If you would have been in Sonia’s place, possibly you would have also done the same thing. I do not have much of a complaint against Rao as PM. However, what he did to Rajiv is definitely something Sonia would never be able to pardon. If you look outwardly and in isolation, it seems that Sonia did a grave injustice to Rao. But we need to go a little deep and look at history. Let me explain in detail. I am quoting from one of my previous answers where I have already given detailed accounts of the conspiracy and sabotage.
Along with V P Singh and Chandra Shekhar Singh, Rao is also suspected to have hands in Rajiv's assassination.
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 a 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 were done as a part of a larger conspiracy, which I will explain in the later part of this article. 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 angles which hitherto never been highlighted.
1984 Anti-Sikh Riots - Everybody blames Rajiv for the riot. However, totally new to politics, he then did not even take the charge properly. He didn’t know the ABCD of politics, mourning his mother’s assassination. People would remember that the riot started immediately after Indira's assassination. It is peculiar that nobody ever blamed Narasimha Rao, who was the Union Home Minister then. And everybody knows Rao was No puppet to the Gandhi family, an extremely strong CWC member, having extensive political experience. Rao was no ordinary political leader. He was the Home Minister in Indira’s cabinet. Is it possible that Rao was vengeance that he was not being selected as PM after the demise of Indira, and let the riot go in full swing? Or there was a much deeper conspiracy? In fact, the riot itself was a very big conspiracy. Multiple pieces of evidence suggest that the then Home Minister feigned sleep when Delhi was burning and Sikhs were being massacred. I am quoting part of an article published when 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 Narasimha 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
- 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.”
I will discuss the conspiracy angle - It is shuddering to see how low the leaders co go to remove him from the scene.
It's a known secret that the CIA hand has been suspected in both the case of the assassination of Indira & Rajiv. A sanitized 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 the re-election of Indira Gandhi in the next general election in 1985 with a slim majority and what happened 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 by the US for the 1971 Bangladesh war defying its warning and the 1974 Pokhran Nuclear test. In fact, just after the test, India started witnessing massive political unrest in the country, and finally, Indira was ousted from power after the 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 calculations wrong. Not only that he came up very strongly. So it seems that another unpleasant decision had to be taken to remove him from the scene. . His trusted (?)cabinet colleagues played their roles perfectly to backstab him with the possible hope of becoming PM if Rajiv fails. He lost the election mounting on the allegation of Bofors scam. And the first traitor V P Singh became PM. But with the failure of two successive PMs - V P Singh & Chandra Shekhar, the nation again faced a fresh election in 1991 and everybody could sense come back of Rajiv with a massive majority. Which the Western powers could never accept and with their traitor friends the plan for his assassination gave final shape.
V P Singh originally coming from Janta Dal/Party, 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 inquiries. 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 a European private detective hired to make inquiries 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. An Indian lady reporter with the surname Subramaniam working out of Switzerland and Sweden and reporting for The Hindu was provided over 300 documents that established the fact of the alleged illegal payments that led to a political turmoil in India. It smells fishy. Despite Bofors being a Swedish company, and Sweden being a 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 the 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 in spite of knowing the grave threat he was facing. In a way Rajiv Gandhi was allowed to be assassinated, he was made a 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's 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 the 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 minimize 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 Minister's Office in 1991. Later, it was doctored and re-constructed by the Narasimha Rao Government before it was submitted to the 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's dislike for Rao as one of the reasons.
As already narrated Rajiv Gandhi's assassination is a larger conspiracy that could include the involvement of 3 ex PMs directly or indirectly apart from other Indian nationals 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 like a VIP when Rao was PM and had special access to the PM’s official residence, 7 Race Course Road.
Did you know that rehearsals were done before the actual assassination? The first dry run was done on the 18th of 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 have done 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. Subramanian Swamy’s closeness with Rao is known to all.
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 a straight line that there were plans to remove Rajiv in one or another way. Rajiv Gandhi's ouster from power and death has helped all the three to become PM of India - First V P Singh, 2nd Chandra Shekar, and 3rd Narasimha Rao. And everybody contributed handsomely to Rajiv’s assassination. So now if you go backward everything looks very simple from Rao not taking any action on the 1984 Sikh riot, V P Singh's role in Bofors Scam, removing his security, and Chandra Shekhar not taking any action in spite of having specific inputs.
So I believe why Sonia didn’t allow P. V. Narasimha Rao's body in the Congress Party’s office is very clear now. Rao was much smarter than V P Singh. He wanted to be a full-term PM as well as the party president. So, he remained in the party and never exposed himself to the public. But Sonia must be knowing the true colour of Rao. V P Singh had no other way because he knew that Rao had a much bigger grip in Congress and he would never become PM if he remained in Congress. So he openly revolted against Rajiv. Rest everybody knows what happened.
Ref:
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Narasimha Rao's Role In Anti-Sikh Riots: Evidence His Supporters Missed
.https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/95278/9/09_chapter%203.pdf
CIA discussed political scenarios in event of Indira Gandhi’s death: Declassified report
https://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/finally-all-fingers-point-to-anbsp-foreign-hand/205868
https://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/the-deadly-duo/204614
How can Sonia Gandhi and her children forgive Rajiv's assassins, asks Subramanian Swamy
Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi - Wikipedia
https://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/end-of-jain-commission/200578
Jain panel report suggests deliberate attempt to tamper with Rajiv assassination evidence
Chandraswami, the rise and fall of a high flyer
http://media1.intoday.in/indiatoday/images/JainCommissionReport.pdfhttp://www.indiandefencereview.com/spotlights/rajiv-gandhi-and-raw/
SPG cover was withdrawn from former Prime Ministers Rajiv Gandhi, IK Gujral and Deve Gowda too
http://www.indiandefencereview.com/spotlights/raw-and-bofors/Chitra Subramaniam and Bofors: The myth of the lone crusader
From archives | Rajiv Gandhi assassination: How plot was hatched and executed by LTTE
1984 riots could have been avoided, if Narasimha Rao had listened to IK Gujaral: Manmohan Singh
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