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Selected Writings by
Sachi Sri Kantha
Botched JVP Hit on Rajiv Gandhi
- Revisited 19 Years Later
30 July 2006
[see also
Indo Sri Lanka Agreement, 1987]
|
Sequential photograph showing Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi
being assaulted by a Sri Lankan naval rating from the guard of
honour. Interestingly, none of Rajiv's security men are figuratively
or literally in the picture. One of the Sri Lankan naval officers is
seen neutralising the assailant in the last frame. Immediately after
the return of the IPKF the rating was prematurely released by the
Premadasa government. |
 It
was one of a kind of bizarre demonstration (or, a mafia-grade botched hit – a
more appropriate phrase, based on the botcher’s intention) which was executed on
a visiting political leader to Sri Lanka. The prospective assassin was not a
public Sri Lankan citizen, but a low ranking member of Sri Lankan armed forces.
Of all the places in this globe, such an act could have been enacted only in
Colombo. Before July 30, 1987, nothing of this sort had been recorded in the 20th
century history.
Even during the 19 years which had lapsed since then, such a bizarre
assassination attempt has not been repeated anywhere in this globe. I refer to
the botched JVP hit on the then Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in Colombo.
And the victim himself had described his bizarre experience in Colombo with the
categorical affirmative [“What is all this nonsensical speculation. Of course, I
was hit.”] within an hour of the incident. This was in contrast to the
statements made by the embarrassed host, President Jayewardene [“Rajiv tripped a
little and slightly lost his balance”].
For its degree of temerity and bizarre news value, this botched hit deserves a
revisit, since now two parties (namely the current JVP leadership as well as the
Indian gumshoes who came to promote JVP’s rebirth in the post-Rohana Wijeweera
phase) pretend with a straight face as if this 1987 attack never happened.
Initial Reports
Recently, I checked the LexisNexis database for the initial reports of this
Rajiv Gandhi assault incident. Here are four which provided substantial details
on the incident :
(1) Victoria Graham: ‘Honor Guardsman Strikes Indian
Leader with Rifle’, Associated Press, New Delhi, July 30, 1987; (687 words).
(2) Dilip Ganguly: ‘Indian Prime Minister hit by Guard’,
Associated Press, New Delhi, July 30, 1987; (583 words).
(3) Anonymous: ‘Rajiv Gandhi’s assailant to face court
martial in Sri Lanka’, Xinhua News Service, Colombo, Aug.3, 1987; (127
words).
(4) Anonymous: ‘Mother calls son’s attack on Gandhi
‘regrettable act’, Associated Press, Colombo, Aug.5, 1987; (277 words).
The descriptions provided in these four initial reports are worth recapitulation
for the details offered (and omitted) as well as for their coverage angles of
the incident. Especially of relevance was the impressions provided by the victim
of the assault, Rajiv Gandhi. Hence, I provide these below.
Victoria Graham (in July 30, 1987) for Associated Press:
“A Sri Lankan honor guardsman clubbed Indian Prime
Minister Rajiv Gandhi with an unloaded rifle Thursday during a ceremony at
the Presidential Palace in Colombo. Gandhi, who ducked and fended off the
blow, said he suffered only ‘a lump’ on one shoulder.
The attack occurred in the Sri Lankan capital as Gandhi
reviewed 72 white-uniformed sailors before returning to New Delhi. The
Sinhalese assailant apparently was incensed at the previous day’s signing of
an Indian-brokered peace pact designed to end Sri Lanka’s four-year-old
civil war between the island’s Sinhalese majority and Tamil guerrillas.
The United News of India news agency called it an
‘assassination attempt’, but Gandhi declined to endorse that interpretation,
telling journalists they could decide for themselves what to call it.
Gandhi, who ducked and held up his arms for protection, told reporters on
the plane home: ‘It was something. I was clobbered on the left shoulder, a
little below the ear’.
Many Sri Lankan Sinhalese have been enraged by India’s
support for Tamil militants, who have offices in southern India’s Tamil Nadu
state. Tamils, most of whom are Hindus like the vast majority of Indians,
form 18 percent of Sri Lanka’s population of 16 million. They say they are
discriminated against by the Sinhalese Buddhists, who control the government
and the armed forces.
