Wednesday, June 17, 2020

Was Rajiv Gandhi the best PM of India?

Rajiv Gandhi had a very short tenure of only five years rule. He was supposedly epicenter for number of controversy. However I feel he is more of a victim of a much larger conspiracy to assassinate his character and finally to assassinate him.

Though there are controversial side of Rajiv Gandhi. But the nation need to acknowledge the great strides he took, without which possibly India would have been way backward . He appointed Sam Pitroda as his scientific advisor to help him accomplish the technology mission. The initiative he took was no ordinary for a period 35 years back, with very limited resource, infrastructure, budget, restriction an bottle neck in acquiring technology and equipment. In true sense he provided the vision for 21st Century India. He helped eradicate polio, make India (along with Dr Verghese Kurian) number one in milk production.

a. India's space missions - He was a technology driven person. In 1986 India successfully developed and tested a high-thrust, liquid-fueled rocket engine that generates a thrust of 30 tons and is capable of lifting a payload to a height of 600 km into space.March 1988: India launches its first operational remote sensing satellite, IRS-1A. Meanwhile work on other advanced version of launch vehicle lie PSLV, ASLV continued progress.

b. Revolutionising telecommunications sector. He brought technology in telecommunication moving from manual PBX to EPBX system. Established MTNL, he introduced the PCO booth. Before that people had to book STD and and ISD call.

c. Super computer - He focused on creating and establishing IT infrastructure. Trust me 35 years back it wasn’t a easy task. Setting up a super computer ( OParam 1, Param 2 etc) was a herculean task technologically as well there were other restriction of technology transfer. He understood the important weather forecast. The Soviet Union agreed to supply its latest-generation “Elbrus” computer system to India after 1986, a high-powered computers for India’s defense and nuclear industry.

d. Focusing on India's Ballastic Missile program - He wanted to make India’s defense capability a robust one. February 1988: India conducts the first test flight of its surface-to-surface Prithvi ballistic missile, under a program headed by the DRDL. In May 1989, India test-fired its first intermediate-range ballistic missile, the Agni. It is a two-stage missile with the first stage using the first-stage solid-fuel booster motor of the SLV-3 satellite launch vehicle.

e. Revolutionising Rsilway reservation system - He started the computerized railway reservation inspite of having tremendous technology and infrastructural constraints.

f. introduction of Panchayati Raj - He wanted to take the governance to the grass root level and introduced the Panchayati Raj in India

g. Vibrant youth - As a measure to promote youths he reduced the voting age from 21 years to 18 years. He was true friend of your and want to involve the youth in the nation building process.

h. Establishing NSG wing -Immediately after death of his mother he could understand the need of raising a specialized dedicated & high caliber commando force ( commonly known as Black Cat Commando & NSG ) for VIP protection and tackling specific threat to the nation which require high precision skill to neutralize the threat. The NSG commandos were successfully used in a lightening fast operation in Maldives as per request of Maldives government

i. Foreign policy - He showed his natural brilliance in establishing rapport with number of countries across the world. His set extremely good equation with Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, Saddam Hussain, Afghan President Njibullah, , Fidel Castro Palestine leader Yasser Arafat. Rajiv Gandhi was working extensively inspiring life of NAM ( Non Aligned Movement ) as the chairman of NAM, Chairman of the SAARC countries, Chairman of the AFRICA Fund, Crusader against apartheid. He actively engaged with the SAARC countries.

I somehow feel that most of his controversies were because of his lack of political experience and his cabinet colleagues taking advantage of it to mislead him. Rather than guiding him. It's pity that all the blame was put on him as if all of them were saints. It seems that a deliberate & carefully drafted plan has been executed to paint and project his negative image. I think all these was done as a part of bigger conspiracy, which I will explain in the alter part of this article. What he could do in his young inexperienced short tenure hardly any other Prime Minister could achieve. The youngest Prime Minister of India had a great vision to take India to the front line of the nation. He dreamt of making India a super power. Unfortunately he didn't get the chance to make his dream a reality.I will discuss here the controversies spun around him and how he got trapped in the net of conspiracies woven by his one time trusted cabinet colleagues. The net was simply not a national one, it was an international one. I will highlight angle which hitherto never been highlighted

1984 Anti-Sikh Riots - Everybody blame Rajiv for the riot. However, totally new to politics, he then not even taken the charge properly. He didn’t know ABCD of politics, mourning his mother’s assassination. People would remember that the riot started immediately after Indira's assassination. It is peculiar that no body ever blamed Narsimha Rao, who was the Union Home Minister then. And everybody know Rao was No puppet to Gandhi family, an extremely strong CWC member, having extensive political experience. Is it possible that Rao was vengeanceful that he was not being selected as PM after demise of Indira, and let the riot go in full swing ? Or there was much deeper conspiracy ? Multiple pieces of evidence suggest that then Home Minister feigned sleep when Delhi was burning and Sikhs were being massacred. I am quoting part of a article published Rao was the PM, and there was no counter action from the government.

