Javed M Ansari

New Delhi: Priyanka Gandhi’s visit last month to Nalini Sriharan, the only surviving member of the Rajiv Gandhi assassination squad, was extensively discussed by the Gandhi family before the two finally met on March 18 at the Vellore jail in Tamil Nadu. Nalini is currently undergoing life imprisonment for her role in the assassination.

Priyanka and her brother Rahul were traumatised by the assassination of their father Rajiv Gandhi on May 21, 1991, and the former’s visit to Nalini was intended to obtain emotional closure on the issue.

According to sources close to the Gandhi family, the family debated the issue of her visit over several days before deciding to go ahead. Priyanka confirmed her Vellore visit in a media statement, explaining “it was a purely personal visit that I undertook on my own initiative.”

She said her meeting with Nalini was part of an attempt by her to come to terms with the “violence and loss that I have experienced.”

She is supposed to have asked Nalini why the LTTE wanted a good man like Rajiv Gandhi assassinated. Her sentiments were echoed by Rahul Gandhi.

"We have been brought up not to harbour [thoughts of] hatred or violence," he told mediapersons.

The AICC general secretary, however, indicated that his approach to the issue was different and he may have done things differently.

Priyanka's statement also provides an insight into the family's attempt to put the tragedy behind them.

"I do not believe in anger, hatred and violence and I refuse to allow it any power in my life," she said.

According to sources close to the Gandhi family, the visit was Priyanka's idea. She had earlier taken an active interest in the deliberations of the Jain commission set up to probe her father's assassination.

She was a regular visitor to its hearings and was often seen taking notes.

Sources close to the family say that Priyanka had played an important role when the family decided to plead with the president to commute Nalini's death sentence, but she wanted to hear from her directly why her father,whom she absolutely adored, was assassinated.

"The children absolutely adored their father. The trauma of his assassination has had a tremendous impact on their minds. Priyanka wanted to hear the truth from Nalini," says a family insider.

Nalini is the only surviving member of the team that assassinated Rajiv Gandhi at Sriperambudur on May 21, 1991. She was awarded the death penalty by a special court after being convicted.

The sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment after Sonia Gandhi interceded on her behalf, pleading for clemency because she had a small child to look after.

Source : DNA