the assassination that shook the Nation ! ~
this day 34 years ago !!
Sad
the Nation failed to even remember leave alone do justice to the deaths of :
Dharman, Rajaguru, Edward Joseph, Mohammed Iqbal, Latha Kannan, Saroja devi,
Ravichandran !!! .. .. unlikely their
names strike any chord !!
On 30 July 1987, a day after Indian PM 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; again, did the Nation force enough for any
action against him.
Literally the heart of
Uttar Pradesh, Amethi had been the citadel of the Nehru-Gandhi family. The
constituency has voted for the Congress most times since its formation in
1967, Amethi’s first tryst with the Nehru-Gandhi family happened in 1980
when Sanjay Gandhi won the seat. In the next three decades, the constituency
changed hands across three other members of the family, with Rahul Gandhi
representing the seat since 2004. Later
he lost to Smriti Irani of BJP by
a whopping margin of 35,000 votes. Though Sanjay Gandhi won in 1980, sadly he
died in an accident and in the by-elections, (a reluctant) Rajiv Gandhi stood
and won the elections. In the 1981 by-election: Rajiv Gandhi secured 258884 votes
(84.18%) while his nearest rival Sharad Yadav got 21188 (6.89%) – margin was
237696 !
Brutal killings have been
part of History - ever read about the Battle of Samugarh, a decisive battle
in the struggle for the throne during the Mughal war of succession (1658–1659)
between the sons of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan after the emperor's serious
illness in 1657. It was fought between his sons Dara Shikoh (the
eldest son and heir apparent) and his two younger brothers Aurangzeb and Murad
Baksh (third and fourth sons of Shah Jahan).
There have been political assassinations too – and you may have read about : - James Garfield and Charles J. Guiteau. What we failed to read and what should have been part of History in schools was the killing by Madanlal Dhingra of Curzon Wylie in 1909 in London. William Hutt Curzon Wyllie KCIE CVO, was a British Indian army officer, and later an official of the British Indian Government. Over a career spanning three decades, Curzon Wyllie rose to be Lieutenant Colonel in the British Indian Army and occupied a number of administrative and diplomatic posts.
Pratap Singh Kairon [1901 – 1965] was the 3rd Chief
Minister of the Punjab province (then comprising Punjab, Haryana and part of
Himachal Pradesh), and is widely acknowledged as the architect of
post-Independence Punjab Province. He had participated in Indian
Independence movement too - jailed twice by the British Empire, once
for five years for organizing protests against British rule. On 6
February 1965, he was on his way from Delhi to Chandigarh when he was waylaid
near Rasoi village, Sonipat district, and shot dead along with his personal
assistant — an IAS officer, and the driver.
— July 7, 2021: Haitian President Jovenel Moïse was
assassinated by gunmen who also wounded his wife Martine in an
overnight raid on their Port-au-Prince home.
— April 20, 2021: Chad President Idriss Deby Itno was
killed while battling rebels in the north. Hours earlier he had been declared
the winner of an election that would have given him another six years in power.
— March 2, 2009: Guinea-Bissau President Joao Bernardo
Vieira was killed by renegade soldiers in his palace, hours after a bomb blast
killed his rival in the West African nation.
— Dec. 27, 2007: Benazir Bhutto, the first female
prime minister in a Muslim-majority country as well as Pakistan’s second
nationally elected prime minister, was shot at & then attacked
by a suicide bomber at a political rally in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
21st May is remembered by Indians for different reasons though ! Any killing, murder is bad but assassination of top
political leaders, especially President, Prime Minister, King or any such high
official can
resonate throughout a country. Sometimes the assassination of a leader is so
shocking and profound that it triggers what psychologists call flashbulb memory
in a country’s citizens. Many will remember forever where they were and what
they were doing at the moment they heard their leader was murdered. As a result
of painful experiences in their histories, most Governments now surround their
leaders with protection. INDIA badly remembers assassination of Mrs
Indira Gandhi and her son Rajiv Gandhi.
One may not concur with
his political views and ideologies, may not support dynasty, may not support
his party, may not like Bofors ! but for sure would be outraged by
the way he was eliminated.
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Rajiv
statue at Andamans
He was born in 1944, sent to London, joined
Engineering at Trinity College, Cambridge, but did not obtain a degree. He
returned to India in 1966, 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. On 23 June 1980, Rajiv's younger brother Sanjay Gandhi
died unexpectedly in an aeroplane 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. Rajiv entered politics on 16 February
1981, when he addressed a national farmers' rally in
Delhi. 70 members of the Congress party signed a
proposal and went to Indira, urging Rajiv to enter politics and he plunged into
politics inevitably after the sad assassination in 31.10.1984 of Prime Minister
Mrs Indira Gandhi.