A film clip shown on Indian television showed clearly
that the sailor attacked Gandhi. Even so, Sri Lankan President Junius
R.Jayewardene originally told reporters that the guard fainted and
inadvertently dropped his gun on the visiting leader. But on Sri Lankan
television Thursday night, Jayewardene appealed for the people to accept the
peace accord and apologized to Gandhi ‘for the insult that was offered to
him in the morning’. The state-run TV then showed the attack on Gandhi and
repeated it in slow motion.
The sailor was overpowered by Gandhi’s security men and
taken away. Police later identified him as 26-year old Wijayamunige Rohana.
He was under arrest in Colombo, but there was no immediate word on what
charges he might face. Witnesses, including Associated Press journalists and
photographers, said Rohana struck out with the butt of his assault rifle,
stepping toward Gandhi and swinging it at him. Many said it appeared to be a
spontaneous expression of anger. A bayonet was affixed to the weapon. Sri
Lankan military officials said all weapons of ceremonial honor guards are
unloaded and do not have firing mechanisms.
Gandhi, returning from Colombo, gave reporters this
account: ‘As I was inspecting the guard of honor and walked past one person
at one point, I saw some movement…A man reversed his rifle at me and hit my
shoulder and head… I sort of ducked in a reflex action. By my ducking down,
he (the sailor) missed my head and the brunt of the blow came on my shoulder
below the left ear’ [Note: dots, as in the original]
He pointed to his neck and said, ‘You can see a lump’.
The blow appeared to stagger him, but immediately after the attack, Gandhi
declared; ‘I am absolutely all right. Can’t you see I am not hurt?’ a
smiling, joking Gandhi told about 600 people who had gathered to welcome him
at New Delhi’s Palam airport. ‘Do you want me to take off my clothes and
show you?’ he quipped.
The Sinhalese took to the streets Tuesday and Wednesday
to violently protest the peace plan, which Gandhi and Jayewardene signed
Wednesday. The Sinhalese contend the accord makes too many concessions to
Tamils, the most militant of whom demand a separate nation. At least 40
people were killed in the two days of anti-India and anti-government
rioting, the government announced.
One of the provisions of the accord that has angered many
Sinhalese is the deployment of more than 3,000 Indian soldiers in Sri Lanka
as a peace keeping force and to disarm Tamil militants, who were not formal
partners in the peace accord.
Gandhi’s mother and predecessor, Indira Gandhi, was
assassinated by Sikh terrorists in 1984. Rajiv Gandhi escaped an
assassination attempt on Oct.2, 1986, when a Sikh extremist shot at him with
a homemade pistol.”
Dilip Ganguly (in July 30,
1987) for Associated Press:
Ganguly’s report included segments Rajiv Gandhi’s quips
provided by Victoria Graham. The additions in Ganguly’s report were as
follows:
“…Associated Press photographer Sondeep Shankar, who was
at the scene, said the blow staggered Gandhi. The guard, who was not
identified, was overpowered and dragged away struggling by Gandhi’s security
guards.
Word of the assault spread quickly, and hundreds of
supporters from Gandhi’s Congress Party turned up at the airport in New
Delhi to greet him. ‘Long Live Rajiv Gandhi’, they shouted, and presented
him with a scarf and sacred thread as a token of good luck. President
Ramaswami Venkataraman of India said in a statement, ‘Thank God that you
have not been injured. Such are the hazards of waging peace.’”
Xinhua News Service (in Aug.3, 1987) from Colombo:
“The Sri Lankan naval rating who hit Indian prime
minister Rajiv Gandhi with the butt end of his rifle at Gandhi’s departure
ceremony on July 30 will possibly be brought before a court martial. The
incident occurred when Gandhi was leaving Sri Lanka after signing the
Indo-Sri Lankan peace accord to end the island nation’s ethnic conflict. The
22-year old assailant, identified as Vijayamuni Vijitha Rohana de Silva,
joined the navy two years ago. He comes from a family where a brother is in
the army and a sister in the airforce. Indian security authorities have
questioned the suspect in the presence of the local authorities. The Sri
Lankan Navy as well as the police criminal investigation department are
conducting investigations into the matter.”
Associated Press (in Aug.5, 1987) from Colombo:
“The mother of the Sri Lankan sailor who attacked the
Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi last week apologized Wednesday and begged
forgiveness for ‘the rash, hot-blooded act’. ‘This was most insulting and I
am ashamed to address this to you’, Nandawathie Mendis, the mother of nine
children, wrote in a letter to Gandhi. Her message was released by the
Indian High Commission after her son, an honor guard sailor, struck Gandhi
with his rifle butt as the Indian prime minister inspected the troops last
Thursday.
