Thursday, March 28, 2024
ADVT 
India

Indira Said She Will Be Killed, I Told Dad He Too Will Die: Rahul Gandhi

Darpan News Desk IANS, 12 Mar, 2018 11:48 AM
    Congress President Rahul Gandhi has said his grandmother and then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi told him she will be killed and that he told his father Rajiv Gandhi that he may meet a similar fate.
     
     
    The younger Gandhi also told the IIM alumni in Malaysia that he and his sister Priyanka had "completely forgiven" their father's killers.
     
     
    "My grandmother told me she was going to die and my father... I told him he was going to die," he said, referring to their violent deaths within a span of seven years.
     
     
    Indira Gandhi was shot dead by two of her bodyguards at her official residence on October 31, 1984 while a suicide bomber from Sri Lanka's now vanquished Tamil Tigers group blew up Rajiv Gandhi at an election rally in Tamil Nadu on May 21, 1991.
     
     
    Gandhi said: "We knew that my father was going to die. We knew that my grandmother was going to die. In politics, when you mess with the wrong forces, and if you stand for something, you will die. That's pretty clear.
     
     
    "In politics, we deal with forces, big forces, which are normally not visible. You are dealing with structures that are powerful. Those are not visible but they can hurt you," he added.
     
     
    Asked if he and Priyanka Gandhi had forgiven his father's killers, Gandhi said: "We were very upset and hurt for many years. We were quite angry. But somehow, (we have) completely... in fact, completely (forgiven them).
     
     
     
     
    "When one realises that when these events take place, it's (a) collision of ideas, forces, confusion. That's where you get caught. 
     
     
    "When I saw on TV (Tamil Tigers chief Velupillai) Prabhakaran lying dead, I got two feelings - first was why they are humiliating this man in this way. 
     
     
    "And second was... I felt really bad for him and for his kids," Gandhi said.
     
     
    "We have been through this experience, so we understand. I literally find it difficult to hate people, even my sister does. I don't like any kind of violence."
     
     
    Sri Lankan security forces shot dead Prabhakaran and virtually destroyed the Tamil Tigers in May 2009, ending a quarter century of separatist war in the island nation.

    MORE India ARTICLES

    Rajasthan Passes Bill To Award Death Penalty For Those Who Rape Girls Under 12 Years Of Age

    Rajasthan Passes Bill To Award Death Penalty For Those Who Rape Girls Under 12 Years Of Age
    The Rajasthan Assembly on Friday unanimously passed a bill that provides for the death sentence to those convicted of raping girls aged 12 years or below.

    Rajasthan Passes Bill To Award Death Penalty For Those Who Rape Girls Under 12 Years Of Age

    Operation Blue Star: UK Claims Release Of Secret 1980s Files May Prejudice Ties With India

    Operation Blue Star: UK Claims Release Of Secret 1980s Files May Prejudice Ties With India
    The UK authorities have also linked the classified information in the documents with wider national security concerns and claimed that extracting any portions of it to make public would cross the cabinet office's red lines.

    Operation Blue Star: UK Claims Release Of Secret 1980s Files May Prejudice Ties With India

    Dalit Woman, 45, Set Ablaze Over Rs. 20,000 Loan In Uttar Pradesh, 2 Arrested

    Dalit Woman, 45, Set Ablaze Over Rs. 20,000 Loan In Uttar Pradesh, 2 Arrested
    The incident took place yesterday when Reshma Devi (45) was sleeping in her house. Some people doused her in kerosene and set her on fire.

    Dalit Woman, 45, Set Ablaze Over Rs. 20,000 Loan In Uttar Pradesh, 2 Arrested

    Case Against Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Over Alleged Anti-Muslim Remarks

    Case Against Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Over Alleged Anti-Muslim Remarks
    The complainant alleged that the 61-year-old spiritual leader had stated that "if the court rules against a temple (in Ayodhya), there will be bloodshed in the country and India will have a Syria- like situation".

    Case Against Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Over Alleged Anti-Muslim Remarks

    PICS: PM Modi Breaks Protocol, Receives French President Emmanuel Macron At Airport With A Hug

    PICS: PM Modi Breaks Protocol, Receives French President Emmanuel Macron At Airport With A Hug
    Breaking protocol, Prime Minister Narendra Modi received French President Emmanuel Macron at the airport when he arrived here on Friday on a four-day visit to India, during the course of which the two leaders will co-chair the founding conference of the International Solar Alliance (ISA).

    PICS: PM Modi Breaks Protocol, Receives French President Emmanuel Macron At Airport With A Hug

    Sufi Singer Pyarelal Wadali Dies Of Heart Attack In Amritsar

    Sufi Singer Pyarelal Wadali Dies Of Heart Attack In Amritsar
    Sufi singer Pyare Lal Wadali is no more. He suffered a heart attack yesterday at about 11:00 pm after which he was immediately taken to Fortis Hospital, Amritsar. 

    Sufi Singer Pyarelal Wadali Dies Of Heart Attack In Amritsar