Sonia recalls 'Operation Blue Star' aftermath inside the Gandhi home
What's the story
In her memoir Belonging: A Journey of Love, former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi has revealed that she and her husband, ex-prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, were informed in 1984 about a possible kidnapping plot against their children, Rahul and Priyanka. The warning came from RN Kao, a former intelligence chief and security adviser to then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. According to the memoir, Indira asked the couple to sit down one evening before revealing the alarming news.
Family alarm
Indira broke the news to us
"I want to talk to you both about something that's been worrying me these past few days. I've been told by Mr Kao that there are reports that the children...might be kidnapped. He says it's not possible any longer to keep them safe in their schools; we have to bring them back home," Indira told the couple, according to Sonia's memoir.
The revelation immediately sent Sonia into a panic mode, breaking down later that night.
Political fallout
Rajiv was worried about political fallout
While Rajiv was equally worried, Sonia's memoir also highlights Rajiv's worries about the political fallout if their children were kidnapped.
He was concerned that his mother, as prime minister, could be blackmailed.
"While the safety of the children was naturally of paramount importance....we had also to consider the disastrous political fallout if something untoward were to happen. He couldn't allow his mother....to be held to ransom by forces bent on achieving their ends by any means," Sonia writes.
School security
'Priyanka's school even more vulnerable'
She adds that an assessment of the children's schools revealed neither had adequate security against a planned kidnapping.
Rahul's school had sprawling grounds but lacked specially trained personnel for comprehensive protection.
Priyanka's school was even more vulnerable, as it was divided by roads she had to cross.
Sonia recalled that there was no choice but to bring them home immediately due to safety concerns despite being in the middle of their academic term at boarding schools.
Security principles
Indira refused to remove Sikh guards
However, despite the heightened threat, Indira refused to remove Sikh guards from her security detail.
"Such a choice would go against everything she had stood for. To her, every citizen...regardless of region, caste, or creed, deserved equal respect. She was to pay for her decisions and her principles with a fusillade of bullets fired from machine guns by the two Sikh guards...One of them had been regular companion to Rahul and Priyanka in their games in Akbar Road," Sonia wrote.
1999
Sonia recalls 1st major media interaction after 1999 political crisis
In the memoir, Sonia also recalled the pressure of her first major media interaction in 1999 after she staked a claim to form a government at Rashtrapati Bhavan, following the fall of Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government.
The crisis was triggered by AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa withdrawing support from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
"As I walked towards them, I could feel my heart sink...even with colleagues flanking me, it was an excruciating strain to appear confident," she writes.
Numbers
Congress and its allies had 233 MPs
Sonia wrote that the Congress and its allies had 233 MPs on their side, with others assuring support. While they were short of the majority mark in the 543-member Lok Sabha, she approached the then-president, believing the numbers would add up finally.
However, her calculations turned out to be wrong.
"Mrs. Gandhi, spell out how you have reached this number you claim, 272," a journalist asked her.
She maintained that the numbers were calculated in consultation with allied leaders.
Betrayal
Miscalculation in dislodging right-wing government
However, as she wrote in her memoir, "As it turned out, the promised support failed to materialize."
Competing ambitions among leaders resulted in more contenders than the coalition could accommodate.
Sonia admitted her miscalculation in trying to dislodge the right-wing government too hastily. She acknowledged that she should have listened to Congress leader Arjun Singh's advice for caution.
The BJP eventually called for fresh elections and returned to power with its allies under Vajpayee's leadership.