‘I cannot conceive how my son behaved this way’,
Mrs.Mendis wrote. ‘You were an honored guest of our country, helping us
achieve peace and harmony and you were so shamefully treated by a son of
mine.’
The guard, Wijemunige Rohana de Silva, smashed the butt
of his unloaded rifle on Gandhi’s neck and shoulder at a farewell ceremony
at the Presidential Palace. Gandhi was in Sri Lanka to sign a peace accord
aimed at ending the four-year civil war between the government, composed
primarily of members of the island’s Sinhalese majority, and the minority
Tamil separatists. More than 6,000 people have been killed.
‘You are full of compassion, understanding and mercy and
will forgive this rash hot-blooded act of a youth who was swayed by the
ethnic situation of the past years,’ Mrs.Mendis wrote. A senior military
source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the sailor was likely to be
court-martialed but there was no indication of the extent of punishment. ‘I
fervently hope and pray that I could have my son back with me in the near
future,’ Mrs.Mendis said, adding that her 26-year old son is the family’s
only breadwinner.”
There seems to be some discrepancy on the family details and the age of the
botcher Rohana de Silva. While the Aug.3rd newsreport stated that two
of his siblings were also in the Sri Lankan armed services, the Aug.5th
news report mentioned that he was the ‘family’s only breadwinner’.
The Time magazine, in its cover story (Aug.10, 1987), provided only a
skimpy three sentence description of what happened to Rajiv Gandhi on July 30,
1987. To quote the Time magazine’s reportage,
“As the Prime Minister strode past the white-uniformed
men of a Sri Lankan naval honor guard, one of the sailors suddenly broke
ranks and swung at Gandhi with the butt of his rifle. The Prime Minister
ducked and received only a glancing blow on the back of his neck and left
shoulder. But if he escaped serious injury in the incident, for which the
Sri Lankan government quickly apologized, the Prime Minister must have
realized how much strife and distrust had been aroused by the pact he had
just initialed – and how uncertain were its chances of success.” [p.7]
This description was supplemented with the frontal view photo of Rajiv Gandhi
leaning forward and ducking to deflect the full force of the ‘about-to land’
rifle butt.
As of now, for understandable reasons of political prudence, neither the Indians
nor the Sinhalese wish to be reminded of why Vijithamuni Rohana de Silva (a
Sinhalese naval rating) attacked Rajiv Gandhi. Obviously, Indians were
humiliated and that assassination attempt was a rude reality-check for the
gung-ho spirit of the self-gloating India’s bureaucrats who were salivating to
harvest much political mileage for their diplomatic triumph. Colombo’s political
bigwigs of the day were embarrassed beyond belief, as if they had been exposed
by a slick operator who had rather duplicated the villainous role in the Naked
Emperor story of Hans Christian Andersen. Nevertheless, it is no secret that not
an insignificant number of Sinhalese protesters (including some of the Cabinet
ministers who publicly opposed the Indo-Sri Lankan Accord) would have silently
gloated over Rajiv Gandhi’s mishap.
J.R.Jayewardene’s Blatant Fibs
The Indian humiliation and the Colombo embarrassment was instantly recorded in
camera and transmitted via the newswire services. Despite such an evidence that
President Jayewardene (always blessed with the gift to lie with a straight face)
delivered an instant fib about the sailor suffering a sunstroke was a good
illustration of how deceitful the Sinhalese politicians are.
Six years later, a more-senile Jayewardene had the nerve to gobble the facts and
live in his delusions, as recorded in the Jain Commission Report subsequently.
“In a report published in the Times of India
dated 27.11.1993, President Jayewardene expressed his mind defending the
IPKF’s role. He expressed: ‘Rajiv had none of the inhibitions of his mother.