1984 riots could have been avoided, if Narasimha Rao had listened to IK Gujaral: Manmohan Singh -Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that the Sikh massacre of 1984 in Delhi could have been avoided had the then Home Minister Narsimha Rao acted upon the advice of Inder Kumar Gujral. He was speaking at a ceremony to mark the 100th birth anniversary of former prime minister Gujral in the capital

  1. On the evening of October 31, Deputy Commissioner (South Delhi) Chandra Prakash felt the rioting had spiraled out of control. He suggested to Additional Commissioner (New Delhi Range) Gautam Kaul to impose curfew and call in the Army. In a memorandum to the Home Ministry, Prakash said, “Kaul turned down my recommendation stating that a meeting had already taken place sometime earlier in the Prime Minister’s house, where the Home Minister was also present, and a decision had been taken not to impose curfew and call out the Army at that stage”.

Prakash presumably stressed upon the presence of Home Minister Narasimha Rao because the Delhi Police reported to him

2. On November 1, as Delhi turned into a killing field, Gujral spoke to Lt Governor PG Gavai at 11 pm. Our story quotes the entry Gujral made in his diary: “I suggested the Army should be called in. Gavai says it will cause panic. I replied, ‘You are talking of not causing panic, but the whole city is already burning.’”

Could Gavai have taken the decision alone? Our story goes on to say, “However, another version says that Gavai asked for the Army the previous evening, but was overruled by the Home Ministry.” In this version, therefore, it was Rao who overruled Gavai’s request. In fact, at 6 pm, Rajiv Gandhi hadn’t yet become Prime Minister, sworn-in as he was 55 minutes later. As No 2 in the Union government, Rao was the de facto head of the government and, therefore, responsible for curbing the rioting which had already broken out with bestial ferocity.

3. On November 1, the five Sikh luminaries managed an appointment with then President Giani Zail Singh. At 12.05 they trooped into Rashtrapati Bhavan, each in their own way beseeching him to call in the Army. Since Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was at Teen Murti House, where the body of Indira Gandhi was kept for people to pay their respect, the President suggested to Lt Gen Aurora that he should speak to Rao.

A presidential aide put in a call to Rao. Guess what the caller was told? Rao was in a meeting and couldn’t therefore speak to Rashtrapati Bhavan. Quite obviously, Rao must have sensed what the President would ask him and therefore chose to shy away.

4. Once the meeting was over at Rashtrapati Bhavan, the five Sikhs dispersed. Lt Gen Aurora went with Patwant to his residence on Amrita Shergill Marg. Gujral joined them there. In sheer frustration, the trio decided to barge into the 9 Motilal Nehru Marg residence of Home Minister Rao.

To the trio, Rao looked very relaxed, unmindful of the killings taking place a few miles away from his residence. They asked him what he was doing to “control the situation”. Rao replied, “The Army will be here in the evening.” Lt Gen Aurora pressed on, “How will it be deployed?” An unflappable Rao said, “The (Army) Area commander will meet the Lt Governor for this purpose.”

Aurora shot back angrily, “You have called the Army 30 hours too late.” He then advised Rao: “Your first task should be to set up a Joint Control Room to coordinate between the police and the Army.” Unflustered, Rao responded coolly, “I will look into it.”

File photo of Bofors gun 155mm. Photo courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

Bofors Scam - Next big controversy is about the Bofors gun deal. On 24 March 1986, a $285 million ( The Rs 1,437-crore deal ) contract was signed between Government of India and Swedish arms company Bofors was signed for supply of 410 155mm Howitzer field guns. The gun which proved to be vital for India in recapturing the Tiger Hills in 1999 in Kargil war. Rajiv Gandhi accused of receiving part of kickback (Rs 64-crore Bofors pay-off ) in the deal. The entire blame was put on Rajiv again no one else from his cabinet was ever mentioned in the charge-sheet. For argument’s sake even if we consider that Rajiv received the Kickback ( though it never got proved ), is it possible he could do it without any support from his cabinet colleague. Many of our youngster would not be knowing that V P Singh was the Minister for Finance (1984-87) and Defence (1987). Many of today's generation may not be knowing that he was 2nd most important person after Rao in Rajiv Gandhi ministry and close confidante of Rajiv Gandhi. The Bofors deal was finalized when V P Dingh was the finance minister and the consignment was received during his tenure as Defense Minister. He had every every knowledge of the deal, but he kept mum till the time of completion of the deal. He waited and allowed the deal to be completed. Thereafter he opted to talk about the deal to gain political mileage putting the entire blame on Rajiv Gandhi alone.

