During the fateful days while India’s commercial center of Bombay burned, what were the prime minister and his cabinet colleagues doing? Details of the activity at the PMO suggest that, apart from token gestures, the Indian Govt was virtually paralyzed. January 10;Begins with IB and Home Ministry officials briefing Rao about the violence, He tells them to send him hourly bulletins. He speaks to Sudha karrao Naik on the telephone. A delegation of party leaders Ahmad Patel, Salman Khursheed, Najma Heptuliah, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Rajesh Pilot calls on him later to ask him to do something to stop the carnage, Rao tells them that Sharad Pawar,Naik and S.B.Chavan are trying to bring the situation under control, No meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) is called. Meanwhile, over 100 people are killed in Bombay that day.

January 11:Rao continues to “review” developments. He speaks to Pawar and Naik in Bombay and tells them to master the situation. The same delegation calls again on Rao. Rao tells them there is no need because things have begun to improve. The CCPA meets “informally” but fails to lake any major decisions because only B.Shankaranand and Manmohan Singh, besides Rao, were in Delhi. Nor does the Cabinet meet to review the crisis. January 12:Rao’s silence is so total that a junior minister telephones him to ask “Sir, have you read today’s newspapers?” Rao asks why. “Because the headline of one editorial says ‘Wake up Rao.’ “To which Rao replies: “What can I do? Pawar. Chavan and Naik are all trying to do something. Anyway, things are improving.” Later in the day, he discusses Bombay with the President. The PMO says that Bombay was discussed, but a senior minister who was” present said “Bombay was never on the agenda.” The CCPA is summoned again. : Chavan, back from) Bombay, briefs the committee on the situation, Once again, orders are issued from Delhi.

January 13: Rao meets several film per sonalities, who try to impress upon him the. magnitude of the tragedy. Later in the day, he meets a group of editors who convey the Same message. The overall impression gained by both groups: Rao is a helpless bystander to the tragedy overtaking the nation he heads.

(Courtesy India Today Jan.31, 1993).

 

 

Article extracted from this publication >>  February 5, 1993