He was public school educated and open about things – very much like me. He
liked me because I spoke my mind. What I had to say, I said. So he got to
like me very much. Mrs.Thatcher once told me that Rajiv had told her no
leader had conceded as much to the Tamils as Jayawardene. That is why he
signed the Indo-Sri Lanka Agreement with me. How could anybody go any
further? And all the terrorist groups accepted the Agreement. Only one man –
Prabhakaran broke it.” [Jain Commission Report, vol.VIII, chapter II,
paragraph 21.3]
Truly? Jayewardene was one major Sri Lankan politician who would never allow
facts to disturb his deluded fantacies, at the expense of bad-mouthing
Pirabhakaran. To recapitulate, the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord was signed on July 29,
1987, and the very next day JVP targeted Rajiv Gandhi in public view. If JVP had
accepted that damn Agreement which was conceived in secrecy, why Rajiv Gandhi
was targeted? Technically noting, LTTE leadership accepted the pledge of Rajiv
Gandhi and his handlers (even with reservations) and behaved well for two
months. But not the JVP. Not only JVP, the leading Sinhalese opposition party
SLFP and even some prominent members of Jayewardene’s Cabinet (especially Prime
Minister Premadasa and the Minister of National Security Lalith Athulathmudali)
were opposed to this Accord, even before it was signed. To quote a Newsweek
magazine report,
“Premadasa, an ultranationalistic Sinhalese, was so
deeply opposed to the Sri Lankan-Indian accord that the final cabinet
decision to sign the treaty was taken while he was on a trip to Japan. When
he returned, he boycotted the signing ceremonies in Colombo. Premadasa’s
chief opponent will almost certainly be Sirimavo Bandaranaike, the country’s
prime minister from 1960 to 1965 and again from 1970 to 1977, who, if
anything, is even more outspoken in her opposition to the treaty.” [‘A
National Sigh of Relief’, Newsweek, Oct.3, 1988, p.11]
Four printed versions of that botched hit on Rajiv Gandhi
On the JVP’s botched hit on Rajiv Gandhi, I could gather four versions (as
recorded by two Indians and two Sri Lankans) in published books. These have been
presented by (1) Sonia Gandhi - an eye-witness, (2) J.N.Dixit - the chief Indian
organizer of that embarassing visit by the Indian prime minister, (3) Kingsley
M.de Silva - a Sri Lankan historian/Jayewardene biographer, and (4) Rohan
Gunaratna – a Sri Lankan intelligence analyst. The presented (as well as
omitted) details in the re-telling of that botched JVP hit on Rajiv Gandhi in
each of these four versions are mutually exclusive. As such, to
comprehend a panoramic angle of what happened on July 30, 1987, in Colombo and
its consequences, the descriptions of Sonia Gandhi, Dixit and Gunaratna are
vital.
Chronologically, Sonia Gandhi’s reminiscence appeared first in 1992. This was
followed by Rohan Gunaratna’s analysis on JVP connection, in 1993. In 1994,
K.M.de Silva made only a passing mention in his hagiography of J.R.Jayewardene
to this incident, since Jayewardene’s immediate obfuscation of the details was
embarassing to Sinhalese. De Silva’s omissions vividly exposed his pro-Sinhalese
bias. In 1997, J.N.Dixit was able to provide a more fuller account, following
the deaths of Sinhalese politicians Gamini Dissanayake (in 1994) and
J.R.Jayewardene (in 1996) who were chiefly instrumental in the signing of the
doomed Indo-Sri Lankan Accord.
Sonia Gandhi in 1992
“The [Indo-Sri Lanka] Agreement aroused resentment among
a section of the Sinhala community. On 30 July [1987] in Colombo, while
Rajiv was inspecting a farewell Guard of Honour, a naval rating stepped out
and struck him with his rifle butt. Rajiv sensed the blow and ducked. It
barely missed his head but he took its full force on his left shoulder.
It all happened so suddenly that few people present were
aware of what had occurred. Rajiv continued with the ceremonial function,
and was attended to only when we were air-borne. For a very long time after
he could not move the shoulder freely or sleep on his left side.” [ Sonia
Gandhi; Rajiv, Viking Penguin Books, New Delhi, 1992, p.125]
Rohan Gunaratna in 1993
“As Rajiv Gandhi was about to depart for India, he was
invited by the Commander of the Navy, Ananda Silva, to inspect a guard of
honour. Gandhi obliged. As he was moving past the men, something totally
unexpected happened. Vijithamuni Rohana de Silva, a naval rating from the
South, suddenly lifted his rifle and brought it onto the visiting Prime
Minister of India. Neither Ananda Silva nor Gandhi’s security men responded
fast enough either to push Gandhi away from the sailor, or to immobilize the
attacker. [foot note 1: Film clip and photographs taken by the media
covering the entire Gandhi visit clearly show no reaction to save Gandhi or
to counter attack the sailor.] Fortunately, Rajiv Gandhi’s quick reflexes –
something which he had probably sharpened in his days as a pilot – came to
his rescue: he ducked almost instantaneously, averting head injury which, in
worst case, could have killed him; he was instead hit and badly bruised
around the neck and the shoulders.
