O J's Corner : Reflections

Close confidants had betrayed Rajiv

Everyone was baying for his blood. All of them were his close confidants. I am speaking about the vibrant young leader of the country, Rajiv Gandhi, who was betrayed not by the common man, but by his trusted lieutenants. In conformity with the public- school-days-like camaraderie, the young Prime Minister had full faith in them. But they had not done service to him as their friend and leader.

It was too much of V P Singh who was one of the senior Ministers to have taken cudgels against Rajiv Gandhi. Political ambitions are all right, but the attitude of V P Singh was reminiscent of having inflicted the “most unkindest cut of all”.

V P Singh, Arun Singh, Arun Nehru had all left him in the lurch. They had turned against him in the name of Bofors scandal.

Recently, the Delhi High Court had chided the CBI for prolonging the investigation into the alleged pecuniary benefit of Rs 65 crore in the Bofor’s gun purchase muddle. As much as Rs 2,500 crore had been spent for the investigation which reached nowhere.

Ostensibly, the investigation was stretched to this extent to bring discomfiture to the Rajiv/ Sonia Gandhi family.

Remember the time when P V Narasimha Rao was ruling the country as Prime Minister. Whenever Sonia Gandhi raised her head in the political spectrum, something or the other of the Bofor’s case would spring up. That was the way Sonia Gandhi was put down.

Then all the Congress leaders had gone down on their knees to beseech Sonia Gandhi to lead the Congress Party. She has been doing exceedingly well.

But when she was chosen the Prime Ministerial candidate, all hell broke loose and bayed for her blood. Rashtrapati Bhavan had not invited her to form the Government. She was invited for discussions to form the government.

All the anti-Gandhi family forces had united themselves to thwart the chances of Sonia Gandhi to become the Prime Minister. These forces knew it well that she would have offered the best governance the country can aspire to. Others could not stake their claims to rule the country, once this Iron Woman took over.

Nobody could rake up any scam against her. So they spread themselves far and wide to nip her chances in the bud by raising the foreigner bogey. For everything else this foreigner is okay. It is a pity that vested interests in this country have not accepted her as the daughter-in-law of Indira Gandhi. She has been here throughout after her marriage with Rajiv Gandhi. Her children have been born and brought up here.

Now, it appears, V P Singh is remorseful. He is trying to gravitate towards the Gandhi family as a well-wisher. At least he is considerate now. But Arun Singh and Arun Nehru have still been antagonistic. Arun Nehru is entertaining hopes of becoming part of the non-Congress governance at some point of time in the future.

Considering the immensity of the scandals that broke out in the recent years like the fodder scam, the hawala transactions, the share scam, and the like involving thousands of crores of rupees, would the politicians who got away with all these irregularities think for a moment about the way Rajiv Gandhi was persecuted and done away with? Even the LTTE now says the killing of Rajiv was unfortunate.