By Faraz Ahmad,
Politicians seem to suffer from bouts of amnesia or they start with the assumption that the audiences they are addressing lack either memory or intelligence or perhaps both.
Take for instance the latest example of Subramaniam Swamy, who walked all the way the other day to the CBI headquarters at CGO complex on Lodhi Road to ask the CBI to investigate Sonia Gandhi’s role in the Bofors case.
Swamy who is currently the darling of the media, prominently quoted by every newspaper and every conceivable TV news channel, and magazines including those whose editors he had rubbished not so long ago, promptly told the press, “The Swedish investigating authorities had failed to interrogate Sonia Gandhi and CBI records also say that Ottavio Quattrocchi was close to Gandhi. He was treated like a member of the Gandhi family. I met the Director to look into that.”
Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who doesnt forgive his enemies, never got along with Swamy (2nd from right) his old Jan Sangh mate [Photo Courtesy: tamilbrahmins.files.wordpress.com]
Little wonder why Swamy has not yet accused Sonia Gandhi for the killing of two Indian fishermen by the crew of an Italian ship. I am sure if he applies his mind a little more, he would certainly find a connection between an Italian Sonia Gandhi, a Syrian Christian Defence Minister A.K. Antony and a wicked Home Minister P. Chidambaram. For effect he could even throw in the perpetual haranguer Mani Shankar Aiyar, all of whom he hates congenitally.
But it is worth recalling what Subramaniam Swamy had to say about the Bofors case and Sonia Gandhi in his book “The Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, Unanswered Questions and Unasked Queries,” published 12 years ago during the NDA regime in the year 2000.
Swamy wrote on Bofors: “In April 1987, the Bofors scandal burst on the scene. And RG (Rajiv Gandhi) was in a siege….I later discovered when I handled the files as Law Minister for answering questions in Parliament that V.P. Singh (V.P. Singh and Arjun Singh were the other two persons Swamy has all along hated, perhaps because they easily sussed him. Swamy, by his own admission in the same book, conspired with Rajiv Gandhi to bring down V.P. Singh’s government and he carried on a relentless campaign against them till they were dead.), had been to the Bofors office in Sweden for a closed door meeting with the management of the company on June 10, 1985…”
When Swamy did not find a place in Vajpayee’s dispensation, he organised a tea party for Sonia Gandhi that brought the government down. [Photo Courtesy: media2.intoday.in]
Swamy further wrote, “As for Mr Arun Nehru, it was not a question of being kept in the picture. It was more a pervasive belief that no deal saw the light of day unless he was assured of a consideration. The telex sent by the Swedish Ambassador after having been summoned by Mr Nehru is eloquent testimony to that.”
Swamy further wrote on the Bofors campaign against Rajiv Gandhi, “This clearly shows now in retrospect that RG was defending himself against a vicious campaign, with people of doubtful commitment within his ranks,” adding “RG can be implicated only by innuendoes, which is what the RSS had been doing and is doing now,” says Swamy full 13 years after the Bofors came to surface. Further down he says, “The trail leads to an Italian businessman and four NRI brothers in London. By the same type of innuendos regarding the NRI brothers, Vajpayee (the sitting PM in 2000) can also be prosecuted.”
Raising an accusing finger at all those questioning the Bofors deal then, Swamy writes, “During this entire period (1987-89), I was struck by how corrupt politicians were pointing fingers at RG.”
The maverick politician only once became a cabinet minister in the Chandra Shekhar government, propped up by the Congress of Rajiv Gandhi in 1991. [Photo Courtesy: tamilbrahmins.files.wordpress.com]
Looking back today, the contents of this book, like many other works of Swamy, are very interesting, for he recalls how he brought together Sonia Gandhi and Jayalalitha in 1999 to topple the 13-month old NDA government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and he writes, “I became busy on a project to help formation of a secular alternative government, toppling the BJP-led government. This naturally upset and concerned the RSS, which for the first time in its 75-year history was basking in centre-stage legitimacy, while being positioned to penetrate the woodwork of the government and to collect funds with impunity. They did not therefore allow me to upset the applecart or derail the gravy train.”
Mind you Swamy who by his own admission “cut his teeth” into politics as a RSS man and then left Jana Sangh/BJP/RSS to don a secular gown, is currently the darling of the Sangh and apart from abusing the Muslims, has offered to join the BJP to promote Hindutuva.
Swamy had also some interesting observations to make about his current follow travelers, particularly noted lawyer Ram Jethmalani of whom he said, “Inside the Government was Ram Jethmalani, who had by use, or rather misuse of his legal training, harassed politicians sometimes on behalf of other politicians, by filing cases and extracting apologies, as a kind of visceral and psychotic pleasure. Of course, most of Jethmalani’s legal practice was in defending crooks. He is furthermore totally devoid of ethics.” Who is Swamy talking about? Sounds very familiar!
( Faraz Ahmad is seasoned journalist. He can be contacted at [email protected] The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own.)