I will discuss the conspiracy angle - Its is shuddering to see what low the leaders co go to remove him from scene.

Its known secret that CIA hand has been suspected in both the case of assassination of Indira & Rajiv. A sanitised copy of the report 'India in the Mid-1980s: Goals and Challenges' was released by the CIA under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), which is similar to India's Right to Information Act.

Running into more than 30 pages, the document discussed the prospects of India in the mid-1980s and looked into various political scenarios, which among others included re- election of Indira Gandhi in the next general election in 1985 with a slim majority and what happens in the case of her sudden death. Nearly two years before the assassination of Indira Gandhi, the CIA had suggested that her son Rajiv Gandhi may not succeed her in the event of her sudden death. Indira became the most hated person for US for 1971 Bangladesh war defying its warning and 1974 Pokhran Nuclear test. In fact just after the test India started witnessing massive political unrest in the country and finally Indira ousted from power after emergency. But she again came back in 1980 much to the disliking to the western power. Possibly it is during this time plan for her elimination was made. It was expected that Rajiv would not succeed her. But Rajiv became PM, proving all calculation wrong. Not only that he came up very strongly. So it seems that another unpleasant decision had to be taken to remove him from scene. . His trusted (?)cabinet colleagues played their role perfectly to back stab him with possible hope of becoming PM if Rajiv fails. He lost election mounting on the allegation of Bofors scam. And the first traitor V P Singh became PM. But the failure of two successive PM - V P Singh & Chnadra Shekhar, the nation again faced fresh election in 1991 and everybody could sense come back of Rajiv with massive majority. Which the western power could never accept and with their traitor friends the plan for his assassination given final shape.

V P Singh originally coming from Janta Dal/Party he had his natural repulsion for RAW. V.P.Singh and Vinod Pandey, who had served under him, had shown a deep liking for relying more on private detective agencies such as Fairfax than the intelligence agencies of the Government of India for making confidential enquiries. This continued even after V.P Singh became the Prime Minister and appointed Vinod Pandey as his Cabinet Secretary. By making payments from the secret service fund of an intelligence agency, Pandey had the services of an European private detective hired for making enquiries about the Bofors payments. The reports sent by this detective—not independently verified or often unverifiable— were given by Pandey to journalists for publishing in their newspapers as coming from “privileged sources”. An action unthinkable by any nation.

Interestingly the Bofors scam was first reported by the Swedish State Radio in April 1987 that bribes had been paid to Indians and others for the sale of field howitzers to India by the Swedish arms manufacturer, Bofors. A indian lady reporter working out of Switzerland and Sweden and reporting for The Hindu, were provided over 300 documents which established the fact of the alleged illegal payments that led to a political turmoil in India. It smells fishy. Inspite of Bofors being Swidish company, Sweden being beneficiary of the arms deal, the Sweden government went ahead to flush the news and put the deal in risk. Even if that was not enough, confidential information of 300 pages was leaked to a lady journalist very conveniently so that it could be followed up. Doesn’t it look to be a design ? Finally nothing came out. Money given or not given is a different issue

Rajiv Gandhi assassination -Rajiv Gandhi’s security cover was withdrawn by V P Singh when he was the Prime Minister and this is inspite of knowing the grave threat he was facing. In a way Rajiv Gandhi was allowed to be assassinated, he was made soft and easy target. As if saying that I removed his security cover, now you do whatever you want to do. Facing threat from Lankan tigers with no SPG cover when he demitted office, he roamed around with just two cops; sadly, one was killed with him in the blast at Sriperumbudur where he was campaigning in the 1991 polls. Ironically it was Rajiv Gandhi who created the Special Protection Group(SPG) and the NSG Black Cat Commandos. He was not even given a Z+ security cover. The law then was that you have to be guarded, tailed, covered and secured by the SPG for ten years after ceasing to be Prime Minister.

The Justice Jain Commission's final report focuses on a larger international conspiracy, and the CIA-Mossad-LTTE link, in the Rajiv killing. He said that if one was looking for a link, it was the CIA/Mossad/LTTE link. The report says they actively collaborated with the LTTE and key Indian individuals in the period immediately preceding the assassination.

