This book is a portrait of Rajiv Gandhi by the person who knew him best: his wife Sonia. It is in four parts, the first and last being in the nature of meditations - one in words, the other in images. In the first, Sonia Gandhi reveals Rajiv through recollections and reflections, delicate and restrained in tone but powerful in resonance. In the last, Rajiv discloses the essence of himself in a gallery of his own photographs. The biographical narrative in between progresses through pictures and extended captions, interweaving Rajiv's personal history with the milieu in which it unfolded.
Six years ago, Rajiv Gandhi found himself at the helm of a country of 800 m people. A former airline pilot, he had never been a cabinet minister and, indeed, had never aspired to follow in the footsteps of his grandfather, Jawarharlal Nehru, and his mother, Indira Gandhi.
Rajiv Gandhi S Assassination Remains The Most Mysterious Political Murder In The History Of Independent India. Was It The Handiwork Of Group Of Fall Guys Who Executed The Conspiracy Without Knowing Who Their General Was? It Seems To Be The Case. It Is Just Not The Ltte Which Did It. Offcourse, The Ltte Was Involved. But There Was Forces Beyond The Tigers. A Jet-Setting Tantrik, A Clique Of Unscrupulous Politicians Hand In Glove With International Arm Dealers And Terrorists, Obliging Foreign Secret Agencies And Above All An Overly Ambitious Late Sri Lankan President R. Premadasa- These Could Have An Important Bearing On Rajiv S Slaying. A Gripping Account, Which Keeps Your Sitting On Your Chair S Edge, Seeks To Probe These Questions. Contents Part I: The Hurly Burly; Prologue, The Night Of The Tigers; Part Ii: Cat And Mouse; The Investigation, The Manhunt; Part Iii: Base 14; The Main In The Iron Mask, The Making Of A Suicide Bomber, Sins Of Omission, What The Spies Said, The Conspiracy Probe; Part Iv: Wheels Within Wheels; The Foreign Hand, The Dark Areas, Epilogue.
Who Killed Rajiv Gandhi? Why? How? An infamous murder. It was 10:20 pm on 21 May. The year was 1991. A woman bowed respectfully. Her arm reached out to touch his feet. Suddenly there was an explosion. The deafening sound, the clouds of smoke, the shattered bodies, the blood and gore. Who put together the pieces? Who saw through the foul play? Follow the trail. Follow the trial. Follow the story to know the truth. This book unfolds the gripping story – at once fascinating and grim – of perhaps the first case of assassination of a world-class leader by a human bomb. There was a general demand for explanation and action. The totally blind case with enormous ramifications needed skilled, dexterous and professional investigation. D. R. Kaarthikeyan was called upon by the Government of India to unravel the mystery. This assassination profoundly influenced political developments in India and altered the course of contemporary history in India and Sri Lanka.
On 21 May 1991, journalist Neena Gopal had finished just one part of an interview with Rajiv Gandhi—the last of his life—when his car reached the election rally at Sriperumbudur. Moments later, Rajiv Gandhi was dead, blown up by suicide bomber Dhanu, irrevocably changing the course of Indian politics, as Neena Gopal, just yards behind him, watched in horror. In this gripping, definitive book, Gopal reconstructs the chain of events in India and at the LTTE’s headquarters in Sri Lanka where the assassination plot was hatched, and follows the trail of investigation that led to the assassins being brought to justice. Drawing on extensive interviews, research and her own vast experience as a journalist, she deftly establishes the background—the shortsightedness of India’s Sri Lanka policy; the friction between the intelligence agencies and between the agencies and the external affairs ministry; the many warnings that went unheeded; and the implacable hatred that LTTE supremo Prabhakaran felt for Rajiv Gandhi. Bringing all these complex threads together, Gopal takes us step by step to Sriperumbudur as Rajiv Gandhi walked inexorably to his death on that tragic May evening twenty-five years ago.
About the Book A CANDID ACCOUNT OF RAJIV GANDHI’S PRIME MINISTERIAL YEARS. On 21 May 1991, Wajahat Habibullah, then the commissioner of Kashmir (constituting the valley and the two districts of Ladakh), had returned home after inspecting a mysterious fire at Dalgate, Srinagar. Much to his dismay, there had been another fire, one that left him devastated: an RDX explosion in the south Indian town of Sriperumbudur had taken the life of India’s sixth prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi. My Years with Rajiv is an endearing account of a friendship that turned into an administrative partnership, one that gave Habibullah an acute insight into Rajiv Gandhi’s political life. But equally, in this lucid memoir, recounting his years in the Indian Administrative Service, particularly at the Prime Minister’s Office, he walks us through the last three decades of the twentieth century—in many ways, the most formative years of Indian history. Habibullah also seeks to demystify the workings of the Indian government and bureaucracy: the modernisation of the Nehruvian nation, the turbulence of the Khalistan years in Punjab, the introduction of grassroots policies aimed at poverty alleviation in rural India, the beginning of telecommunications services, the Shah Bano case, the opening of the locks at Babri Masjid–Ram Janmabhoomi, Indian interventions in Sri Lanka, and much else. In this, the author, a natural raconteur, is more than successful, telling the tale in his inimitably candid and self-effacing manner.
Rajiv Gandhi was reluctant to enter politics. He was accustomed to a 'high flying' routine as he used to fly aeroplanes in the lofty skies as a pilot. But by quirk of fate he was compelled to occupy the 'cockpit' of Indian politics and steer the destiny of India, where he could reach still higher realms of eminence. Through his dedication and sincerity he hoisted India on the path of progress. He attained the pinnacles of glory in the service of his motherland and brought rare honour and fame to the country. He used to say that he always cherished a dream which he wanted all Indians to cherish with him to make India a land of prosperity and excellence through the dedicated and selfless work of each Indian, in every aspect of life and profession.
At the height of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, a complex multinational diplomacy had proposed setting up a coalition government in Kabul as a solution to the 'Afghan problem'. Even as all sides worked on the coalition, the US took steps that India considered a 'stab in the back'. With the help of the official papers collected by US ambassador John Gunther Dean and conversations with Ronen Sen, Rajiv Gandhi's diplomatic aide during those crucial years, the author recreates the falling apart of the India-US cooperation and the catastrophic effect it had on South Asian history.
This elegantly written book by the renowned author Ved Mehta is a chronicle of a tumultuous dozen years of recent Indian history—from the unsettled conditions that preceded the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to the Hindu revival that followed the assassination of her son Rajiv. As Mehta explores the impulses that brought about the political and economic changes between 1982 and 1994, he also reveals what life is like in modern India, giving us a memorable portrait of an enigmatic land. Mehta begins by describing the politics that swirled around Indira Gandhi during the last two years of her life—in particular, the growing hostility among Sikhs, Hindus, and Muslims. He tells of the Sikhs’ demand for special status, their uprising against the Hindus in the Punjab, the government’s retaliation, the murder of Mrs. Gandhi by two of her Sikh bodyguards, and the anti-Sikh rioting that followed. He goes on to reconstruct the circumstances surrounding Rajiv’s election as his mother’s successor; the change in atmosphere from optimism to disenchantment as Rajiv’s government became mired in a kickback scandal; Rajiv’s loss of office to V. P. Singh in the 1989 election; and his murder by a secessionist Tamil group from Sri Lanka in 1991. Throughout, Mehta provides vivid details of aspects of Indian history and culture, such as the impact of the accident at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, the debate between the judiciary and Muslim clerics over economic support of divorced Muslim women, the peculiarities of the Indian telephone system, and the effect of television and movies on Hindu revivalism. His lucid and incisive book is mandatory reading for those who wish to understand India today.
