NEW DELHI: He is one of those numerous fringe politicians, said to ‘be “close” to the Government, who has been provided an elaborate security cover and yes, official accommodation in the Capital. Last week, 52 year old Mahant Sewa Dass, president of the little-known Pharuman faction of the Akali Dal, stood before the Jain Commission of enquiry and Tubbished the theory of the assassination of former Prime Minister Raj Gandhi was masterminded by the LTTE alone.

“I am a Mahant and never speak a lie, The pity is that nobody takes me seriously, They only think of what I have said once disaster “say struck,” says the affable Sikhs, his eyes twinkling as he narrates the thread of the threat of the conspiracy allegedly hatched by Godman Chandraswami and Khalistani leader, Jagjit Singh Chauhan and their “coterie” to kill Rajiv Gandhi.

The coterie, Sewa Dass reveals (and has told the court), included former Defense Minister, Sharad) pawar, former Haryana Chief Minister, Om Prakash Chautala and the newspaper baron, Ram nath Goenka. The implication that former Prime Minister, Chandra Shekhar was to be the beneficiary of the assassination by continuing in power and that he was in the Iznaw of the conspiracy is all too apparent ‘Among the things Sewa Dass says he is yet to disclose to the Commission is the fact that Rajiv Gandhi was not killed by a “human bomb” but a remote control device planted after a joint operation was conducted by the LTTE along with top leaders of the Khalistan Commando Force, Manohar Singh Dhira and Garjant Singh Budhsinghwala,

“The theory about the human bomb is all nonsense,” Sewa Dass says earnestly, “Jagjit Singh Chauhan himself told me this when I spoke to him on phone after the assassination, He said the police had arrested LTTE cadres who were in hospital in Madras for treatment and that the operation had been masterminded by the LTTE in tandem with Punjab and Kashmir militants.”

More startling are Sewa Dass’s assertions that Chandraswami was still ‘untrustworthy and that he had recently received information from certain “sources” about a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Narasimha Rao and the Shankaracharya of Jotirmuti, ‘Swami Swaroopan and. He had subsequently met Swami Swaroopanand in Delhi and informed him about his misgivings.

“Swarcopanand already seemed to know about the threat to his life. I have also told the Jain Commission about the threat to the Prime Minister’s life. What is the point if the Government has to appoint another enquiry commission?” asks Sewa Dass, full of foreboding.

Sewa Dass’s story is indeed incredulous and it is difficult to dismiss him as either a maverick politician playing into the hands of vested interests or someone actually privy to the deep-rooted conspiracies he speaks of. The Akal leader says he was within arm’s reach of averting destruction of the Harmander Sahib in 1982 and demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992,

When questioned about the veracity of his disclosures, Sewa Dass himself says his only credentials are his past. In 1983, he became the leader of the newly formed Akali Dal. One of the five presidium members of the Pherumal Akali Dal was Jagjit Singh Chauhan, former Finance Minister of Punjab, who had since migrated to London to bolster the movement for Khalistan. Sewa Dass says when militancy took roots in Punjab, he was regularly in touch with the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, Towards the end of May 1984, she called him and entrusted him with an important assignment to take a package deal to Sari Bhindranwale and ask him to surrender to the Government.

Recalls Sewa Dass now, “I met Bhindranwale three times just before the army operation and told him precisely what Mrs. Gandhi had said, I told him he will be imprisoned for a few months and after that, he will have a fair chance of winning the elections and becoming Chief Minister. told him he would rule the state for 10-15 years,”

According to his version, Mrs. Gandhihadassured Bhindranwale that Chandigarh would be transferred to Punjab and she would appoint commissions to settle the territorial and water disputes, While Bhindranwale seemed inclined to take the olive, brarch and avert the army’s entry into the shrine, he was dissuaded from doings by his aides, General Shahbeg Singh being prominent among them.

Sewa Dass says he informed Mrs, Gandhi that Bhindranwale had declined her peace offering, Two days later, the army stormed the shrine and Bhindranwale was among those killed.

He also played mediator in the regime of the present. Prime Minister when the Ayodhya crisis was hurtling towards disaster. A week before the demolition of this shrine by Hindu fanatics, Sewa Dass held a conclave of religious leaders in Ayodhya, He ‘Was able to persuade them to perform Karsevaat the spot where the shilanyas had been performed by Buta Singh. The disputed area was be cordoned off and put under curfew. “Immediately afterwards I met Narasimha Rao and told him that the destruction of the structure was imminent, [told him that lakhs of people had congregated in Ayodhya and that Kalyan Singh was not to be trusted. Burt the Prime Minister had blind faith to Kalyan Singh and could not recognize the signs of disaster,” he laments.

Now, Sewa Dass finds himself back in the limelight as he was suddenly called to give evidence before the Jain Commission. Following Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, he had given press interviews about the London plot and one of these had been used as reference during Chandra Shekhar deposition.

The former Prime Minister recalled that he had met the Mahant but denied he had informed him about a plot of kill Rajiv Gandhi.

It was only expected that the mysterious Akali leader would be called to the Commission to unmask whom He swears are the key conspirators behind Rajiv Gandhi’s killing.

 

Article extracted from this publication >> June 23, 1995