When Rajiv ascended to the PM's Chair, he was hailed as Mr.Clean and believed he could do no wrong. Well his silence when his partymen - more specifically henchmen went upon annihilating innocent Sikhs as a retaliation for squandering of ammunition on Indira Gandhi by her Sikh body guards was appalling. However he quickly regained senses after his famous punchline: when a big tree falls earth shakes"

Then Rajiv got embroiled in a controversy from which he could never come out. The so called kick back in Bofors Gun Deal. Prior to this, the HPJ Pipeline was to be awarded to certain firms of which Snam Progetti was one of the bidders. This firm was whispered to be preferred by Rajiv for it was an Italian firm and Rajiv's family friend Quotrrochi was interested. Press was full of rumours that the contract will go to Snam Progetti. It was not to be. The Bofors deal was signed after a JPC led by Jaswant Singh certified it to be better than rivals. The Then CoS Gen Sundarji was also in favor of Bofors. The Contract was awarded to this firm. Later on a Swedish Private Radio announced that there were kickbacks in the deal to the powers that be. Martin Arbido, the CEO of Bofors had kept diary wherein he had allegedly mentioned Gandhi trust lawyer, Mr. Q etc etc. This was deciphered to be payments made to RajivGandhi. Ram Jethmalani started posing 10 questions a day to Rajiv. One of the accounts in which the commission were alleged to have been deposited had the name Lotus. Jethmalani deciphered it to be that of Rajiv's because Rajiv is Hindi equivalent of Lotus. V.P.Singh the greatest betrayer since the days of Mirjaffer and Jaychand in Indian History engaged a foreign investigating agency behind the PM's back. the agency Fairfax was to investigate the HDW submarine deal. When Rajiv smelt the smear campaign behind his back, he shunted Singh from Finance Ministry. Ultimately Singh was thrown out when he was declared cleaner than Mr. Clean and the Indian Press held him as a symbol of un corrupt politics. Like late Ramakrishna Hegde who was also a media darling, Singh spoke about value based politics while observing none in his politics. Lots of muds were thrown on Rajiv and he had to give up his right to form a government when his party emerged the single largest party albeit with 190 odd seats. Rajiv accepted the verdict and BJP and Left Parties the poles apart in Indian politics propped up National Front Government by VP Singh for about 11 months in which Singh did nothing to uncover the so called truth behind Bofors kickbacks. These are recorded in  History for any dispassionate political observer to find and draw his own conclusion. Rajiv when he was on a come back trail got killed by an alien terrorist group and an unlikelist candidate emerged out of PV Narasimha Rao. This wily brahmin leader utilised every opportunity to scare Sonia away from politics using Vidhya Charan Shukla of Kissa Kursi Kaa fame by showing Bofors card. By this time, Left had built bridges with Sonia, even VP Singh exonerated her even though in the event of the Bofors kickbacks having been paid to some beneficiary, it could have been Sonia's friend Mr.Q.So much for valued based politics. The Hindu and its Editor were fond of Rajiv's widow but continue to nurture a hatrad for the departed leader. Otherwise how could one explain The Hindu publishing the report of GK Reddy in 1984 surmising that the decision to provide a safe passage to Warren Anderson was indeed with the knowledge of Rajiv, a man who ascended to the chair under tragic circumstances barely months before the disaster. The Hindu questioned the conclusions of GoM on Bhopal to which Home Minister has rightly retaliated that it is their own inference of events and not a gospel truth. 

It has now emerged that Warren Anderson made a voluntary visit to the scene of disaster to share the anguish of the bereaved and provide adequate compensation. He was again provided a safe passage lest he earn the wrath of a mob. I was under the impression that our investigating agencies caught hold of Anderson when he was in a private visit or so and got him arrested for the heinous crime. But the poor man came to commiserate but was put under house arrest as a show of protest. If the Bhopal plant was unsafe, the regulators are at fault starting from Inspector of factories who ensure safety measures in a factory. The compensation package was scaled down by our own government and our own people let us down. Our own lawyers took the brief for UCC. that includes celebrities like Nani Palkhiwala, Nariman and all. Only the Hindu theory of Karma could punish those guilty in the monumental industrial disaster of the century for whatever guilt they had committed. 

Attempts at this juncture to besirmch the memory of a departed soul are in bad taste.