PM Modi seems to have thrown the opposition and their ecosystem in a tailspin after he brought up the issue of Rajiv Gandhi and his corruption scandals at a rally in UP a few days back. In their efforts to condemn the mention of Rajiv Gandhi and cover up his scams, Congress and its ecosystem keep walking right into the traps of their own making. In the meanwhile, the scandals of the Nehru Gandhi dynasty that had been carefully tucked in closets under decades of media propaganda and lies, keep tumbling out into the open one by one. The latest bunch of lies are about Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination.
Ahmed Patel, the old dynasty confidante had spoken out too. In an attempt to condemn PM Modi terming Rajiv Gandhi as ‘Bhrashtachari Number 1’, Patel brought up the issue of his assassination. Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by the LTTE on 21 May 1991, when he was in an election rally in Tamil Nadu’s Sriperumbudur.
Patel has stated in a Tweet insinuating that the BJP is responsible for Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination because a BJP-backed VP Singh government had refused to provide him with additional security and despite credible threats to his security, had only left him with one PSO. This is one big fat lie.
Patel, however, failed to mention why India was facing elections again at that time when the Ninth Loksabha was elected just two years ago in 1989.
The Janata Dal and the BJP had formed a coalition government with VP Singh as the Prime Minister. Congress had won a whopping 404 of the 514 seats in the 8th Lok Sabha in 1984 elections, riding on the sympathy wave after Indira Gandhi’s assassination. But in the 9th Lok Sabha, the Rajiv Gandhi-led Congress was reduced to 197 seats due to the taint of the Bofors scandal and many other issues.
After Chandrasekhar and Devi Lal came out of the Janata Dal with 64 MPs and VP Singh government fell, Rajiv-led Congress had supported Chandrasekhar in forming the government in 1990, an ‘experiment’ that eventually resulted in another general election within two years.
Ahmed Patel is blatantly lying. During that period, Chandrasekhar, not VP Singh was the PM of India, a government that was in power due to Congress’ support. India was facing another general election because Rajiv’s Congress had decided to withdraw that support.
Miyan bhai, Rajiv was assassinated when Chandrasekhar was caretaker PM. Elections were forced because Rajiv himself withdrew support to the govt. This is SM era. Your lies will be flattened in minutes https://t.co/CNOTjex1TF
— iMac_too (@iMac_too) May 9, 2019
Twitter users reminded Ahmed Patel that he cannot get away with lies in the age of social media. Patel was also reminded of the mysterious incidents before and after Rajiv’s assassination that cast shadows of doubt over the entire incident.
JS Verma committee formed to probe rajiv Gandhi assassination blamed local Congress cadre for breach in Rajiv Gandhi’s security. pic.twitter.com/XyL9uWKoH0
— चौकीदार अंकित जैन (@indiantweeter) May 9, 2019
Flat-out lie! BJP-backed VP Singh govt was gone long before Rajiv Gandhi’s death. It’s Rajiv Gandhi-backed Chandrashekhar’s govt who’s in power during that time. Rajiv Gandhi withdrew support to that govt, elections were called, & it’s during campaigning that he got assassinated. https://t.co/TXR6c0ylRJ
— docpensive (@docpensive) May 9, 2019
There was another aspect of the security issue. During his previous government, Rajiv Gandhi had set up the SPG to ensure the security of the Prime Minister and his immediate family. But the SPG rules were rudimentary and did not include the security of former PMs.
Essentially, Rajiv Gandhi, as a Prime Minister during 1984-89, had passed an act that protected only Rajiv Gandhi at that time. After Congress lost power, the SPG was withdrawn, as per the law, because Rajiv Gandhi was no longer the Prime Minister. In fact, media reports from those days suggest that VP Singh had actually extended the protection for 3 months as a courtesy, but it was finally withdrawn as the law provisioned for protection only for the existing Prime Minister.
After Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, The PV Narasimha Rao government modified the SPG Act, including former PMs under the ambit of SPG protection. Moreover, it has been well documented that Rajiv himself had ignored security warnings during that election campaign and took great risks to go near the general public during rallies.
The assassination of a former PM was a despicable act. But Ahmed Patel’s attempt to pin it on BJP is despicable too because BJP was nowhere near power at that time.
It is interesting to note that no mainstream media outlet has called out this blatant lie yet. Congress and its ecosystem have been trying to condemn even the mentioning of Rajiv Gandhi in relation to corruption scandals while screaming ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai’ against a democratically elected Prime Minister for months.
It is evident that PM Modi bringing out Rajiv Gandhi’s corruption scandals in his election campaign has opened a Pandora’s box. From the Bofors scam to Bhopal gas tragedy, the Sikh genocide of 1984 and the case of Adil Shahryar and Anderson, the recalling of Rajiv Gandhi’s tainted legacy seems like something Congress is desperately struggling to free itself from. The ecosystem has been engaged in spreading filthy lies about PM Modi and hailing Rajiv Gandhi as a great leader.
Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination also resulted in the deaths of over a dozen other people and had injured many others. It was an attack on India’s sovereignty by LTTE. There are questions regarding the entire episode that have never been answered. But trying to pin it on BJP is another desperate attempt by Congress to fool the people of India for petty political gains.
