Journalist: Mr. Ambassador, Sikh widows and orphans of last year’s holocaust staged a peaceful protest outside Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s residence.
Ambassador: That’s right.
Journalist: Still languishing in refugee camps, they were demanding rehabilitation and other basic necessities that human beings need to live.
Ambassador: Very Correct.
Journalist: How is it that Rajiv considered the “rehabilitation” of alleged murderers like H.K.L. Bhagat and Jagdish Tytler in his cabinet more important than providing shelter to the unfortunate and helpless victims of the anti-Sikh riots? Don’t you think openly rewarding those who were deputed to ‘teach a lesson’ would encourage hoodlums to massacre minorities?
Ambassador: Not in national interest to disclose.
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Journalist: Mr. Ambassador, last month Rajiv Gandhi visited five western countries and also made an unexpected stop at Moscow to meet the Soviet leader, Mr. Gorbachev.
Ambassador: That’s right.
Journalist: He is now scheduled to go on another foreign tour. He will be paying a two day visit to Vietnam and a four day visit to Japan in the last week of November.
Ambassador: Very correct.
Journalist: Do you think that he has substituted his mother’s monthly press conferences with monthly foreign tours to satisfy his wanderlust, or is it that he feels safer outside India? Ambassador: Not in national interest to disclose.
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Journalist: Mr. Ambassador, Sikhs living in foreign countries remit over Rs. 350 crore every year to their relatives back home in Punjab.
Ambassador: That’s right.
Journalist: With just two years remittance, the much delayed Then Dam project can be fully financed and power starved Punjab can become a power surplus state.
Ambassador; Very correct.
Journalist: How is it that 80% of these deposits that legitimately belong to Punjab are diverted to other states leaving Punjab industrially undeveloped? Don’t you consider it yet another case of daylight robbery on the State resources?
Ambassador: Not in national interest to disclose.
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Article extracted from this publication >> November 8, 1985