His rule was marred by the politically sensitive Rs
64-crore Bofors pay-off case. The Bofors deal, signed in 1986, was believed to
be one of primary reasons for the Rajiv Gandhi-led Congress' defeat in the
1989 Lok Sabha elections. 1991 too was an election year – held in 2 phases –
each had a different impact. Maragatham Chandrasekar was to win by a
margin of 180572 and the man lost his life campaigning for her this day.
Visitors to Chennai would not miss the landmark as
they come out Central Railway station – the imposing Government
General Hospital, visited by more than 12000 outpatients everyday. This premier
institution dates back to 1664, started as a small Hospital to treat
the sick soldiers of the East India Company. It was the untiring inspired
efforts of Sir Edward Winter who was the agent of the company that materialised
in the first British Hospital at Madras. In its early days the Hospital was
housed at the Fort St. George and in the next 25 years grew into a formal
medical facility. Governor Sir. Elihu Yale was instrumental in the development
of the Hospital and gave it a new premises with in the Fort in
1690. In 1842 the Hospital opened its doors to
Indians. In the 19th century, medical college got
annexed to it and in 2011, the hospital was renamed after Rajiv Gandhi, sadly because his
body was brought here after his assassination in May 1991.
This place (Sriperumpudur) is famous for being the
birthplace of our greatest Acharyar – Sri Ramanujar ~ life has changed a lot in
the past couple of decades after that fatefulday….. one may not
ardently believe in ‘fate or destiny’…….in the prelude to General elections,
there were far too varied predictions …… the National Front was still nursing
some hopes, there was a wave predicting return of Rajiv Gandhi. In
that melee, was this person, who had retired from active politics –
not any ordinary person for sure~ a man who had been the CM too…. in 1984 in
the aftermath of assassination of Indira Gandhi saw routing of all political
parties. Bharatiya Janata Party could win only 2 seats. One in
Mehsana and the other was in South ~ the Hanamkonda constituency where M.
Chandupatla Janga Reddy of BJP defeated his nearest Congress rival by 54198
votes. The man who lost so at a time when Congress swept to power
was 70 by the 1991 elections, could not get a ticket and had chosen to retire
to peace…….. destiny thought otherwise….. he became the PM in 1991 – Sri PV
Narasimha Rao.
The night of 21st May 1991 changed it all ~
on a campaign trail, he arrived from Vizag, garlanded Nehru at Kathipara, even
the Press chose not to travel along for that meeting at Sriperumpudur – and
rest is bloody history – the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. About two hours after arriving in Madras),
Rajiv Gandhi was driven by motorcade in a white Ambassador car to
Sriperumbudur, stopping along the way at a few other election campaigning
venues. 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 RDX explosive-laden belt tucked below
her dress at exactly 10:10 PM. Rajiv, his assassin and 15 others
were killed in the explosion that followed, along with 43 others who were
grievously injured. .. .. a very sad day as the Nation lost its ex-Prime
Minister assassinated in his own land and a host of innocent Tamilians who had
gathered too died in that blast.
If you
still remember the names in the 1st para : they were among the ones
who perished in that assassination plot.
The list reads: Dharman, police constable; Santhani Begum, Mahila Congress leader; Rajaguru,
police inspector; Chandra, police constable; Edward Joseph, police inspector; K. S. Mohammed Iqbal, police superintendent; Latha
Kannan, Mahila Congress worker, who was with her daughter Kokilavani; • Kokilavani, ten-year-old daughter of
Latha Kannan, who sang a poem to Gandhi immediately before the blast; Darryl
Jude Peters, attendee and observer; Munuswamy, Seva dal worker; Saroja Devi,
seventeen-year-old college student; Pradeep K. Gupta, personal security officer
of Rajiv Gandhi; Ethiraju; Murugan, police constable; Ravichandran, Black Cat
commando and .. .. Haribabu, a
conspirator. Around 43 bystanders, including police sub-inspector Anushiya
Daisy, were injured in the explosion..
The guard
who assaulted Rajiv at
President's House, Colombo on 30.7.1987 - Wijemuni Vijitha Rohana de Silva was sailor
and was standing as Rajiv took guard of honour.
It is a matter of shame that a Navy personnel violated norms and
attacked the visiting dignitary. He was
charged with attempted murder and acting contrary to navy discipline and
insulting a state leader. However the defence was held that he had not
intention to kill - he was charged guilty of attempted culpable homicide not
amounting to murder ! and sentenced
to six years. However President
Premadasa gave him a presidential pardon after two and a half years. He
later became an astrologer and claimed that President Maithripala Sirisena
would die by 26 January 2017. This was seen as a part of a conspiracy to
assassinate the president and he was arrested again !!
With regards – S. Sampathkumar
21st May 2025
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