The plan within a Navy cell was to kill Rajiv Gandhi. The
nineteen year old naval rating was to hit Gandhi on the head and make him
fall, and then the two men on either side of the first attacker were to
strike him with their ceremonial bayonets. [foot note 2: Based on a
confession the naval rating made at the CID headquarters to another
detainee.] But for some unknown reason, the other two men refrained from
going into action during the assault – if they did, Gandhi could have
suffered serious injuries, and could have died. This sinister plan has
hitherto been kept a secret. During the court martial that followed,
Vijithamuni stated that he thought that the Accord would make Prabhakaran
the leader of the northeast, and he would have to honour Prabhakaran in the
same way he was ordered to honour Rajiv Gandhi. However, Vijithamuni did not
serve his full sentence – he was released under a general amnesty after
Premadasa became the President. [foot note 3: When Vijithamuni was released
by Premadasa, the Indians were naturally unhappy. They concluded that this
was another confirmation of their suspicion that Premadasa was anti-Indian
by conviction.” [Rohan Gunaratna; Indian Intervention in Sri Lanka – the
Role of India’s Intelligence Agencies, South Asian Network on Conflict
Research, Colombo, 1993, p.193].
Kingsley M.de Silva in 1994
“Rajiv Gandhi himself narrowly escaped serious injury, if
not death itself, when an enraged sailor swung his rifle butt at him at the
guard of honor ceremony prior to his departure from Colombo on 30 July.
Pictures of the assault on the Indian Prime Minister were flashed around the
world in newspapers and on television screens.” [K.M.de Silva and Howard
Wriggins; J.R.Jayewardene of Sri Lanka, vol.2 (1956-1989), Leo
Cooper/Pen & Sword Books, London, 1994, p.645]
J.N.Dixit in 1997
“Rajiv Gandhi was to depart from Colombo around 10:30 am.
We had received reports that resentment and disaffection against the accord
had reached new heights. We felt that Rajiv Gandhi should avoid physical
proximity with Sri Lankan armed forces personnel during the departure
ceremonies.
When Rajiv Gandhi returned from his morning meeting with
Jayewardene, some of us made the suggestion that he should just take the
salute of the guard of honour from the dais and not inspect the troops lined
up because of two reasons. First, we were not quite sure whether the guns
being held by the soldiers in the combined guard of honour were really
without ammunition.Secondly, the guard of honour was arranged in an area
which had buildings from where the Prime Minister could be targeted. Rajiv
Gandhi dismissed our suggestion saying that he would not be seen as being
afraid.
We proceeded to the ceremony which evolved into a tense
drama and barely escaped becoming a national tragedy for India. Rajiv
mounted the saluting dais, the two national anthems were played, the
combined guard presented arms and the Prime Minister proceeded to inspect
the guard of honour accompanied by the Chief of Naval Staff of Sri Lanka. As
Rajiv was going to get into his car immediately after inspecting the guard
with a brief farewell to Jayewardene, members of the delegation and other
officials were asked to proceed to their respective cars in advance and get
into them so that the car-cade could proceed to the Galle Face beach
helipads.
Hardeep Puri and I walked down the lane where the cars
were parked, as Rajiv Gandhi commenced his walk down the red carpet adjacent
to the front row of the guard. We had walked out about 30 yards down the
lane when we heard a commotion behind us. A couple of Sinhalese with their
lungis tied up above their knees were running away from the Square where the
guard of honour was being held, with fear and panic writ large on their
faces. One of them was shouting something in Tamil. I asked him what had
happened. He said something had happened to the Prime Minister of India and
there was going to be shooting. My private secretary T.D.Aggarwal came
running down the street after the Sinhalese with equal panic to tell me:
‘The Prime Minister has been hit or he was shot at by one of the soldiers in
the guard of honour’.
Hardeep and I rushed back to find Rajiv Gandhi calmly
standing with Sonia Gandhi beside him, looking tense and not conversing with
Jayewardene as his official limousine was being lined up for his departure.
I found a very distraught Gamini Dissanayake standing near the VIP group. To
my anxious query, he replied that he did not exactly know what happened, but
some member of the guard of honour had apparently fallen out of line and
disturbed the Prime Minister’s inspection. But this time Rajiv and Sonia
Gandhi had got into their cars and the cars started moving down.
