These days as the election heat swipes India one finds wannabe prime minister writing open letters, intense confrontation between political bigwigs, the temple of democracy turned to a Bollywood bijou, more inapt persona eyeing the prime minister's chair (suddenly this position has turned lucrative), the hunt for a game is so rousing at the moment to score seats that the chassis of ethos of India is completely broken. The result is that the dumbfounded citizens, who are paying a heavy price to watch the circus, are already down in the dumps.
One such story making the headlines now is the release of our late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's killers. This too made murkier by none other than the political contestants.
I was in school when Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated. As a child, especially in the formative years, you tend to listen and devour more than voicing your thoughts. My demure and shy nature also did not push me to raise many a queries to my elders. I observed a surge of emotions rippling through the gatherings of family and friends; Doordarshan airing the devastating news relentlessly. The newspapers, wrapped in Rajiv's dimpled handsome face, opened to the acerbic chronicles of his passing away. Schools, offices, markets and other institutions remained closed.
On the morning of May 22, 1991 I remember my father dragging me out of bed very early in the morning not for school but for relaying the shocking news that had already spread like a wildfire gripping the nation. We had already hit the bed when Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated on May 21, 1991 at about 10:20 PM in Sriperambudur, India. The news struck me hard as I could gauge with my limited understanding then that we have lost someone who is an important face of the country. Not exposed to civics and political science classes in school yet I also did not have much knowledge as to who was more important - the President or the Prime Minister of India and that too a former one. Nor did I comprehend what LTTE was and why they were instrumental in wiping out Rajiv Gandhi.
Nonetheless we had no choice but to listen to what our parents discussed over the newspaper reports, what they watched on the television and the many versions of the homicide sketched out in the gatherings that followed over numerous weeks trickling down to months.
Being my father's pet I took to adoring Rajiv Gandhi early as I imagined a special similitude as my father shared the same birthday with him. A child's imagination running bonkers! It was easy for me not to make an extra effort to learn his birth date for General Knowledge examinations in school. Also Rajiv's name - both first and surname - were easy to be spelled out. To me what mattered more then was to learn different names and mug spellings of leaders and who held which vital position in the country. Moreover the despondent clippings of the bomb blasted site, grief-stricken demeanour of Rajiv's wife and children aired in the TV unnerved my senses.
Someone had just lost his loved one. The dirge emanating from Indian soil reached far away shores with dignitaries from other nations sending in their heartfelt messages. The irreversible throe engulfed the entire nation, so I thought, and deemed proper to be in a pensive mood especially while behaving in front of the elders.
Thereafter P. V. Narasimha Rao hemmed in as the ninth prime minister of India in June that year. However in the years to come by the nation, as is the way of life, matured in commerce and economy, socio-culturally, science and technology sculpting development. Elections happened, ministers and leaders hogged limelights underpinning both success and failures in their tenures, and India metamorphosed as a centroidal government in the world political diaspora. So did my germinating years.
Today when my understanding to Indian politics has improved, albeit slightly, and Rajiv Gandhi's killers after a period of 23 years should be freed or not plaguing the social media discussions which has since long taken over the rein from the living room exchanges I find myself reliving the past once more.
Although we are in the 21st century and still there is no clear sign yet to the end of political wars encumbering the nations worldwide I find it ironic reviewing whether Rajiv's killers should be freed or not. Moreover a country like India, who still cannot put a full stop to its prying neighbours, evokes mixed sentiments debating and discussing freedom of convicts tried for killing a former prime minister especially when the country goes to vote its 16th national government in a span of two months.
What has gone entirely wrong in the reasoning is that the post of the prime minister of a nation plays no relevance now. The number crunching, gormandising political parties are losing no time cashing on the verdict, recently passed by the Supreme Court of India, lest they fall behind wooing the voter's sentiments at the appropriate time. Neither am I responsible enough to justify or endorse any action initiated by a political party but what pains me now is to find myself accountable to the confused minds of a child I had long cast off. The knowledge gained over the years to respect a country's institutions and the doctrines of the founding fathers of our Constitution suddenly seems to be decrepit. Going by the newspaper features we, as citizens of India, have certainly failed Rajiv Gandhi.
Over two decades passed and as a nation we are still flummoxed when the question arises in dealing with culprits as we all view our embarrassing shadows while facing the mirror of mankind.
