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“We need to bring India into the 21st century”
-Rajiv Gandhi, 1985 Opposition Leader Rajiv Gandhi holds a press conference in Amritsar, May 20, 1991.
Mourners and Army personnel recover Rajiv Gandhi's body from the blast zone, May 21, 1991.
“We need to reach the voters. Yesterday was just-““Prime Minister, I must strongly object. It is pitch-black here and no one can see anything. Wait till the speech is over.” “Fine, if you say so.” A few dozen metres away, Dhanu stared through the pitch black night. She could barely make out that man, the blood-stained oppressor of her people, at the podium, with some woman besides him. While the aim was hardly perfect, the crowd was slowly squeezing her away. Reaching under her dress, the click of the detonator was inaudible due to the din of the crowd and background noise. Yet nothing happened. Dhanu continued fumbling with the triggers, trying to figure out what had gone wrong... “When we form the next government and I become Prime Minister again, I need Maragatham Chandrasekhar as a member of our caucus. She will fight for your interests tirelessly in Parliament as she has done in this province for the past six years. What has the government accomplished in the past eighteen months? Nothing except crudely, cynically play off different religions against each other for short-term political gain. They are leading from despair and doubt. We are the only ones that have a programme and have learned from the past. I have learned after travelling the nation over the past year, and this time there will be no turning back. There will be a free-market economy, a middle class and returning to our natural allies: America and the Commonwealth. There will be national unity once more, and we will work tirelessly to ensure it no matter what!” Rajiv then left the podium with Chandrasekhar, returning to the Air Force Mi-17 helicopter that was his due as a former Prime Minister.
Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi stumping in Tamil Nadu.
Both buckled up as the rotor noise drowned out all external sounds and the helicopter rose into the stifling, humid, air. Down below, a white flash lit up the night sky and the Mil shook slightly. In the cockpit, Col. Nadu heard a faint noise, like screaming. Suddenly the RT lit up. “Bravo Zulu 2-2, this is India November Charlie. There has been a Massive explosion on the ground. 14th Mechanized and 881st Air Cavalry have been tapped for Medevac, inbound to you. ETA 30 minutes, egress immediately. “India November Charlie, this is Bravo Zulu 2-2, returning to base.”
414 Sqn Mi-17 airborne
“This is Mark Tully reporting for the BBC in Delhi. We have received unconfirmed reports that an explosion took place in Sriperumbudur, a small town in Tamil Nadu, where Rajiv Gandhi was speaking on behalf of a local MP. Initial information seems to indicate that Mr Gandhi was not injured or killed in the explosion but initial casualties are reported anywhere from 15 to 20 innocent bystanders were killed and up to 100 injured in the blast. Military sources tell us that the cause is believed to be an improvised explosive device. No statement has yet been released by the government or law enforcement officials. We will continue following this story and will update you with more details when they are forthcoming.” -BBC India broadcast, 2230 local time
“I was abruptly summoned to the cockpit by Norman Spector to receive a radio communication. I learned from our embassy in Delhi that my good friend Rajiv Gandhi had narrowly dodged an assassination attempt while on the stump in the home stretch of that year’s campaign. I instructed the ambassador to get me in touch with Rajiv, President Bush and John Major as soon as we landed in Singapore for my state visit.” -Memoirs, Brian Mulroney
Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and wife Mila at a press conference upon their arrival in Singapore for an Asian toru. [May 22]
The White House, 1130 President Bush was reading his morning briefing papers when Brent Scowcroft hurriedly entered the Oval Office with only a quick knock. Bush looked up from the papers: “Brent, what is it?” “Mr. President, this just in from the Delhi Embassy: Rajiv Gandhi narrowly dodged an assassination attempt. Indian military sources tell us it was a suicide bomber, probably LTTE. 20 others killed in the blast. Had it gone off 10 minutes earlier he could well have been one of those 20 casualties? We’ve gotten word that he’s now aboard an airliner back to Delhi with his entourage.” “Keep me updated Brent.” Bush then buzzed Jim Baker at State: “Jim, when he lands let me know. I want to talk to him just as a courtesy.” The President then picked up the Oval Office phone: it was the Delhi Embassy. “Mr. President, unofficial returns show that Congress will likely form a majority government. Previously it was a minority but the sympathy vote and national security concerns will probably push them past that goal.” “Thank you Tom.” Good to have a reliable, constructive friend and ally back in office Bush thought as he continued reading the memo from Lee Atwater on preplanning for the upcoming campaign. Already some Democrats had declared their candidacy...
