NEW DELHI: Mr. Arun Nehru denied he had leaked the Thakkar report to the press. The former minister at whom the Congress (I) guns are trained at the moment, charged that it was the Government of Rajiv Gandhi which was “Jeaking all over.”

“The classic example is Dr. P.C. Alexander,” Mr. Nehru said. “Virtually the entire office of the Prime Minister had leaked the report to a foreign country.

He said referring to the leak of documents in the Commar Narayan spy case, “What action did the Prime Minister take?” Dr. Alexander had to resign but he was later reinstated as the Indian High Commissioner in the UK and then sent as the Governor of Tamil Nadu. But now he was being criticized for his comments on Mr. R.K. Dhawan in the Thakkar Commission report. “Perhaps Dr. Alexander can best explain the position, he said. If one talked of character, integrity and uprightness, “then let the truth emerge.”

If the Prime Minister had nothing to hide, why was he withholding the report, the Janata Dal leader asked, Today Justice Thakkar was being condemned by Congressmen for his comments on Mr. Dhawan. “But who appointed Justice Thakkar in 1987 on the Thakkar Natarajan Commission to frame Mr. V.P. Singh?” Mr. Nehru asked. Subsequently, Justice Thakkar was made chairman of the Law Commission “despite the fact that the Thakkar Natarajan report was condemned by virtually everyone and was based on a forged letter.”

Mr. Nehru said that it was a fact that the Prime Minister had been taking a 180 degree turn on most issues, be it one involving Alexander, Thakkar or Dhawan. “Why is Mr. Gandhi protecting the Hindujas on Bofors, why is he protecting the Bachchans and the Lalit Suris and Mr. Satish Sharma who imported Rs 2 lakh worth of Italian tiles? And now why is he protecting Mr. Dhawan? These are questions the people are asking and you cannot use your brute majority to keep them quiet,” Mr. Nehru said. He added, “The more you try and throttle people, the more questions will be asked.”

As far as political confidences were concerned, “Mrs. Gandhi’s thoughts are known to me and to Rajiv on every single political entity.” But, he added, political confidences were not meant to be discussed or divulged and “I have no intention of doing so.”

Mr. Nehru said Rajiv Gandhi was wrecking the institution of parliamentary democracy. It is not as if he had the divine right to rule the country forever, he remarked.

Mr. Arun Nehru who is in the eye of the storm building up on the leak of the Thakkar Commission report said here that the key people in Rajiv Gandhi’s Cabinet today were those who had deserted Indira Gandhi in 1977.

The Janata Dal leaders was responding to the statement by the Prime Minister on Tuesday ridiculing the Opposition’s concern about Indira Gandhi’s assassination.

“Who are the ‘great loyalists’ in the Cabinet today?” Mr. Nehru asked and went on to list some of them, Mr. S.B, Chavan, Mr. K.C. Pant, Mr. Bhajan Lal, Mr. Dinesh Singh, Mrs. Margaret Alva, Mr. Eduardo Faleiro, Mr. Vengal Rao, Mr, Priya Ranjan Das Munshi. At the state level, Mr. Rajiv Gandhi had appointed Mr. Sharad Pawar and Mr. Satyendra Narain Singh, None of these people had stood by the late Prime Minister in her hour of trial in 1977, Mr. Nehru charged.

In an informal chat here, the Janata Dal leader referred to the Home Minister, Mr. Buta Singh’s accusation that the Thakkar report was first leaked to India Today in March 1986 when he was minister for internal security. “If the leak took place in March 1986, it is sad that the Home Minister is waking up in April 1989,” Mr. Nehru said.

The former union minister went ‘on to ask, “Who leaked the story to India Today in which Home Minister files have been quoted in its latest issue of April 1989?”

As far as March 1986 leak is concerned, Mr. Nehru said, “Why does not the government arrest and take action against Mr. Suman Dubey who was the managing editor of India Today in early 1986 and is now the prime advisor to the Prime Minister on the press?”

Mr. Nehru said he knew “for a fact” that Mr. Dubey had briefed several journalists on the Thakkar Commission report last month.

Mr. P. Chidambaram, Minister of State for Home Affairs had alleged in Parliament on Tuesday that there were limited copies of the Thakkar report and one of them had been in Mr. Nehru’s custody. The former minister for internal security had only returned the copy to the Prime Minister in September 1986, Mr. Chidambaram had said.

Continuing his attack on Mr. Nehru, Chidambaram had also indicated that the unsuccessful at-tack on the Prime Minister on October 2, 1986, at Rajghat had occurred when Mr. Nehru was minister for internal security.

Mr. Nehru retorted, “Isn’t it amazing that they waited three years before mentioning this?” The Janata Dal leader said, “After my illness in May 1986 I was handling a few subjects which did not include either Delhi or intelligence. If Mr. Chidambaram is worried about security lapses, he should take responsibility for what happened to the Prime Minister in Sri Lanka. In any case the Special Protection Group did not report to the Home Ministry. It virtually reported to Rajiv. All these are matters of official record and need no further elaboration.

Mr. Chidambaram, who was also minister for internal security (additional charge) was responsible for public order in Delhi.

Article extracted from this publication >>  April 21, 1989