PTI
New Delhi
The BJP on Saturday revived decades-old corruption allegations against former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, describing them as evidence of a “compromised” legacy of the Congress.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) launched the fresh attack in response to the main opposition party’s consistent criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the recent India-US interim trade deal. The Congress has labelled the deal a “wholesale surrender” and “betrayal” of the national interest.
Addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters here, party national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia alleged that Rajiv Gandhi indulged in “brokerage in virtually every government allocation and contract” during his tenure as prime minister.
“Dalali (brokerage) is embedded in the DNA of the Congress. The Gandhi family did not hesitate to engage in such practices even in sensitive matters of national security,” Bhatia charged, citing the Bofors scandal as a primary example.
The BJP leader claimed that while Rahul Gandhi makes baseless allegations against Modi in his social media posts, the Gandhi family itself has remained “compromised” through generations.
Citing a declassified CIA document, Bhatia claimed the Bofors investigation was suspected to have been halted in Sweden to prevent disclosures regarding bribes paid to some Indian officials. He suggested that these disclosures that could have placed then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in an uncomfortable position.
Bhatia also presented an article titled “The Curse of Money” from the foreign magazine Schweizer Illustrierte. He noted the article mentioned international figures and dictators linked to Swiss bank accounts and carried a photograph showing Rajiv Gandhi alongside Uganda’s dictator Idi Amin and Iraq’s Saddam Hussein.
“The money from the Bofors scandal was parked in Swiss banks, which constituted a matter of national security. The magazine speculated that approximately 2.2 billion US dollars, valued today at around Rs 20,000 crore, was held in accounts linked to Rajiv Gandhi,” he added.
The BJP spokesperson further raised the Bhopal gas leak tragedy, accusing Rajiv Gandhi of facilitating the escape of Union Carbide CEO Warren Anderson.