I approached Jayewardene and asked him what the commotion
was about. He looked me coolly in the eye and said: ‘Nothing serious. Rajiv
Gandhi tripped a little and slightly lost his balance as he was reaching the
last group of soldiers in the guard of honour’. As we rushed back to our
cars, an Indian TV journalist told me that one of the Sri Lankan soldiers
had tried to hit Rajiv Gandhi with his rifle butt, as he was reaching the
end of front rows of the guard. I was quite tense as the cavalcade had to
pass through Sri Lankan military personnel for about two kilometres before
reaching the helicopters.
None of us knew whether it was an isolated act of
violence or whether it was a well organised conspiracy, whether Rajiv Gandhi
would be attacked again by army personnel lining the route or in the
helicopter. Onething I noticed was the palpable tension in Sonia Gandhi’s
face before she got into the car, though he demeanour was one of total
control. The convoy moved at its normal pace despite the tension. The only
change in the programme was that the couple of helicopters carrying Rajiv
Gandhi’s security personnel went ahead, taking Chidambaram and Seshan to the
airport in advance. They had witnessed the incident and wanted to be
absolutely sure that Rajiv Gandhi’s special air craft was totally sanitised
before he arrived for the take-off.
By the time the helicopter carrying me landed at the
airport, the entire Prime Ministerial party had already got into the plane.
The plane was supposed to take off immediately but noticing that he had not
said good-bye to me, Rajiv had ordered a delay in the take-off till I
arrived, characteristic of his fine sense of courtesy even after having been
subjected to a murderous attack.
I met Finance Minister Ronnie de Mel at the foot of the
ramp of the aircraft. He was a little more forthcoming to my natural
question. He said that some Sri Lankan soldier from the guard of honour had
tried to ‘push’ Rajiv Gandhi.
On getting into the aircraft I found Sonia Gandhi seated
in tense quietude. I walked up to Rajiv Gandhi and apologised for not
reaching in time to bid him farewell. I put the burning question to the one
person who could give the correct answer. Rajiv Gandhi had taken off his
Bandgala and was in the act of removing his bullet proof vest when I brought
up the incident. He smiled ruefully and said ‘What is all this nonsensical
speculation. Of course, I was hit’. He pulled down his shirt and vest from
his shoulder and said, ‘Mani, have a look’.
There were big blue welts a little away from the base of
his neck and on the shoulder blade and on the flesh at the back of his
shoulder. He put back his shirt, shook me by the hand and said: ‘Don’t
worry. You and your colleagues have done a difficult job wonderfully. Such
things keep happening.’
I came down the plane in a daze. On my return, I made
detailed inquiries about the incident, and found out that a naval rating in
the front row of the guard had reversed his rifle, held it by its barrel and
swung it with full strength at the base of Rajiv Gandhi’s neck with the
intention of breaking his neck and the spinal cord. It was Rajiv’s excellent
side vision and agility which saved him. He apparently detected the unusual
movement, saw the rifle being swung and moved away deflecting the blow to
less vulnerable portions of his neck and shoulder. The Sri Lankan Chief of
Naval Staff had dropped his sword and grappled with the assailant, pinning
him down.
The news that Rajiv Gandhi had been attacked became
public by mid day. President Venkararaman’s apt comment on ‘the dangers of
waging peace’ put the official seal on the information about this attempted
but failed murder. I found Jayewardene’s obfuscatory remark curious. He
would have perhaps held onto his version of the incident but for the fact
that the entire incident was captured, second by second, by the television
cameras, particularly of Asia News International. I remained tense for days
after the incident, ruminating on the danger to the Prime Minister that I
had contributed to by endorsing his decision to come to Sri Lanka. The
incident in many ways presaged the faulty progress of the Indo-Sri Lanka
Agreement, despite all the good intentions with which it was signed by Rajiv
Gandhi.” [J.N.Dixit; Assignment Colombo, Vijitha Yapa Bookshop,
Colombo, 1998, pp.174-177]
To be fair by Dixit, in the last paragraph of his recollections of the 1987 hit
on Rajiv Gandhi, he had aptly summarised the incident and its impact. (1) It was
an “attempted but failed murder”. (2) President Jayewardene, as his wont, was a
master of obfuscation in many serious issues. He demonstrated this to Dixit and
his coterie in this particular incident as well. (3) The hit on Rajiv Gandhi
also proved clearly that it was the Sinhalese who first raised vehement
opposition to the Indo-Sri Lanka Agreement, even before the signatures of the
two leaders had dried on the Agreement paper.
