RAJIV –  WORST PM INDIA GOT

THE DISASTROUS PERIOD OF NATION

SARASIJ MAJUMDER

 

Rajiv Gandhi, the  handsome,  young,  clueless, overrated,  a PILOT by profession cum CONGRESS LEADER, and erstwhile PM of India,  got assassinated due to his overtly  lax attitudes which  put publicity overriding personal security. 

In almost every aspect, the period of Rajiv's tenure was  the most disastrous years of India.

And INDIA handed him a super-majority of 414 Lok Sabha seats, out of pure sympathy for his mother's assassination, which he wasted completely! Using  the unprecedented 414 LS seat mandate  he got, he could have carried out reforms after reforms, passed bills after bills with little or no support from anyone else in the LS. However, nothing really good happened in the period. Instead, he used his huge majority to overturn the SC judgement on SHAH BANO CASE. Utterly disappointing decision. I just wonder—what NDA under Modi could achieve with that MANDATE.

And the following disasters happened: —

• 1984 anti-Sikh pogrom in Delhi. It was followed by 1985 Kanishka bombing, by Khalistani terrorists. Rajiv's party presided over the biggest pogrom in India's history - 8000 Sikhs were murdered right around the National Capital as an individual vengeance for the assassination of his mother - Indira Gandhi. This is 10x the size of 2002 riots and led to further assassinations as Sikh militants claimed their own vengeance by bombing several trains in Ludhiana and bombing an Air India plane from Canada in mid Air. Air India Flight 182
• Bhopal Gas tragedy:-A secret deal took place between GOI, and UC, on advice of USA/ CIA on the fateful day, early morning.. He was the Prime Minister when BHOPAL GAS TRAGEDY (world's worst industrial disaster) struck. He had the chief of Union Carbide in India. But, Rajiv let him leave the country scot free.  Instead, he should have been JAILED, and TRIED! The subsequent phases of disaster were also mismanaged. The official immediate death toll was 2,259, and in 1991, 3,928 deaths had been officially certified. The Sambhavna clinic "estimates 8,000 deaths during the first weeks, and another 8,000 since then".
•  Rigging elections in Kashmir leading to terrorism: In 1987, the Kashmir valley was a fairly peaceful one - much more peaceful than Punjab or Assam. The state's residents were quite excited by the upcoming 1987 assembly elections. Even the separatists got actively engaged in the elections. But, they were horribly disappointed in one of the worst Indian elections, rigged by GOI. Internationally it was concluded that the Congress rigged that elections to favour its ally -- National Conference. The people of the Valley were so disappointed that it brought the rise of Mujahideen in the valley that marked the beginning of its violent phase-- Islamic Radicalization of  Kashmir. This eventually led to ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri Pandits, shortly before Rajiv was assassinated. One election that wasn't rigged, Kashmir's flawed elections and Kashmir Still Awaits Free and Fair Election—A post in 1996.

·         Look at how violence ballooned since 1988. Vajpayee regime started bringing it down finally.

• Disastrous IPKF operation in Sri Lanka, making enemy out of both, Sinhalese and Tamils in Sri Lanka, and Tamils in India.  Before this, Indian Army had a very honorable record. It had barely lost in any operation it planned and it was never misused for fighting random wars elsewhere. However, in a Bush-like action, Rajiv sent 100,000 armed men to Sri Lanka that was widely hated as an occupying force and thrown out in ignominy. Overall, 1200 armed men died and plenty more of both Tamils & Sinhalese lost lives. It was VP Singh who finally brought the army home after he won the elections, ending the shame. However, when Rajiv threatened to bring more shame  for the Army, when LTTE lost its cool and assassinated the leader of IPKF.  REF:  Rajiv Gandhi didn't consul even his cabinet on IPKF: Natwar Singh 
• Overturning the Shah Bano verdict, and then trying to balance it with Ram Janmabhoomi Shilyanyash.. A poor 60 year old Muslim woman went to the court seeking Rs. 200/month from her husband, for supporting her 5 children after the lawyer husband deserted her, uttering Talaq three times. Both the High Court and Supreme Court ruled in the woman's favour. However, Rajiv overruled the court with a new legislation and took away the basic rights of Muslim women in India to appease the CONSERVATIVE MUSLIM CLERGY. The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act 1986.
• He also banned Salman Rushdie's classic work - Satanic Verses [even before any Islamic nation did]. As BJP brought nationwide protests, he tried to throw them a few Lollypops, e.g.  - opening the gates of Babri Masjid and permitting construction near the Masjid .
• Bofors Scandal:- Sonia Gandhi and her Italian contacts allegedly led to India's biggest scam of the time - Bofors scandal . It involved getting large kickbacks in buying guns from a Swedish firm Bofors. Whether he did the crime or not, handling such a matter of national security in such a non-transparent way once again showed his greenhorn attitude, and paper trail suggests KICKBACK happened. Ms. Gandhi then broke her own record in the 2004-14 regime with 2G, and Coal Gate Scam.
• Ignoring the ballooning trade deficit, due to collapsing economy of the Soviet Union was an economic disaster in the making. It was written on the WALL for quite some time. GOI ignored. This led to the foreign exchange crisis of 1991. Ultimately, we liberalized our economy, late. India's economy could have been 7 years ahead, if he had passed economic reforms, using his popular mandate.
• And lastly, he left behind  a pair of successors and a DAMAD in the DYNASTY, who are  controlling, and ruining Congress party, under supervision of his widow.

 

REFERENCES:---

1.0  Some references are listed as  part of  the Text. 

2.0 .All other information are collected from Public Domains.

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