Journalist: Mr. Ambassador, in his recent interview with Mark Tully, the B.B.C. correspondent in India, Rajiv Gandhi is reported to have used very strong language in condemning racial policy of South Africa.
Ambassador: That’s right.
Journalist: He is reported to have said, “It is a matter of shame that human beings are discriminated on the basis of the color of their skin in this civilized and supposedly enlightened phase of the 20th century.”
Ambassador: Very correct.
Journalist: In what category of shame would Rajiv put his government’s policy of discrimination against minorities like Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, and the ‘untouchables’?
Ambassador: Not in national interest to disclose.
* * *
Journalist: Mr. Ambassador, Rajiv Gandhi admitted to Mark Tully that the extraordinary and extensive security around him was not at all an edifying experience. It was a necessary evil under the prevailing atmosphere.
Ambassador: That’s right.
Journalist: The security around his residence is reportedly so tight that his wife and children are virtually prisoners in the four walls of their official house.
Ambassador: Very correct.
Journalist: What is the necessity of such elaborate security arrangement for Rajiv’s children when no one has threatened them? Is it because Rajiv believes in the old Greek philosophy according to which sins of the parents visit their children?
Ambassador: Not in national interest to disclose.
* * *
Journalist: Mr. Ambassador, Rajiv Gandhi appears to be looking forward to his forthcoming visit to England not so much as an opportunity to establish better ‘trade’ relations with U.K. as with silencing the legitimate protest of Sikhs living abroad against the injustice to their religion in India.
Ambassador: That’s right.
Journalist: After installing a puppet government in Punjab, he appears to be concentrating on the task of teaching a lesson to Sikhs living abroad.
Ambassador: Very correct.
Journalist: How does he plan to do it? Is he going to recommend to the British Prime Minister his government’s perfected technique of eliminating Sikhs through fake police encounters?
Ambassador: Not in national interest to disclose.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 18, 1985
