New Delhi: When the Bofors howitzers scandal broke, Rajiv Gandhi came across as an inexperienced and unsavvy politician, said Chitra Subramaniam, the author of Bofors Gate: A Journalist’s Pursuit of Truth.
Rajiv Gandhi’s denial of his or his family’s involvement in the Bofors scandal was an “odd thing” to say for a prime minister because that was not even the allegation, said Subramaniam. She was speaking at the launch of her book at the India International Centre in New Delhi, with an audience of no more than 30 people.
The 40-odd minute book discussion was moderated by defence journalist Sandeep Unnithan, with journalists Coomi Kapoor and Tavleen Singh, and former BJP MP Swapan Dasgupta sitting in the audience.
The allegation was that the Indians had been bribed by Sweden to take their biggest contract home.
“His (Rajiv Gandhi) name was not there. He made a giveaway statement,” Subramaniam said.
On why she thought he made the statement, Subramaniam added, “I think he was inexperienced. He was not savvy.”
Subramaniam’s book, Bofors Gate: A Journalist’s Pursuit of Truth, is an account of her investigation into the scandal which became a defining moment in Indian politics during the late 1980s.
The scam came to light in 1987 through a Swedish Radio broadcast, following which Subramaniam published stories in Indian dailies like The Hindu, The Indian Express, and The Statesman.
At first, Subramaniam said she did not want to believe Rajiv Gandhi’s involvement in the case.
“For a long time, I didn’t want to believe that Rajiv Gandhi was involved. It was Mr. Clean—he had come on a mandate saying he would clean up India. It was very difficult for me to believe that he was involved. And then why would he need such small money?”
Pandora’s box
A decade after the scandal broke in 1987, Switzerland sent a box of secret bank documents to India along with bank account numbers, bank transfers, and names of people, among other crucial details, to help identify the money trail.
However, Subramaniam claimed that no Indian government has opened the box. “That’s a step in going further,” she said, adding that there is a concerted conspiracy to keep the identity of the recipient under wraps.
As a journalist who spent a decade investigating the case, Subramaniam said she “went as far as I could go. The money has gone further. There’s a money trail.”
Describing what she went through while investigating the scandal, including the accusation of breaching the Official Secrets Act (OSA), the journalist said she now wonders how on earth she survived all of it.
“I survived all this because there was something that was done to my country and it was wrong. And that right and wrong is very clear to me,” she said to a round of applause from the audience.
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There’s more to Bofors
Subramaniam insists the Bofors story is not over and the new generation of journalists should investigate the case further. Unnithan asked whether she would be the one to write the final chapter of this story.
“Another generation of journalists will find this out. I have done my bit. But I think other people should take it up. It is their country. I know a lot of people who believe in the country and we should all line up together. There is a tide in Indian journalism.”
The howitzers, manufactured by the Swedish arms maker Bofors, played a key role in India’s Kargil victory over Pakistan in 1999. While the performance of the gun was not in question, the author said the scandal did bring down the morale of the Army.
The book launch was interactive, with the audience voicing their remarks about the scandal in relation to the present times.
When Tavleen Singh asked the author about her view on why the BJP hasn’t done anything about the arms scandal, Subramaniam passed the question to Swapan Dasgupta, who said nothing and simply nodded his head.
Just then, an audience member, taking cue from this, said, “Simple, because they (the BJP) exploited it politically, and there’s nothing more to cash.”
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)
Chitra Subramaniam spent a decade in a story where neither the political parties, nor the public are interested. Why such an worthless effort? Media has to correct its priorities. The bofors scam occurred in 1987 i.e. more than 36 years ago. There are many more bigger scams occurred after that namely, demonetization, electoral funds, Ayushman Bharat, etc. which are still relevant. So why spent a decade in something irrelevant? Did she get money from BJP?