There have been interviews and questions by the American media as to how the Sikhs feel about the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi possibly with a view to find out who did it. The first thing that needs to be stressed is that no Sikh individual or Organization has claimed responsibility. The Sikh religion regards all life as sacred and precious. But it also prescribes that when all means to end oppression and tyranny fail it is pious and just to pick up the sword in the name of truth and justice.
The series of tragedies set in motion by the policies of Indira Gandhi and perpetuated by her son Rajiv became a Frankenstein’ which came back and refused to recognize its masters Untold thousands have died and are still dying at their behest. Hundreds of thousands of orphans in Punjab owe their plight to the Gandhi’s. Is it surprising then that they died violent deaths? Who killed them is not important. Why they were killed is. Tyrants are found in the history of all ages and all cultures. Evil giants and ogres are only exaggerations of such ignoble characters. The forces of evil have always seemed to be invincible but they are eventually vanquished. The answer to why they were killed was the key to all of India’s problems.
The honest aspirations of an entire people were not just denied but sought to be crushed. The enormity of the crimes by the Indian state against the Sikhs over the past decade is matched only by those of the Nazi state against the Jews. The Sikhs have as much love for the Gandhi-Nehru dynasty as the world has for Hitler or Mussolini. The horror and the tragedy of Punjab are un-describable.
Indira Gandhi died. No one asked why instead Hindu mobs took to the streets and killed every Sikh in sight her son and successor instead of learning from this great tragedy took it upon him to “teach Sikhs a lesson.” He was still trying when he died.
Rajiv was touted by the chauvinistic Hindu media as “Mr Clean” in sipite of the fact that his hands were bloody even before he assumed office. He also inherited the criminal culture and the hoodlums his mother and brother Sanjay had cultivated to ensure their personal power. He was just a glorified gangster.
Rajiv Gandhi paid the price like his mother of tyranny. He alienated the Hindu Tamils of Sri Lanka by sending in the Indian army against them. His mother had for other equally dishonest compulsions urged this brave community to stand up for itself. Among the last statements Rajiv made was one which demanded elections in Punjab not being held. He was honest enough to admit his fear that this election would be used by the Sikhs as a referendum for independence That is the way Indian “democracy” works.
The infamous Rajiv-Longowal and the Lanka accords were doomed even before signing because of dishonest intentions. “Clean” suffered a major setback when he lost the 1989 general election after the nation was convinced that he was the beneficiary in the multi-million dollar Bofors kickbacks.
The determined efforts to cash in on the sympathy wave sure to follow by appointing Rajiy’s Italian widow Sonia in his place shows the moral bankruptcy of the Indian politician and that the “family business” is in distress. The rot of corruption has nothing left to feed upon.
The life of Rajiv Gandhi and that of the Indian nation show many similarities. They were almost the same age and held great promise which was never fulfilled.
Both are prematurely dead.
Article extracted from this publication >> May 31, 1991
