DU teachers condemn PM Modi for slandering Rajiv Gandhi

In a public statement, Delhi University teachers have condemned the derogatory statements of the Prime Minister directed at former PM Rajiv Gandhi.

It is ironical that while PM Modi points a finger at Rajiv Gandhi and slanders him as ‘Corrupt No. one’, no evidence of corruption was ever found against him. Indeed, the charges were thrown out by the court and the NDA Government headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee did not deem it proper to file an appeal against it.

DU teachers recalled that after the Indian army’s success in Kargil, the soldiers spontaneously raised slogans in praise of Rajiv Gandhi because of the Bofors field guns that he had procured from Sweden.

A Joint Parliamentary Committee had also gone into the charges against Rajiv Gandhi on Bofors but found nothing incriminating. If Prime Minister Narendra Modi is so desperate to rake up the Bofors issue in this election season, he needs to explain why he opposed a JPC into the charges against him in the Rafale deal.

Charges against Rajiv Gandhi on Bofors amounted to an alleged commission of ₹64 Crore paid by middlemen to influential people. But it is widely acknowledged (by Rajmohan Gandhi among others in Tuesday’s Indian Express) that Rajiv Gandhi was not the recipient. Even when Rajmohan Gandhi contested against Rajiv Gandhi in Amethi and lost the election in 1989, V.P. Singh, who had visited Amethi to campaign for him, did not raise the Bofors issue, recalled Gandhi.

DU teachers in their statement recalled Rajiv Gandhi’s foresight in computerizing Railway Reservation back in the 80s and ushering in a telecom revolution in the country. He was also instrumental in sowing the seeds of the IT industry in the country.

The statement issued by the DU teachers:

“History records the deeds of the good and the noble but rarely does it pay attention to the carping of lesser individuals.

The achievements of the former Prime Minister Shri Rajiv Gandhi are known to all. The nation acknowledges this in so many ways.

When India beat back the invaders from Kargil, our soldiers shouted slogans praising Rajiv Gandhi for the Bofors gun even though Rajivji had been martyred a decade ago.

As other random examples of his achievements, the nation knows that if train travel is so much more convenient today it is because of his acumen in computerizing rail reservation.

If our IT companies earn, each year, billions of dollars in foreign revenue, it is because of the far-sighted wisdom of Rajivji.

If India is connected as a nation through the advances in the telecom sector it is because of the policies and actions of Rajivji.

Shri Narendra Modi has lowered the dignity of the office of the Prime Minister by making derogatory and untrue remarks about the late Rajivji who made the supreme sacrifice in the service of the nation. No former Prime Minister has ever stooped to this level through such actions as has Shri Narendra Modi.”