The Punishment
A little less than four months after the incident, the purported assassin was
sentenced by a Sri Lankan military court. To reproduce the newsreport which was
filed by the Associated Press, from Colombo on November 20,1987:
“A military court Friday sentenced a Sri Lankan sailor to
six years in prison for attacking Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi with
his rifle butt. The court acquitted Vijayamuni Vijitha Rohana, 22, on the
original charge of attempted murder, and convicted him on a lesser charge of
‘culpable homicide not amounting to murder’.
Rohana swung at Gandhi and hit him with his rifle butt
while the Indian leader was inspecting an honor guard in Colombo on July 30.
The attack came a day after the signing of the Indo-Sri Lankan peace accord
aimed at ending the Tamil ethnic conflict. The court also ordered the sailor
be ‘disgracefully dismissed’ from the Sri Lankan navy for violating good
naval conduct.
Rohana has a right to appeal the verdict in the Supreme
Court, officials at the military court said. Rohana, dressed in a white and
blue naval uniform, stood solemnly while the verdict was read out after the
12-day trial. His mother and other relatives were present at the court. The
trial was conducted at a naval base in Welisara, on the northern outskirts
of Colombo city.” [Mainichi Daily News, Tokyo, Nov.22, 1987].
By then, the Indo-Sri Lanka Agreement was in tatter. The Indian army which had
landed in Eelam with good intention as protectors of Tamils was engaged in
fighting with the LTTE.
Conclusion
Contrary to what has appeared in the works of Indian authors, it should be
stressed that LTTE’s opposition to the Indo-Sri Lanka Agreement came after two
months [August and September 1987] of tolerance, which was insulted by
(1) the bungling deeds and shenanigans of the Indian
diplomats (including that of Dixit), Indian military personnel and gumshoes
who had set foot in the Eelam locales, and
(2) simultaneously orchestrated wily manipulations of
three UNP politicians [Prime Minister R.Premadasa, Minister of National
Security Lalith Athlathmudali, and Minister of Lands and Irrigation Gamini
Dissanayake] who had then become Presidential aspirants, to replace the
senile Jayewardene.
Though to the inquisitive media on July 30, 1987, Rajiv Gandhi had dismissed the
physical infirmities caused by the attack [so as “not be seen as being afraid”,
in Dixit’s description] as nothing more than a ‘lump’ in the neck, Sonia Gandhi
divulged the damage caused to her husband in a terse sentence in 1992; “For a
very long time after he could not move the shoulder freely or sleep on his left
side.” And being the spouse, only she was entitled to know this bit of secret.
Despite the fact that their then Prime Minister was criminally targeted by the
JVP in Colombo, what did India’s gumshoes do? They developed cozy links with
JVP. I reproduce a paragraph from what Rohan Gunaratna had described about this
underground diplomacy, in his 1993 book;
“Even though the JVP of the 1980s and the early 1990s is
perceived as an anti-India force, RAW kept in close touch with the JVP
leadership after [Rohana] Wijeweera’s death. RAW sources assessing the
framework of JVP’s anti-Indian bias in ‘Sri Lanka; A Lost Revolution? The
Inside Story of the JVP’ by the author, stated that it was a tactical
necessity. RAW acknowledged that they ‘had established significant links
with the JVP’. An Indian diplomat Gurjit Singh who had established close
connections with the JVP, told the author that the JVP slogan was ‘We are
not against Indians but against India’. Subsequently over 400 JVP activists,
who were being hunted down in Sri Lanka, were given accomodation in state
run/assisted camps in South India. Subsequently Somawansa Amarasinghe, the
new leader of the JVP received sanctuary in India. These developments also
reflected RAW’s dual policy vis-ŕ-vis Sri Lanka.” [‘Indian Intervention
in Sri Lanka: The Role of India’s Intelligence Agencies, Colombo, 1993,
pp.339-340.]
Other sources also have validated these details as reliable. But, for tactical
reasons, Dixit had been mum on the JVP thread of Indian involvement in Sri Lanka
in his 1998. It is a case of either he had known about it and kept silent, or he
was rather ignorant about the JVP thread handled by the RAW officials. If it is
the former, then Dixit was peddling half-truths on the munificence of Indian
diplomacy to Eelam Tamils. If it is the latter, Dixit was rather clueless of
what is happening behind his back while he was India’s top dog in Colombo. |
