nalini at Vellore Central Prison in March 2008.[89] Nalini regrets the killing of Gandhi and said the real conspirators have not been caught yet.[90][91]
In August 2011, the President of India rejected the clemency pleas of Murugan and two others on death rowâSuthendraraja alias Santhan and Perarivalan alias Arivu.[92] The execution of the three convicts was scheduled for 9 September 2011. However, the Madras High Court intervened and stayed their executions for eight weeks based on their petitions. In 2010, Nalini had petitioned the Madras High Court seeking release because she had served more than 20 years in prison. She argued that even life convicts were released after 14 years. The state government rejected her request.[93][94][95] Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan have said they are political prisoners rather than ordinary criminals.[96][97][98] On 18 February 2014, the Supreme Court of India commuted the death sentences of Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan to life imprisonment, holding that the 11-year-long delay in deciding their mercy petition had a dehumanising effect on them.[99][100] On 19 February 2014 Tamil Nadu government decided to release all seven convicts in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, including A G Perarivalan and Nalini.[101] The Union of India challenged this decision before the Supreme Court, which referred the case to a Constitution Bench.[102]
The report of the Jain Commission created controversy when it accused the Tamil Nadu chief minister Karunanidhi of a role in the assassination, leading to Congress withdrawing its support for the I. K. Gujral government and fresh elections in 1998. LTTE spokesman Anton Balasingham told the Indian television channel NDTV the killing was a 'great tragedy, a monumental historical tragedy which we deeply regret'.[103][104] A memorial called Veer Bhumi was constructed at the place of Gandhi's cremation in Delhi. In 1992, the Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana Award was instituted by the Indian National Congress Party.
Since his death, 21 May has been declared Anti-Terrorism Day in India.[105]
Institutions named after Gandhi
A Right to Information (RTI) request filed in August 2009 found that more than 450 government projects and schemes are named after the Gandhi-Nehru family.[106] In May 2012, Zee News reported there were 16 government schemes named after Gandhi, including Rajiv Awas Yojana and Rajiv Gandhi Udyami Mitra Yojana.[107] In March 2015, Haryana sports minister Anil Vij said that at that time there were 232 rural stadia in India, with 226 of them being named after him. He said the government was 'planning to rename' all the stadia in Haryana state named after him. Vij drew criticism from Congress leader Kuldeep Sharma, who said it was an 'insult to their national leaders'.[108]
Adaptation
A movie titled Madras Cafe showed the planning of an intelligence agency to stop the assassination and catch the LTTE leader. However, at the end, they were unable to save Rajiv Gandhi.
Notes
References
External links
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