P.V. Narasimha Rao Government seemed all set to clip the wings of the Jain Commission of inquiry. The Government filed a special leave petition (SLP) before the Supreme Court on December 22, its last working day of the year, seeking to restrain the Jain Commission from going into any aspect dealing with the role of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The petition sought to restrict the scope of the inquiry to the period from July 29, 1987, to May 21, 1991—signifying the post-Sri Lanka accord period and leaving out six years of the LTTE's intensified activities (1981-July '87) when it had free access to and patronage from India. Incidentally, Rao was foreign minister in between this period and was involved in Indo-Sri Lankan affairs. In fact, this was the third move by the Rao Government to either wind up or min-imise the Jain Commission's role. Sonia Gandhi publicly complained of the probe's slow pace. Following are some missing file cases.

Crucial evidence linking Chandraswami to the Rajiv case went missing from Rao's PMO, OUTLOOK investigates.

· File No:8-1-WR/JSS/90/Vol III – containing notings of bureaucrats regarding security arrangements for Rajiv Gandhi from November 1989 was lost from the Prime Ministers Office in 1991. Later, it was doctored and re-constructed by the Narasimha Rao Government before it was submitted to Jain Commission.

File No: 1/12014/5/91-IAS/DIII reported missing since Graffiti Web S.r.l. pertained to the terms of reference of the Verma and Jain Commissions of Inquiry.

· File containing intercepted messages from foreign intelligence agencies, said to be addressed to Chandraswami and Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy, destroyed by senior officials in the PMO.

· File on IB's assessment of the role played by Zail Singh and Chandraswami in 1987 to topple Rajiv Gandhi missing.

Interestingly the fact that the Rao government had actually doctored a file came to light when Vinod Pande , who was the Cabinet Secretary in V.P.Singh's government, deposed before the Jain Commission that file No.8-1-WR/JSS/90/Vol III in which he had made notings on Rajiv Gandhi's security – had been tampered with. " The file which has been placed in my hands does not contain an official copy of my note dated January 30,1990.The first few paras of the draft are not mine." Pande told the commission. Possibly this explains Sonia disliking for Rao as one of the reason.

As already narrated Rajiv Gandhi assassination is a larger conspiracy which could include involvement of 3 ex PM’s involvement directly or indirectly apart from other Indian national like Godman Chandra Swami. The list is very long. Political circles are well aware of the reason why Chandraswami was being protected. The godman had close links with Rao—the two have been friends for 25 years. It's common knowledge that the tantrik was treated as a VIP when Rao was PM and had special access to official residence, 7 Race Course Road.

Did you know that rehearsal were done before the actual assassination. The first dry run was done on 18th April when Rajiv made his first campaign in Tamilnadu. The next dry-run was executed on May 12 at a meeting featuring V.P. Singh and Karunanidhi at Thiruvallur in Arkonam, 40 km away from Madras. This time, the exercise was more fruitful as Dhanu was able to touch the feet of V.P. Singh in much the same manner as she would do with Rajiv Gandhi on the fateful night of May 21.

Justice Jain has devoted separate chapters to three key Indian players who are suspected, one way or the other, to have had prior knowledge of the assassination. Nothing definitive or conclusive here, but Jain has woven in intriguing loops of circumstantial evidence—quoted and contained in the annexures—around godman Chandraswami, Janata Party leader Dr Subramanian Swamy and former PM Chandra Shekhar. The three are bracketed, prima facie, as either having a link with those who allegedly conspired with the assassins or at least having been privy to the fact of a plot.

The link between Chandra Shekhar and Subramanian Swamy has been taken seriously by Jain in the light of Chandra-swami's deposition: "I know Chandra Shekhar and Subramanian Swamy have been very thick for the last 7-8 years. Dr Swamy told me that I (Chandraswami) may persuade Rajiv Gandhi to make Chandra Shekhar the PM." Working within this framework, the Commission has read much into the independent testimonies of a host of witnesses—wherever they overlap—and arrived at certain conclusions.

If you go through the narration it looks to be straight line that there were plans to remove Rajiv by one or another way. Rajiv Gandhi ouster from power and death has helped all the three to become PM of India - First V P Singh, 2nd Cahndra Shekar and 3rd Narasimha Rao. And everybody contributed handsomely in Rajiv’s assassination. So now if you go backward everything looks very simple from Rao not taking any action on 1984 Sikh riot, V P Singh role on Bofors Scam, removing his security and Chandra Shekhar not taking any action inspite of having specific inputs.

Whether Rajiv was the best Prime Minister is a debatable issue. But he certainly had the elements of being a strong contender had he got opportunity for one more term

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