President Bush confers with NSC staff in the Oval Office. NF headquarters, Delhi, 23 May VP Singh sat in his office with trusted aides listening to the early returns trickle in on BBC India. Of everyone in this election he was perhaps poised to lose the most. Just 4 years previously he had been the #2 man in the government, and prime minister 6 months previously. Now his National Front was poised to place third, and his old friend-turned-archenemy, Rajiv Gandhi, was poised to return to the Prime Minister’s Office after barely 18 months’ exile. We screwed up again just as in 1977 Singh thought to himself. To Singh, perhaps most gallingly, they had fumbled their government for the same reasons as a decade previously. If anything, his countrymen were again buying the line that only Congress was a coherent political party. Yet it hadn’t been so coherent when Rajiv had been blasting his own party’s left wing at the occasion of the Mahatma’s birthday in ’87, or turning back on his economic promises. So sensitive to press criticism Singh thought. Yet if he had learned anything, it was not to underestimate Rajiv. Canny bastard, and now he’ll sink or swim in this goddamn morass. The 3 prime ministers announce a campaign moratorium. Opposition Leader Rajiv Gandhi is speaking, flanked by outgoing Prime Minister Chandra Sekhar [C] with NF leader VP Singh at rear centre.
NF leader V.P. Singh campaigning in Mumbai, May 22. Congress National Headquarters, 24 Akbar Road, Delhi “I want to thank all the well wishes I have received in the past few hours. However just because I was fortunate enough to make it out alive does not mean everyone was. On behalf of our party, my family and myself, I wish to express my sincere condolences to the families and next of kin of those killed in the explosion. The perpetrators must be brought to justice and I have every confidence in our national security personnel. Having spoken to the other party leaders, out of respect for the victims, there will be a 24-hour blanket moratorium on campaign events. We must not allow terrorists and criminals to interfere in the democratic process, and the next 2 rounds will proceed on schedule. Thank you. There will be no questions, thank you and good day.”
“I am a candidate for President of the United States. Having secured forgiveness from you, my fellow Arkansans, it is time for a new direction for the Democratic Party and America, a Third Way. I will fight for you, the people who work hard and play by the rules, if you choose me as your nominee and elect me President next November. Recently Secretary Baker said that George Bush had spent his first term attending to the world’s problems, and that his second term would be spent tending to problems at home. Well I would tell the President that when we’re in a recession, families are struggling to make ends meet, having to choose between the electric and groceries, and then it is time for new leadership in America!” -Gov. Bill Clinton (D-AR), May 26
“The 1991 campaign was perhaps an illustration of the limits of retail politics. In 1984 Congress had campaigned on national security and sympathy votes for Indira after the assassination, plus a new set of policies. In 1989 a visible fracture had hampered their campaign, with the conservative, free-market wing led by Rajiv opposed to the socialists, whom he had bitterly attacked at a party rally two years previously. This time, the party campaigned around continuing their old policies, and nearly all their new candidates had undergone an ideological litmus test by constituency organizations before selection. With deep ideological unity and a leader who had recovered much of his old popularity despite being distrusted by some within his own party, Congress was poised to return to power once again. By focusing on a positive, policy-based message Gandhi proved he had not lost his instincts, but merely ignored them, in 1988 and 1989. Nonetheless polling was still ongoing on May 23, with two weeks until the results would be officially tabulated. Purple to Indigo: India 1989-[REDACTED]
MOST IMPORTANT ISSUES FACING THE COUNTRY? ECONOMY: 44% NATIONAL UNITY: 31% TERRORISM: 20% FOREIGN POLICY: 5%
WHO DO YOU TRUST AS PRIME MINISTER? RAJIV GANDHI: 65% L.K. ADVANI: 25% VP SINGH: 10%
IS COUNTRY HEADED IN RIGHT DIRECTION? YES: 41% NO: 57% UNSURE: 2%
Times of India Exit Poll, 1991 general election [May 23, 1991, Page A12]
BBC projections, Round 1 Congress: 41% BJP: 29% NF: 22%